Northern Ontario energy adviser welcomes green rebate program, but questions finer details
Ontario homeowners can get up to 30% back on green renovations like insulation and heat pumps
A home energy adviser from northern Ontario says he welcomes a new provincial rebate program for green renovations, but questions the thinking behind some of the details.
On Tuesday, Ontario Energy Minister Stephen Lecce announced the province's plans to launch the new Home Renovation Savings Program on Jan. 28.
"A family ... looking to keep themselves warm over the winter by upgrading their insulation, their windows and doors, they'd receive a rebate of up to $8,900 for insulation, and $100 for every door, for every window that they will replace," he said at a news conference.
The province will offer rebates of up to 30 per cent on upgrades and renovations that make homes more energy efficient, including new windows and doors, insulation, solar panel installations, and more efficient heat pumps for heating and cooling.
It's part of a new $10.9-billion investment over 12 years to improve energy efficiency across Ontario.
Dave Baerg, senior adviser with Baerg's Home Performance Solutions in the Temiskaming Shores area, has worked as a home energy adviser for 27 years.
He performs tests on homes to determine where there are air leaks and how a homeowner can best improve home insulation, for example.
The federal government's Canada Greener Homes Grant required a report from an energy adviser before and after any upgrades to qualify for a grant.
That program proved so popular, it ended two years ahead of schedule because it ran out of money.
But the Ontario Home Renovation Savings Program only requires a report from an energy adviser for certain upgrades.
The reports are necessary to get rebates of up to $8,900 for new insulation, and up to $100 for each new window and door.
But rebates of up to $7,500 for an air source heat pump, or $10,000 for solar panels and battery storage, won't require an assessment.
"If somebody is just putting in solar panels and they're comfortable with the insulation levels in their home, sure, go ahead. Get your solar panels and get a rebate for them," Baerg said.
"For heat pumps, I would disagree."
Baerg said a home energy report should still be required for a heat pump rebate because it's recommended homeowners improve their insulation, if they can, before having one installed.
"Maybe you don't need to, but maybe you do," he said.
"And you don't realize there's an opportunity there. That will also reduce the size of heat pump that you need to put in."
Baerg said choosing the right size of heat pump for a home is more complicated than choosing the right gas furnace.
A lot of contractors, he said, make an educated guess based on a home's current air conditioner and furnace, but they often get it wrong. That means a lot of homes have a heat pump that is too small, and needs to rely more often on a backup heat source, or homeowners overpaid for a model that is too big for the home.
Baerg said a home energy report can give contractors the exact information they need to properly size a heat pump.
A shortage of home energy advisers
He suspects the provincial program might not require energy reports for certain upgrades because there was a shortage of home energy advisers when the federal Canada Green Homes Grant program was in place.
Leigha Benford is executive director of ReThink Green, in Sudbury, which hired home energy advisers to help homeowners qualify for the federal grants.
Benford said because the advisers rely on different grant programs for their work, it's a field that faces "boom and bust" cycles.
That's meant it has been difficult to attract and retain workers.
"When things were so, so busy, we could have probably tripled the amount of auditors that we had on staff and maybe not even then kept up with the demand," Benford said.
"But then as soon as things change, there is kind of that really quick drop off in calls. So it's a tough industry."
Baerg said he's had to diversify to make a living during the bust cycles when homeowners don't require his services to qualify for a grant.
"I also do heating ventilation design, and I inspect wood stoves," he said.
"In the past, I used to do home inspections. So I've been able to last through the bust times"