New Construction:
-Residential
-Institutional, Commercial & Industrial

Retrofits & Renovations:
-Residential
-Institutional, Commercial & Industrial

H = Single-family home
C = Condo 

Residential - New Construction

BC Hydro Current Window Offers – H, C

BC Hydro Energy-Efficient Lighting Design – C

The Energy-Efficient Lighting Design offer provides financial incentives and tools to help building developers and their design teams create and install more effective and energy-efficient lighting in new multi-unit residential development projects.

Receive financial incentives for the following energy-efficient measures:

-A $1,000 incentive for creating a lighting design that meets or exceeds ASHRAE/IESNA 90.1 – 2004 code.

-A capital incentive to install the new lighting. The incentive will be based on the total electrical savings of the energy-efficient design.

-An incentive of up to $3,000 will be paid for a daylight study.

-Install an in-suite ENERGY STAR package and receive rebates up to $200 per suite.  

BC Hydro Mail-in Rebates – H, C

BC Hydro focuses its incentives and rebates through demand side management by providing rebates on selected products such as programmable switches and thermostats, low-flow showerheads and Ecokits.  Please check the website for updated information as there are time limits on these incentives.

BC Hydro Whole Building Design – C

BC Hydro will co-fund an energy study to develop a high-performance design that delivers energy savings compared with a conventional building design. If the energy efficiency measures in the high-performance design involve added costs, then BC Hydro may also provide incentives to help qualified projects implement the improved design, based on the amount of savings the building will achieve. Install an ENERGY STAR package and receive rebates up to $200 per suite.  

BC Hydro Power Smart for New Homes Program – H

The Power Smart for New Homes Program is for residential builders and developers of single family homes, town homes, or multi-family residential buildings.  After construction, a blower door test is conducted by the energy advisor to verify the air changes per hour (ACH), which is inputted into the software program for a final performance rating. Results are submitted to NRCan and BC Hydro Power Smart. The home receives a Power Smart label when an EGNH 77 rating or higher is achieved. For EGNH 77 rating, the homeowner receives $200.00. For EGNH 80 rating (or higher), the homeowner receives $400.00.

City of Vancouver Solar Homes Pilot – H

Vancouver’s Solar Homes Pilot is offering $3500 towards the cost of a solar hot water system for people building new homes in Vancouver – this is roughly 50 per cent of the cost of a system. The incentive is made available by the City of Vancouver, SolarBC, Terasen Gas and Offsetters. The funding is available to 50 new homes on a first come, first served basis beginning January 2010 through March 2011. 

CMHC Mortgage Loan Insurance Refund – H, C

CMHC offers a 10% premium refund on its mortgage loan insurance premiums, as well as extended amortizations to a maximum of 40 years (subject to lender availability) without regular premium surcharges, to individuals who use CMHC-insured financing to purchase an energy efficient home.

This financial incentive is available for: R2000 homes, homes with energy efficiency rating of 77 or above, and PowerSmart labeled homes.

Eco-Efficiency Loan – C

To help businesses and not-for-profit organizations finance energy upgrades, Vancity offers extended amortization on loans, aiming to match monthly energy savings to monthly loan payments. Vancity’s Eco-Efficiency loan is available to businesses, not-for-profit organizations, housing co-operatives and property-managed stratas.

ecoENERGY for Renewable Initiative – C

Making clean, renewable electricity and heat more available and less expensive for Canadians is the goal of two ecoENERGY Renewable Initiative programs:

The $1.48 billion investment in ecoENERGY for Renewable Power will boost Canada's supply of clean electricity from renewable sources like wind, biomass, small hydro and ocean energy by up to 4,000 megawatts. An incentive of one cent per kilowatt hour for up to 10 years, for power produced by low-impact renewable energy sources, will be offered to eligible projects constructed over the next four years.

ecoENERGY for Renewable Heat is a $36 million program that will provide incentives and industry support for the use of renewable energy for heating. In addition, projects for residential solar heating technologies will be explored with partners such as utilities and community organizations.

