Kathy Rasmussens

Here are some simple, big energy and money saving adjustments we can make to green our homes. Eric Corey Freed, the author of Green Building & Remodeling for Dummies shares what we should do first to easily green our homes and save on electric and water bills.

1. Cut Out Vampire Power
   Vampire loads, or phantom power, which is caused by devices like cell phone chargers and electric toasters suck up energy as long as they're plugged in-even when not in use. Unplug your devices when they're not in use, or buy a $25 smart power strip that'll turn off automatically.
2. End Toilet Water Waste
   Take an empty two-liter bottle, wash it out, fill it with water, screw the lid on tightly and set it into your toilet tank, as far away from the flapper valve as possible. This prevents two liters of water from being used every time you flush. Old toilets waste up to 7 gallons a flush!
3. Install an Ultra Low Flow Showerhead
   The showerhead in your bathroom uses 2.5 gallons of water a minute or more-installing an ultra low flow can cut that down to half a gallon a minute.
4. Get a Gray Water System for Your Bathroom
   The bathroom is where we waste the vast majority of our water. Installing a gray water system is actually an ingenious idea for your home, especially if your water bill is high. It collects soapy water from your faucet and sends it to the toilet, so you flush with soapy, used water, not freshwater. These cost around $300.
5. Replace Your Thermostat with a Programmable One
   Getting a programmable thermostat enables you to lower the heat when you sleep and have it rise before you wake. It can be set to lower while you're at work, too. These can save you up to $180 a year on your electric bill.

Looking for a new home? This can be a great opportunity for you reduce your ecological footprint.
Look beyond the décor and consider the location, size and style of your house and take advantage of government grants for home energy audits for a resale home or a new EnergyStar home.

1. Find a Green Realtor Find a Realtor with good knowledge of environmental issues and programs and services available to assist homeowners to reduce energy.

2. Conduct an energy audit Because the Home Energy audit is such a new concept, most resale homes will not be energy rated. If you are considering a new home, take the opportunity to purchase an Energy Star certified home. Realtors are just starting to recommend energy audits to sellers as a selling tool. Until the Energy Audit Act becomes law, it will be hit and miss if you are looking for an energy rated home and you certainly can’t afford to get a professional energy audit for every home you are considering! Therefore it is imperative that your Realtor is well informed about home energy conservation and the grants and programs available. As a guide, download The Energy Conservation Kit produced by the National Association of Green Realtors and Brokers (NAGAB), from my website at http://www.livingincollingwood.com/green.

3. Location is Imperative Consider how close the house is to shops, school, Church, entertainment, work-place and public transit. Choose your location very carefully.

4. Size Matters Although large houses are still popular, the trend will be for smaller homes and more efficient floor plans with no space wasted. The smaller the home, the less energy needed for heat and light and the less you money spent on utilities.

5. Expect to Upgrade Once you have found the home you want, go ahead with a professional energy audit and expect to upgrade and implement some of the suggested changes. Re-decorate with low-VOC paint, upgrade the air system, remove old carpet and replace with wood floor. Renovate according to your ecological principles. The Canadian government will pay 50% (up to $150.00 max) towards the audit and provide grants towards certain upgrades to a max of $1350.00. Anything you upgrade will add value to your investment and create a greener, healthier home.

6. Research your renewable-energy potential Another new trend - depending on where you live there is an exciting possibility of generating some or all of your own electricity with rooftop solar panels or a backyard wind turbine. The costs of solar, wind, and geo-thermal power are falling and becoming easier to find. This may not be attainable immediately in your area so keep an ear to the ground for news to come.

7. The Yard Just as smaller houses are becoming popular, so too are smaller yards. Less lawn means less water. A small space for a garden is ideal to grow some of your own fruits, vegetables and herbs. Consider a space for compost pile or bin. Look for trees to help conserve energy in hot weather. Happy home hunting! If you are considering a new or resale home in the area of Collingwood, Blue Mountain or Thornbury, Ontario I can help you find a GREEN Home or a home with the best potential for energy efficiency.

It's Time for Homeowners to be Accountable

The original news release is posted on my site www.livingincollingwood.com/renews

I am using quotes from the release and supplementing with my comments from the view of a Green Realtor.

