Environment committee  Good morning, committee members, staff, and Mr. Zilberbrant. Greetings from Waterloo region. I am honoured to be part of this discussion today and am very interested in this topic. Our observation as a non-profit is that the private sector is ready and willing to partner and to

Environment committee  Well, I'd be glad to and I did have that in the text of my remarks but I cut it out, because I knew I had to speak more slowly for the translators. So thank you for asking. The REEP House for Sustainable Living is a 100-year-old house in the heart of Kitchener that has been reno

Environment committee  We do get contractors coming in. Our focus is more on helping home owners understand how to choose between different types of insulation they encounter, but we continue to work with contractors, and sometimes they send their customers to the house so they can see the different op

Environment committee  It was a request for proposals for multi-sectoral partnerships that would further home energy retrofits using the EnerGuide for houses software as part of the package and Energy Star for new homes. So in our partnership, we've partnered with Mindscape Innovations, which offers ho

Environment committee  If we are successful in our application, it would be about $120,000, which we're matching with in-kind and local money. That will help us hire a retrofit coach to help people through the process and to provide contractor training as well.

Environment committee  I would say that what we need is the support to do the work. For example, right now we're hired by the municipalities on the stormwater side to engage with businesses, to show them how to divert and soak up stormwater on their property rather than sending it all to the stormwater

Environment committee  Yes, that's one of the important parts of the demonstration. The title of it is: “What do you want your annual heating bill to be?” We show under each type of insulation and also with a bare or wall—which is how we found the house—what the heating costs are, what it costs to upgr

Environment committee  Energy Star.

Environment committee  Yes, they are. Yes, certainly, EnerGuide for houses is. I think Energy Star is too.

Environment committee  Thank you for the question. I'd see it starting with a comprehensive climate action plan for Canada that includes the residential sector and specific actions and incentives. It would include a financial incentive to homeowners to make energy retrofits, founded on an energy audit

Environment committee  Okay, there are a couple of parts there. I'll start with the residential, but I have some observations on the small business side also. On the residential side, I guess one of the first things you learn when you enter this kind of work on energy efficiency and, broadly, environm

Environment committee  I don't know the numbers. I think Natural Resources Canada would know. We're a member of Green Communities Canada, which is an umbrella organization for environment organizations like REEP across Canada. Many of our members across Canada were delivering the ecoENERGY program and

Environment committee  Green Communities Canada represents environmental organizations like ours that do community-based work.

Environment committee  There are about 25 to 30 members right now.