Mike De Souza
Province
OTTAWA — Conservative government officials and conservation groups are at odds over whether a new energy-efficiency program for home renovations is better than the program it replaced.
Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn said the new program would ensure 90 per cent of funding would go toward renovations, but critics say the program is actually half the size of the original program launched by the former Liberal government several years ago.
“Compared to previous days, the consumer will actually get a 25-per-cent higher grant,” said Lunn, who unveiled new details about the government’s ecoENERGY retrofit program last week. “There’s absolutely no question that they’ll have greater reductions in greenhouse gases.”
Last year, the Conservatives scrapped the EnerGuide for Houses program, launched by the former Liberal government, complaining that nearly half of its funding was going toward administrative costs and inspections for homeowners who didn’t follow through with renovations.
Lunn said the new program eliminates funding for audits and increases money for grants. Officials from his department have calculated that the average homeowner who participates in the plan would get a $1,100 grant. On average, that would require spending about $8,000 per household on renovations, but it would also reduce annual energy costs and consumption by 30 per cent.
Natural Resources Canada has also estimated that 35,000 homes could benefit annually, reducing pollution linked to global warming by four tonnes per house.
But Green Communities Canada, a non-profit group that promotes sustainable development in homes and businesses, says the overall funding has dropped from about $350 million over four years to about $160 million in the same time frame.
“We don’t see a program that’s going to benefit more Canadians, we see a program that’s going to benefit fewer Canadians,” said Clifford Maynes, executive director of the group. “Meantime, there isn’t any program to serve low-income [households].”
Maynes says the program should be at least 10 times greater and reach up to 1.5 million homes to be effective.
© The Vancouver Province 2007
