Canada Greener Homes Grant

[ABMax24]

I'm still trying to decipher all the wording of the grant, and some of the wording is unclear. However it appears up to $5600 is available per house to perform before and after energy audits, and make upgrades based on the recommendations of the audit. It appears upgraded air sealing, upgrading insulation, switching heating and hot water to heat pumps, and solar PV installations are all covered within the grant, as well as other upgrades to limit flooding and water damage. It also appears there will be interest free loans of up to $40k to help pay for the upfront costs of these upgrades, however details haven't been released on this yet.

I'm not sure how the solar PV works though, I'm not sure why an energy audit would be required pre and post installation to receive the grant, but the wording appears to indicate this is required. My parents are possibly interested in ground mounted solar PV, but had the insulation and air sealing upgraded 15 years ago in the last round of grants so have no real reason to have an energy audit conducted.

Canada Greener Homes Grant

We want to help Canadians make where they live more energy efficient.

www.nrcan.gc.ca

 

[maple1]

Make sure to come back and update on what you find out once you get it deciphered. That also caught my ear. I think I have a bunch of 'could do' stuff around here that might apply to.

 

[clancey]

I am going to be a old fart here because I am at the age where I do not trust "any of these things" and has "anybody" ever really came out ahead on these things "other" than it being a outright "grant"where you actually "see the money"---sorry for my negative attitude..I had a teacher one time and the class was talking about advertisements on how to save money and the teacher said: "nothing" is "free" and we all pay in the end anyway---we all laughed...clancey

 

[begreen]

It's always a good idea to be mindful of Federal, state, and local incentives. Energy grants, rebates and tax credits are real. Many here have based their purchases on HPHW heaters, heat pumps, cars, energy retrofits, stoves, etc. and saved a lot. Personally, they saved us $7500 buying the Volt and several hundred on upgrading to Energy Star appliances, not to mention the continued savings after doing so. They also reduced the payback time for our solar install by several years.

 

[ABMax24]

I did talk to my solar installer today, to their knowledge a pre and post NRCan home inspections are required to qualify for the solar grant, they also said to stipulate you want solar PV to the inspector to ensure they document it on their paperwork. Which is different from the grant I received in 2018 from the Alberta government for my solar system, as long as the contractor was certified for the program no home inspection was required once the contractor summitted all the applicable paperwork, was much simpler.

I haven't really dug into anything on the heating side, grants only apply to heat pumps, and at current and foreseeable energy prices I'm far better off to stay with my condensing natural gas furnace, same goes for my condensing gas water heater.

I am looking at install central AC in our house in the next couple weeks, but grants don't apply to cooling, and with current COVID shortages I'm having trouble finding a unit more efficient than a basic single stage 13 SEER anyway.