Yellowknife (Sep 06/04) - Retrofitting your home or business to increase its energy efficiency can save you some serious cash thanks to funding offered by the Government of Canada.

"You get a little money back from the federal government and you save a lot more down the road," said Kaara Pallop, communications manager at the Arctic Energy Alliance.

In the NWT, several Natural Resources Canada incentive programs are offered through the Arctic Energy Alliance to encourage home and business owners to make buildings more energy efficient.

The EnerGuide for Houses Retrofit Incentive Program was created for homeowners interested in making their houses more energy efficient.

To be eligible, homeowners must complete energy efficiency retrofits based on recommendations of an independent energy advisor who assesses how the home uses energy and assigns it a rating.

The size of the grant is based on the difference between the ratings before and after the retrofit, and has a maximum value of $3,348 for a 65-point increase.

"It's not simple to jump up by even five or six points," Pallop said. "It depends on the home."

Pallop said the program targets older homes that stand to benefit a great deal from a few simple retrofits.

"In Yellowknife, the most common changes have been improvements in insulation," she said.

Since the program began a year and a half ago, 176 EnerGuide for Houses evaluations have been performed in Yellowknife, and 50 others throughout the rest of the NWT.

"The programs have been expanding into the communities as we raise interest and word spreads," Pallop said.

Businesses, too

Pallop said there are also two funding programs available to businesses that want to increase their energy efficiency.

The Commercial Building Incentive Program offers funding to businesses that are constructing a new building to offset the costs of designing energy efficient buildings. The Energy Innovators Initiative helps cover costs associated with retrofits for existing buildings. The incentive value received under the CBIP depends on the amount of energy saved.

To qualify, the building must use 25 per cent less energy than a similar building constructed to common standards.

"The target energy savings are not that hard to hit," said Pallop.

Pallop says it's a win-win situation.

"How much money you get back depends on how much energy and money you save," she said.