" News Release: Two Thirds (65%) of Ontario Homeowners Oppose McGuinty Government Proposed Mandatory Home Energy Audit Program "

April 20, 2009 - Today a poll was released conducted by IPSOS Reid for Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) to judge consumer reaction to the provincial government's proposal for mandatory home energy audits prior to sale, found that " two-thirds (65%) of Ontario's principal residence homeowners oppose the recently proposed McGuinty government mandatory home energy audit program and instead overwhelmingly favor voluntary audits (92%)."

"Further, 70% of principal residence owners believe that mandatory home energy audit information will deter homeowners from selling homes, thus be detrimental to the real estate sector and Ontario's economy (70% -- 30% strongly/40% somewhat) compared with 30% who disagree (6% strongly/25% somewhat). Two thirds (62%) of Ontario homeowners believe proposed program is a "poor idea" and seven in 10 (68%) say it's unnecessary
· A massive majority (94%) of Ontario homeowners believe mandatory home energy audits will impose significant cost on home sellers and first time buyers (82%) "

"Furthermore, home energy audits will impose a significant cost on home sellers, especially those with older houses who will have difficulty selling their home without having to spend money on expensive energy retrofits thus reducing their home equity. A mere 6% (5% somewhat/1% strongly) disagree with this position."

As a Realtor, I agree that homeowners will be penalized for a poor audit when it comes time to sell, although the issues that have a direct affect on home energy conservation , i.e leaky windows, poor insulation, old furnace etc. would be the same issues that would likely show up in a home inspection, thus placing a lower value on the home anyway. A homeowner wishing to sell an older home that has not been updated does not have to invest in retrofit as they can still sell it "as is" and let the new owner do the retrofit as part of a home update and renovation. This is a case where we have an environmental issue impacting homeowners finances. On the other hand, with environmental protection becoming an emergency situation I believe it's time homeowners put their money where their mouth is. We need to be environmentally responsible and accountable. We need to put much more value on homes that are environmentally efficent.

I beleive this audit is more about waking up homeowners to realize they need to investment in home energy efficiency and for buyers of those homes to recognize and appreciate the value. I recently heard of a seller who put in a geothermal heating system and got nothing extra when time came to sell. Buyers were not impressed by it and the feeling was that it was an extravagant investment that must be absorbed by the seller!

"Further, a full majority (82%) of homeowners believe that mandatory home energy audits will impose a significant cost on first time homebuyers who typically buy resale homes that will now be too expensive due to energy retrofits (82%) compared with just one in five (18%) who disagree."

Is anybody thinking about utility bills and savings over time of an energy efficient house? In addition, for first-time buyers there are many new builders offering Energy-Star rated homes that are absolutely competetive. And mortgage companies are coming to the table with "green mortgages" offering special incentives for people purchasing energy efficient homes. Governments are offering incentives and rebates for home energy audits and retrofit. And, none of this has not happened by mandatory rulings, so there will be more creative options and oppotunities once everyone gets with the program, mandatory or not!

"OREA supports a system of voluntary home energy audits combined with improved incentives to offset more of the costs of energy efficiency retrofits. "

I certainly agree with OREA but in the end, if enough people continue to place no value on the environment and ignore home energy conservation then mandatory audits may be the only option.

My final thought: Home energy conservation is no longer a concept - it is an emergency!

Reference

News Release: Two Thirds (65%) of Ontario Homeowners Oppose McGuinty Government Proposed Mandatory Home Energy Audit Program Principal Residence Homeowners Overwhelmingly Support Voluntary (92%), Not Mandatory (8%), Audits

The findings of the poll conducted March 30 to April 1, 2009 of 692 principal residence homeowners in Ontario from Ipsos Reid at http://www.ipsos-na.com/news/

This news release is on my site www.livingincollingwood.com/renews

How to Buy a Green Home

Looking for a new home? This can be a great opportunity for you reduce your ecological footprint.

Look beyond the décor and consider the location, size and style of your house and take advantage of government grants for home energy audits for a resale home or a new EnergyStar home.

