I'll start, thank you.
Good morning, everyone. My name is Stephen MacDonald. I'm the chief executive officer of Efficiency One. With me is my colleague Amelia Warren, our director of customer experience and partnerships.
Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak with you today as part of your work on studying economic opportunities for energy efficiency. I have some prepared remarks to make, and I am anxious to answer questions as well.
Efficiency One is a North American leader in the design and delivery of energy-efficiency programs and services for households, businesses and institutions. Our model focuses on building industry capacity by partnering with a broad network of local businesses to deliver our services. These businesses include energy auditors, contractors, retailers, technical consultants, architects, builders and many more.
Currently, we work with more than 200 partners to offer advice, technical assistance and financial incentives to over 200,000 customers in Nova Scotia, as the franchise holder of Efficiency Nova Scotia, Canada's first and only energy-efficiency utility. As the franchise holder, Efficiency One has the exclusive right to supply Nova Scotia's electricity utility with reasonably available, cost-effective efficiency and conservation activities for a 10-year period. These activities are regulated by the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board. Costs are included in electricity rates.
Efficiency One also administers programs to help homeowners reduce their use of home heating oil and other fuels, with support from the Government of Nova Scotia and the Government of Canada's low carbon economy fund. These programs focus on reducing the burden of energy costs on low-income households. They also include several innovative pilot programs and new incentives to support the adoption of solar photovoltaic systems.
One of our pilots focuses on partnering with Nova Scotia's 13 first nations communities to provide energy-efficient upgrades such as draft-proofing and insulation. These upgrades are expected to result in more than $1 million in lifetime savings for participants. The pilot also focuses on education and awareness building to enable future energy-efficiency activities in these communities.
Nova Scotia's focus on energy efficiency to date has reduced our electricity use by over 10%, while generating hundreds of millions of dollars in annual energy bill savings, money that will be recirculated in our economy for years to come. We are also on track to contribute more than one tonne of avoided CO2 for every Nova Scotian, every year. In fact, energy efficiency is one of the main reasons that Nova Scotia is on track to meet its climate change targets.
The Province of Nova Scotia has committed to expanding its energy-efficiency efforts, recognizing that these efforts are an extremely cost-effective way to reduce carbon emissions while supporting growth of the local economy. Our experience in Nova Scotia over the last 10 years is proof of the economic and environmental benefits that energy efficiency delivers.
What we have found is that energy-efficiency activities generate a significant portion of Nova Scotia's gross domestic product, and energy efficiency's share of GDP continues to grow. Our energy-efficiency industry directly provides over 1,400 full-time jobs with direct sector income valued at $83.5 million. The two subsectors that define Nova Scotia's energy-efficiency industry are non-construction firms that derive more than 50% of their revenue from energy-efficiency products or services, and firms that build energy-efficient residential homes or perform renovations to improve the efficiencies of residential and non-residential buildings.
Energy efficiency's share of Nova Scotia's GDP is valued at over $400 million. It's expected to grow by 5% over the next five years. That's compared to forecasted growth of about 2% for the rest of the province's GDP.
Government plays a critical role in helping the energy-efficiency sector achieve its growth potential. Through feedback from industry group participant surveys, respondents identified Nova Scotia's current incentive system as critical to sustaining and growing the industry. Respondents emphasized the continued need for government-supported financial incentives for energy-efficiency activities, including new rebate programs as well as the need for greater public awareness of energy efficiency and a skilled workforce.
Public opinion in Nova Scotia further supports the industry's feedback. Third party polling data shows that a significant majority of Nova Scotians consistently assign a high importance to reducing their energy use. What's more, a significant majority of Nova Scotians express a high level of agreement that adopting a more energy-efficient lifestyle adds to their quality of life.
While public demand for energy-efficiency programs and services is strong, Efficiency One's research consistently shows that cost is the most significant barrier to program participation. We believe there is significant opportunity to increase the adoption of deep energy-efficiency retrofits with innovative financing options and incentive programs.
In Nova Scotia, our most pressing gap, and our greatest opportunity, is in the non-residential, non-electric sector. In many cases, more than 60% of the energy used by facilities in this sector is in the form of natural gas, number two oil or bunker C oil. There are currently no rebate, incentive or support programs available in Nova Scotia to help these customers save non-electric energy.
I'll give you an example. A Halifax business owner, Duncan MacAdams, has invested in reducing energy use at four of his 50-plus-year-old multi-unit residential buildings. He's done this by transitioning from oil to a district heating system that relies on a combination of natural gas, biomass, solar, and ground-source heat pumps. Mr. MacAdams would like to further reduce his reliance on fossil fuels and eliminate his buildings' carbon footprint. He'd like to do this by adding additional solar and biomass capacity. However, support for projects such as Mr. MacAdams' is currently a funding gap in our portfolio.
Gaps like this exist in every province, and the role governments can play to support energy-efficiency activity across Canada goes beyond incentives and rebates. I would like to leave the committee with four recommendations for its consideration.
The first is to address the funding gaps that exist in energy-efficiency programs for industrial and/or multi-unit buildings for customers who use fuels like oil, natural gas or coal and who may wish to transition to low carbon or zero carbon options.
Second, government can play a critical role in training and skills development to grow a workforce that is prepared for a low carbon economy and that will benefit from the job opportunities created by increased energy-efficiency activity.
The third is to work in consultation with the private sector to leverage innovative and private sector financing options to assist in deep energy retrofits and upgrades of our building stock.
The fourth is to ensure there are public policy and regulatory standards, like national building codes, that can help drive demand for energy-efficiency products and services, and support market transformation.
The good news is that we are not starting from scratch. In Nova Scotia, we have a robust energy-efficiency market knowledge. We have expertise and we have industry capacity. We have a well-developed network of trade partners, and we have strong public awareness of and demand for energy-efficiency programs and services. The people, the companies and the know-how are ready and eager to contribute to Canada's economic and environmental prosperity.
Thank you.