Cell 604-
Powell River, BC Canada The Pearl on the Sunshine Coast
The Green-
Living gently on the coast of British Columbia
As Buyers and Sellers are becoming more educated about real estate before enlisting
the help of a REALTOR® it is essential that we, in the profession, are up-
Over the past year I have taken courses through the National Association of Green Agents and Brokers (NAGAB) to become an Accredited Green Agent. Now that I have that designation, it means that I am able to assist clients with understanding the energy efficiency of their home. Knowing about efficient adaptations to heating or cooling can decrease utility bills and make for a more comfortable living environment.
What makes a “healthy” home interests me greatly. I hope that this page can be used as a basis for both Buyers and Owners for finding out more about the latest advice re energy savings and products. If you have suggestions of other information to put on this page, please let me know.
New Building Codes came out in September 2008 to incorporate the recent change in environmental standards for new home construction. New homes were scoring around 74 on the EnerGuide rating system and the new Codes have increased that to at least 78 (see below).
The Codes will hopefully smooth out confusion plaguing the building industry over correct applications of materials, such as vapour or air barriers for example. And, they will allow Building Inspectors to be more comfortable about the use of newer construction techniques, such as ICF.
Home Energy Assessment & EnerGuide
Home Energy Assessors work with both new construction and mature homes to help owners make the most of energy saving measures. City Green Solutions provides home assessments, retrofit planning and access to incentive grants. Speaking of the latter, there are some grants available through the provincial government to home owners looking to increase the energy efficiency of their home.
LiveSmart BC is a government initiative to raise awareness of conscious steps we can take to reduce our impact on the environment. They list the rebates available for making adaptations to our homes.
To qualify for rebates, home owners must first have their home assessed by a Home Energy Assessor.
When a current home is assessed, a report is created from the information gathered at the home. This includes a blower test where air is sucked out so that it is easy to feel where air leaks into/out of the home. Using all the data, a score is created between 1 and 100. For older homes, this EnerGuide score may be lower than 50, but with some improvements to heating efficiency, insulation, windows and doors this can be increased substantially.
The Assessor visits the home twice -
The Built Green BC Program is aimed at promoting green building practices. It is a voluntary practice that encourages builders to incorporate energy efficiency and environmental design into their creations. This leads to lower utility bills for owners, increased home comfort, healthy indoor living environment, less maintenance and more durability, and a uniqueness that sets the building apart from its conventional competition.
The program works with the EnerGuide rating system, scoring developments between
0-
Standing for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, LEED standard developments are classed as “certified”, “silver”, “gold”, and “platinum”. The designations refer to the relative increase in environmental awareness and incorporation of initiatives into the development, and the subsequent decrease in footprint upon the environment.
With the new Building Codes, all municipal buildings are to reach the LEED Gold standard, with all new developments needing to meet the LEED silver standard.
Roughly speaking, to be LEED silver increases building costs by approximately 5%,
to be LEED gold adds 10%, and to be LEED platinum adds between 15-
To offset some of these costs, there are rebates available to LEED standard buildings which use less water, create less sewage and are cheaper to run than their conventional counterparts.
Example Communities -
In March 2008 the community of Courtenay, on the east coast of Vancouver Island, hosted the Living Green Building Green conference. One of the presentations given at the conference was regarding Ucluelet, on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Ucluelet is a small community quite isolated, at the southern tip of the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.
Being isolated seems to have helped the community pull together to incorporate environmental
consciousness into developing the area. They have an affordable housing program;
are looking into wave power; are an electric car pilot project; provide public access
to all waterfront areas; have pervious paths, French drains, and underground hydro;
have increased parkland designation for new developments from 5% to 40-
They have done this by working together as a community, local government and as developers, and are a great example of what can be done with the right ingenuity, leadership and team.
Greenworks Building Supply in Vancouver -
BC Hydro’s Power Smart New Home Program
VanCity Credit Union’s Bright Ideas Loans -
Natural Resources Canada’s ecoACTION programs for buildings, houses, retrofits and renewable energy initiatives
The above information is just a brief synopsis of environmentally conscious ideas when it comes to buildings and the homes in which we live. It provides a starting point for your further research.
If you believe something else needs to be included, let me know. I’d be happy to
learn more myself and pass it along to others. Contact me by cell at 604 414-