What are EnerGuide home evaluations and what are the benefits?
An EnerGuide home evaluation for residential new construction is a comprehensive service designed by the federal government to help builders and developers understand how a home uses energy and what steps you can take to improve the building plans and construction process to maximize the energy efficiency of the home built. The service involves a registered new homes energy advisor assessing your home’s energy performance by collecting information on the following components of your home:
- Size and geometry of your home
- Type and efficiency of space and hot water heating systems
- Insulation levels
- Windows and doors
- Ventilation systems
- Air-leakage (using a blower-door test)
This information is used to generate a pre-construction and as-built EnerGuide rating for the home and a pre-construction builder upgrades options report to outline the options and opportunities to improve the efficiency of the home during the construction process. Registered energy advisors are building science professionals who provide unbiased energy saving information, rather than recommending any particular product.
The key benefits of consulting an energy advisor for your construction project are:
- Energy Modelling to Improve Design – energy advisors conduct energy modelling to verify how much energy a proposed building is expected to use. Energy advisors also use energy modelling to provide detailed information on how each upgrade option to your building plans can improve the efficiency of the home you are building. This allows the builder to select the upgrade option that best suits the construction budget, the design of the home or the preferences of their clients.
- BC Energy Step Code Verification Services – energy modelling can confirm the home meets the minimum requirements of the BC Building Code or any step of the BC Energy Step Code. Registered EnerGuide Rating System energy advisors are authorized to provide builders with the service to complete the BC Energy Compliance Report for Part 9 buildings complying with Subsection 9.36.5. or 9.36.6. of the BC Building Code.
- Access Incentives – using a registered energy advisor can support you to access financial incentives and rebates for building to a higher level of construction. Check out the incentive search tool for information about incentives and rebates.
- Access a Home Energy Label – a home energy label is an information tool, produced by a trusted and recognized third-party, and designed to provide consumers with recognizable and comparable information about the modeled energy consumption of a home. Having a Home energy label produced for each home constructed represents a marketing opportunity for industry to differentiate themselves as builders of high efficiency homes. The home energy label validates the builder’s investments in energy efficient construction and provides the consumer with the information to make an informed choice when purchasing a home.
Learn more about EnerGuide Evaluations through the other related FAQs on the CleanBC Better Homes website.