Sudbury group introduces new program that offers home energy audits for Sudburians

Sudbury -

The group working to make Sudbury more environmentally friendly is bringing a new program to homeowners in Sudbury, as well as revamping a popular program for businesses that was created in 2016.

The group, reThink Green, introduced a program called Northern Home Energy Assessment program. Officials said it’s a way for homeowners to take advantage of the Canada Greener Homes grant.

"The federal government is offering funding for homeowners to do retrofits to their houses," said Rebecca Danard, executive director with reThink Green.

"To do that, we have to do an assessment both before you do the work and afterwards. There’s currently nobody offering these assessments in Sudbury."

Danard said many people want to make a difference in their homes, but don’t know where to begin.

"That’s where we come in," she said. "We can evaluate the performance of the home. One of the things we do is a blower door test. So, it’s a large piece of equipment that goes in the doorway and it tests the air seal of the home to see how much leakage there is."

The cost of a home audit is about $500, and officials said the rebates from Ottawa can be as high as $5,000.

As well as the audits, reThink Green is revamping its Green Economy North program, which helps businesses measure their carbon footprint. Danard said they are also busy making the program more virtual and based on a group setting.

"There is a lot of overlap in terms of some of the similar things, like how do you make a greenhouse gas inventory," she said.

"So that kind of information is better done in a group setting so we can talk to many businesses at once. It allows business to connect with one another and share tips and tricks."