PowerSense New Home Program – H

If you are building a home in the FortisBC service territory (including the Lower Mainland), and it is electrically heated then you may be eligible for PowerSense rebates based on the number of kWh saved per year. The company will calculate a grant for energy efficiency measures including CFL lighting, ENERGY STAR windows and heat pumps.

In addition PowerSense offers rebates for Air Source and Ground Source Heat Pumps at $0.05 per kWh in savings.  Alternatively, you can apply for a loan of up to $5000 OAC financed over 10 years at 4.9%.  

RBC Energy Saver Loan – H, C

Make a qualifying environmentally-friendly purchase and receive a 1% discount or a $100 home energy audit rebate on a fixed rate installment loan over $5,000.  Eligible products and services include:

-Environmentally-friendly products and services recommended as a result of a home energy audit

-Products and services that qualify for a government grant as outlined by the Office of Energy Efficiency

-ENERGY STAR qualified products

SolarBC Incentives – H, C

The SolarBC new homes program will provide $1,000 discount and demonstrate to builders and developers how they can simply and effectively include solar hot water systems in new home projects and developments. Groups of 20 or more homes can take advantage of bulk buy discounts through one of our registered installers.  For new homes, Builders and Developers can receive and additional $375 to the $1000 incentive from SolarBC.

http://www.solarbc.ca/install/builders-developers

In addition, multi-unit affordable and social housing providers in B.C. (including not-for-profits and housing co-ops) are eligible for the SolarBC incentive for social housing. The SolarBC incentive matches the ecoENERGY for Renewable Heat incentive to a maximum of $40,000. The incentive is calculated as follows: Performance Factor x Incentive Rate x collector area = anticipated incentive amount.

http://www.solarbc.ca/install/social-housing

Terasen Gas coupons – H, C

Terasen Gas Light Commercial ENERGY STAR Boiler Program - C

If you're building, converting or upgrading your heating system, you may qualify for a cash rebate of up to $1,495 by installing an ENERGY STAR condensing or near-condensing boiler sized up to 299 MBH.  Typically this would apply to someone who: owns a small commercial building, owns or manages a small (5-20 units) rental or strata multi-family dwelling, is a commercial developer or builder, has a long-term lease for a commercial enterprise.

Water Meter Program - Richmond – H

The City of Richmond has a program to encourage voluntary installation of water meters to promote water conservation. The program pays for meter installation.  

Water Meter Program – Surrey – H

The City of Surrey has a program to encourage voluntary installation of water meters to promote water conservation. The program pays for meter installation.

Water Saver Kits – H, C

Helping residents do their part for the environment and prevent water shortages, the City of Vancouver is offering water saving kits for using water more efficiently in the home and garden. Especially suited for older homes, the indoor water saver kit can help retrofit your kitchen and bathroom into using 15 to 20 percent less water. It includes a low-flow showerhead, faucet aerators, toilet tank bags, leak detection dye tablets and Teflon tape. The outdoor water saver kit includes an automatic timer, trigger nozzle hose gun, hose washers and sprinkler gauges, allowing residents to save up to 21 cubic meters of water per year. Available at a special reduced price for Vancouver's residents only, each kit is $12.

Institutional, Commercial & Industrial - New Construction

BC Hydro Energy-Efficient Lighting Design

The Energy-Efficient Lighting Design offer provides financial incentives and tools to help building developers and their design teams create and install more effective and energy-efficient lighting in new commercial development projects.

Receive financial incentives for the following energy-efficient measures:

-A $1,000 incentive for creating a lighting design that meets or exceeds ASHRAE/IESNA 90.1 – 2004 code.

-A capital incentive to install the new lighting. The incentive will be based on the total electrical savings of the energy-efficient design.

-An incentive of up to $3,000 will be paid for a daylight study.  