1. Find a Green Realtor
   Find a Realtor with good knowledge of environmental issues and programs and services available to assist homeowners to reduce energy.
2. Conduct an energy audit
   Because the Home Energy audit is such a new concept, most resale homes will not be energy rated. If you are considering a new home, take the opportunity to purchase an Energy Star certified home. Realtors are just starting to recommend energy audits to sellers as a selling tool. Until the Energy Audit Act becomes law, it will be hit and miss if you are looking for an energy rated home and you certainly can't afford to get a professional energy audit for every home you are considering! Therefore it is imperative that your Realtor is well informed about home energy conservation and the grants and programs available. As a guide, download The Energy Conservation Kit produced by the National Association of Green Realtors and Brokers (NAGAB), from my website at http://www.livingincollingwood.com/green.
3. Location is Imperative
   Consider how close the house is to shops, school, Church, entertainment, work-place and public transit. Choose your location very carefully.
4. Size Matters
   Although large houses are still popular, the trend will be for smaller homes and more efficient floor plans with no space wasted. The smaller the home, the less energy needed for heat and light and the less you money spent on utilities.
5. Expect to Upgrade
   Once you have found the home you want, go ahead with a professional energy audit and expect to upgrade and implement some of the suggested changes. Re-decorate with low-VOC paint, upgrade the air system, remove old carpet and replace with wood floor. Renovate according to your ecological principles. The Canadian government will pay 50% (up to $150.00 max) towards the audit and provide grants towards certain upgrades. Visit the Home Energy Savings website http://www.homeenergyontario.ca Anything you upgrade will add value to your investment and create a greener, healthier home.
6. Research your renewable-energy potential
   Another new trend - depending on where you live there is an exciting possibility of generating some or all of your own electricity with rooftop solar panels or a backyard wind turbine. The costs of solar, wind, and geo-thermal power are falling and becoming easier to find. This may not be attainable immediately in your area so keep an ear to the ground for news to come.
7. The Yard
   Just as smaller houses are becoming popular, so too are smaller yards. Less lawn means less water. A small space for a garden is ideal to grow some of your own fruits, vegetables and herbs. Consider a space for compost pile or bin. Look for trees to help conserve energy in hot weather.

Happy home hunting! If you are considering a new or resale home in the area of Collingwood, Blue Mountain or Thornbury, Ontario I can help you find a GREEN Home or a home with the best potential for energy efficiency.

As Ontario leads the way towards mandatory home energy audits with other Canadian provinces not far behind, we can learn from the experience of United Kingdom where they have reported quite a bit of success with their programs and are already in the process of planning for zero carbon homes. In the U.K., Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) have been required since 2008 on houses that are being sold, built or rented.

EPCs are issued after a licensed inspector examines a property for its energy efficiency, a process which allows homeowners to see where improvements can be made to save the most on their energy bills, and gives prospective buyers an idea of the potential costs of owning a given property and the work that may be required to improve its efficiency.

Increasing efficiency in the home presents an effective way to combat climate change, a factor that is a significant selling point with environmentally aware buyers. A UK website states that public buildings are responsible for almost 50% of the UK's energy consumption and carbon emissions and houses, 30%. The UK program makes it mandatory for public buildings to display their energy rating. They have gone a step further and now require all air conditioning units inspected. By 4 January 2009 all air conditioning systems over 250kW must have their first inspection, and by 4 January 2011 all air conditioning systems over 12kW must have their first inspection. The inspection which is done by an accredited energy assessor will include an assessment of efficiency, a review of their sizing and advice on improvements or replacements and alternative solutions. The system inspections will also include boiler rooms in public buildings. For more info: http://www.communities.gov.uk/planningandbuilding/theenvironment/energyperformance/

The UK has a mandate to have all new homes be Zero Carbon Homes by 2016 and public buildings by 2019. The definition of Zero Carbon Homes is based on high energy efficiency, on or near-site carbon reduction, and allowable solutions for dealing with the remaining emissions.

If you want to get an idea of how your home will be rated, download the NAGAB home conservation kit on my site and be sure to sign up for my monthly newsletter "Green in Collingwood" http://www.livingincollingwood.com/green

This kit enables you to conduct an preliminary examination of your home and discover areas in which some smaller changes and fixes can be implemented that can help reduce energy costs and improve your property's score on a home energy audit. The majority of home improvements in home energy efficiency are with enhanced insulation, in the cavities of walls, between joists in attics, or around window panes, and from installing efficient fixtures and appliances. These improvements are relatively low-cost, and the benefits they provide in terms of reduced energy consumption mean they pay for themselves over the short term, and provide large savings over the long term. In addition, the audit and subsequent improvements are government subsidized and the savings in energy costs will make the project pay for itself and increase the value of your home. It's simply a win-win situation!