What’s a Residential Energy Assessment?
- An energy audit encompasses an exhaustive inspection survey and a comprehensive analysis of energy flows within a house, with the overarching objective of conserving energy. Energy assessments play a pivotal role as the initial step in identifying and structuring opportunities to significantly diminish energy expenses and mitigate the associated carbon footprint. Equipment such as blower doors, low-e detectors and other measuring tools are used throughout.
- An energy audit helps you understand where your home loses energy and identifies problem areas – from locating nasty air leaks and drafts, gaps around doors and windows, moisture, poor insulation levels and home ventilation and comfort levels.
Why Should I Schedule an Energy Assessment?
- The Home Efficiency Rebate Plus (HER+) program provides up to $10,000 in cash-back rebates for eligible home upgrades plus an additional $600 back for audit costs, and provides eligibility for the Canada Greener Homes 40k interest free loan program
- One of our Registered Energy Advisors (REAs) will help you identify specific areas within the house that would benefit from an energy retrofit to reduce utility costs and emissions
- One of the largest sources of emissions in the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area is the building sector, accounting for 44.6% of annual emissions (91.6% being from natural gas between 2019-2020). We give customers unbiased and expert guidance and a roadmap showing them the biggest culprits of energy leakage in their home and where to begin their retrofits and how to maximize the impact for money spent
- Our goal is to ensure residents also have knowledge to complete deeper energy retrofits, and understand how they can impact climate change
- Rebate amounts for upgrading your house to become more energy efficient have never been higher!
Why Should I Choose Green Venture as a Service Organization?
- Green Venture is a community-based, non-profit organization dedicated to the delivery of climate action and education programs, and we’ve championed a diverse range of sustainability initiatives for over 25 years within the vibrant community of Hamilton and surrounding areas
- Our mission is to help Hamilton and area residents implement greener practices in their homes and community to make our city a climate champion. We directly engage and support over 15,000 residents of all ages every year to drive this work.
- Our highly trained Energy Advisors are registered by Natural Resources Canada and have completed additional training to uphold the highest standards of precision and quality in the energy assessments they conduct within your home. Training involves over 3 weeks of both in-class and in-the-field learning and mentorship conducted by our partner organization, Green Communities Canada. GCC’s comprehensive training equips our Advisors with the expertise necessary to provide meticulous evaluations, resulting in detailed reports that incorporate insightful comments and recommendations tailored specifically to address the unique efficiency requirements of your home.
- Ensuring the qualifications and training of an Advisor is important! We highly recommend verifying the extent of training that your Advisor has completed, as occasionally, it may be limited to a half-day course. This will help you make better informed decisions regarding the assessment and the guidance they can provide.
- Check out this case study highlighting comments from our Advisors when discussing the attic insulation of a house as a potential retrofit area!
- Here is a real-world case study
- Side-by-side Comparison: Semi-detached Homes
- Our Energy Program prioritizes two key metrics: the quantifiable reduction of carbon emissions and the tangible financial savings achieved. These factors drive how we work with homeowners, rather than solely relying on the volume of audits completed. By prioritizing these meaningful metrics, we consistently deliver outcomes that align with our commitment to promoting sustainability and maximizing the long-term value for our clients and the environment
Scheduling an Energy Assessment with Green Venture
STEP 1
- Check to see if your house qualifies to implement energy conservation measures through the Home Energy Rebate Plus (HER+), co-delivered by Enbridge and the Federal Government of Canada under the Greener Homes Initiative. Fill out the 1-2 minute survey on the HER+ website to confirm your eligibility!
STEP 2
- Call or email Green Venture (a registered Service Organization through Natural Resource Canada) to schedule a pre-retrofit home energy assessment with one of our Registered Energy Advisors.
- Phone: 905-540-8787 ext. 1
- Email: energy@greenventure.ca
- Make sure you have the following information prepared when contacting us to make an appointment:
- Type of house
- Detached
- Semi-detached
- Townhouse
- Mobile Home
- Mixed-Use Building (residential portion)
- Multi-Unit Residential Building (MURB)
- Year Built
- Square Footage
- Number of Occupants in the House
- Current Source of Fuel Energy (ex. Natural gas, oil, etc.)
- If you rent or own the house
- Proof of ownership/primary residence is required on the day of the initial audit (ex. government issued ID with address and a property tax bill)
- If there are any secondary apartments within the house (ex. basement apartment; in-law suite, etc.)
- What kind of renovations you are considering
- If any renovations or home projects are currently ongoing within the house (interior or exterior)
- Type of house
STEP 3
- Receive confirmation for a scheduled initial home energy assessment
- The assessment will take 2 – 3 hours to complete, and requires the legal owner of the house to be present; the Advisor will sign up the homeowner on-site for the HER+ program
- Access to all rooms in the house is needed, including basement and attic
- The Advisor will investigate for energy leakage and areas of inefficiency in the house by reviewing the entire building envelope (windows, doors, ceilings, walls, foundation)
- This will include a review of the mechanical systems in the house (eg. furnace), a depressurization test using a blower door system and low-e detectors to test all windows
- Data gathered during this assessment will be compiled into a personalized EnerGuide report by the Registered Energy Advisor
- This will result in an EnerGuide rating for how your house currently uses energy,
- The Advisor also provides specific comments regarding opportunities for improvement in energy efficiency along with pairing you with all eligible rebate amounts
- An invoice will be sent by email on the day of the assessment
- This can be paid electronically or by credit card over the phone
- We require a minimum of 48 hours notice for changes to any appointment ($75 cancellation fee)
STEP 4
- Receive and review your Renovation Upgrade Report (RUR) along with your EnerGuide Label and Homeowner Information Sheet from your Energy Advisor
- Sent via email within approximately two weeks following your scheduled assessment
- Request quotes for the suggested energy conservation retrofits from contractors and book independently
- Renovations must meet the eligibility criteria for HER+
- Check the criteria outlined in the program terms and conditions here!
- Stay in-touch with our Advisors and office team if you need assistance throughout your renovation process via email or phone
- Use the Deep Energy Retrofits Hub for more information
- You have until 2027 to complete your renovations and schedule your final energy assessment in order to receive your rebate from HER+
STEP 5
- Once your renovations are complete, contact us to schedule a post-retrofit energy assessment with our Energy Advisor
- This process should take 1 -2 hours to complete, and requires the legal owner of the house to be present
- Renovations must be entirely finished, with the building envelope fully intact
- No missing drywall, windows, doors, electrical, cladding, insulation, roofing, flooring, etc. on exterior and interior parts of the house
- An invoice will be sent by email and can be paid electronically or by credit card over the phone
- No missing drywall, windows, doors, electrical, cladding, insulation, roofing, flooring, etc. on exterior and interior parts of the house
- You will receive an updated EnerGuide label from our Registered Energy Advisor within two weeks of the final audit
- This report will detail how much the energy efficiency in your house has improved following your completed renovations and associated cost savings
- As long as you have met at least one of the eligible retrofit measures outlined in your Renovation Upgrade Report and conditions, you will receive a $600 rebate to cover the cost of both the pre-retrofit audit and the post-retrofit audit
STEP 6
- The Energy Advisor will submit your completed application to the HER+ program (please note that it’s important to keep all receipts for materials, equipment and labour)
- Fill out a short 2-minute survey about your journey with the energy retrofit process
- Receive your rebate cheque by mail, approximately within 90 days of your submitted application (some delays may apply)
By selecting Green Venture to conduct your home energy assessment, you are actively contributing to our ongoing climate action efforts, and supporting environmental education programs, and tree planting, community gardening and stewardship projects that make our city greener and help sustain the ecological health of our community!
