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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - As the summer housing market heats up, energy efficiency has become a hot topic with home-sellers this year.

Before listing their property for sale, the owners of this recently sold Rycon Drive home replaced the furnace with a high-efficiency version, which runs off propane. To compete with new properties that are now required by the city to be built to EnerGuide 80 standards, homeowners are renovating and turning to alternative fuel sources to improve the energy efficiency of their property. - photo courtesy of Jacqueline Rocher, Coldwell Banker

In light of recently introduced city regulations requiring higher energy standards for new properties, homeowners are renovating their properties to also match those standards to compete, Coldwell Banker agent Jacqueline Rocher said.

"Older units are now having to compete against those built to EnerGuide 80 standards," Rocher said. "In order to remain competitive in today's market it is incredibly important to have made home improvements that will increase the home's efficiency."

One home, listed by Rocher on Rycon Drive recently sold for list price with multiple offers, after the homeowners replaced the windows, re-insulated the walls and crawl space, and replaced the furnace with a high efficiency version.

Since the city implemented a requirement in January for owners of single- or two-family buildings to get an energy audit for building permits for additions, alterations, repairs or upgrades, it has received 30 permit applications for projects on existing residential buildings, building inspections manager Bill Fandrick said.

Introduced in January, the new regulations now require an EnerGuide rating of 70 to obtain a permit for alterations, and if the energy audit scores below 70, the homeowner must upgrade the home's energy efficiency to achieve a minimum 10 per cent improvement, or until efficiency reaches the EnerGuide score of 70.

"Our primary interest is to encourage more energy efficient buildings," Fandrick said.

Fandrick says one of the easiest ways to increase the energy efficiency of a house is to look at the insulation levels and seal up drafts, but another home improvement strategy gaining popularity is switching to a greener fuel source.

"People are using our services to try to save money," Arctic Energy Alliance executive director Louie Azzolini said, noting that conserving energy has become very popular now that people are realizing the savings available with alternative fuel.

"We are now reaching shortages in availability of oil," Azzolini added, citing the recent sale of 30 million barrels of crude oil from the U.S. government's emergency Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

"If that's the future we're looking at, it makes a lot of sense to be looking at alternatives to provide you economic security," Azzolini said.

To save on electricity costs, Rocher's Rycon Drive clients tied their hot water tank into their propane furnace through an on-demand system to save on electricity costs, she said, predicting that the push for more energy efficiency is here to stay.

"This is not a trend that will lessen over time," she said. "But a new way of looking at construction and how we can all help to reduce our environmental footprint."

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