BC Hydro Project Implementation Funding

Implementation Funding is available to large commercial, government and institutional customers to reduce the capital cost of implementing electrical energy efficiency projects. Implementation Funding is designed to allow customers to meet internal hurdle rates, such as payback periods and return on investment. Through the Power Smart Partner Program, you could receive funding for up to 60% of the incremental cost of lighting, mechanical, HVAC and other energy efficiency projects. The funding level is also based on a tiered approach, meaning projects that were previously too costly may now be eligible for richer incentives.  

BC Hydro Whole Building Design

BC Hydro will co-fund an energy study to develop a high-performance design that delivers energy savings compared with a conventional building design. If the energy efficiency measures in the high-performance design involve added costs, then BC Hydro may also provide incentives to help qualified projects implement the improved design, based on the amount of savings the building will achieve.  

Eco-Efficiency Loan

To help businesses and not-for-profit organizations finance energy upgrades, Vancity offers extended amortization on loans, aiming to match monthly energy savings to monthly loan payments. Vancity’s Eco-Efficiency loan is available to businesses, not-for-profit organizations, housing co-operatives and property-managed stratas.

ecoENERGY for Renewable Initiative

Making clean, renewable electricity and heat more available and less expensive for Canadians is the goal of two ecoENERGY Renewable Initiative programs:

The $1.48 billion investment in ecoENERGY for Renewable Power will boost Canada's supply of clean electricity from renewable sources like wind, biomass, small hydro and ocean energy by up to 4,000 megawatts. An incentive of one cent per kilowatt hour for up to 10 years, for power produced by low-impact renewable energy sources, will be offered to eligible projects constructed over the next four years.

ecoENERGY for Renewable Heat is a $36 million program that will provide incentives and industry support for the use of renewable energy for heating. In addition, projects for residential solar heating technologies will be explored with partners such as utilities and community organizations.  

Green Municipal Fund

FCM’s Green Municipal Fund (GMF) offers below-market loans, in combination with grants, to support green building projects. Eligible applicants can request up to $4 million in loans and $400,000 in grants for each project.  For municipal governments, GMF offers interest rates 1.5 per cent lower than the Government of Canada bond rate for the equivalent term. Any municipal government, or municipal utility or corporation wholly owned by a municipal government in Canada may apply for funding under this call for applications. Projects eligible for this call for applications fall into two categories: energy efficient building retrofits and energy efficient new building construction. This funding opportunity is restricted to buildings owned but not necessarily operated by eligible applicants.

Revenue Canada Capital Cost Allowance

Any entity paying federal tax is eligible for this benefit for renewable energy systems. Electricity generation systems include: certain co-generation and specified-waste fueled electrical generation systems, small-scale hydro-electric installations (not exceeding 15 MW of average annual capacity), wind energy electrical generation systems, enhanced combined cycle systems, expansion engines, photovoltaic electrical generation systems (three kilowatts capacity or larger), geo-thermal electrical generation systems, electrical generating systems using solution gas that would otherwise be flared during the production of crude oil. Thermal energy systems include: active solar systems (including ground-source heat pumps), heat recovery systems, specified-waste fueled heat production equipment.

SolarBC Incentives for Local Governments

The SolarBC program now offers an incentive for local governments that are interested in installing solar hot water on municipal buildings.  The SolarBC incentive matches the ecoENERGY for Renewable Heat incentive to a maximum of $40,000. The incentive is calculated as follows: Performance Factor x Incentive Rate x collector area = anticipated incentive amount.

SolarBC Incentives for Schools

Subsidies of up to 50% (to a maximum of $12,000) of the installed cost are available upon installation and commissioning of the solar hot water system.  Installations may take place on new, replacement or existing buildings. Existing buildings will be evaluated against operational requirements (eg: declining enrolments, schools facing closure).  

Terasen Gas Efficient Boiler Program

The Terasen Gas Efficient Boiler Program is designed to encourage the use of high efficiency, natural gas hydronic space heating systems in commercial applications. If you're a commercial building owner, developer, consulting engineer or contractor, Terasen can help you select an efficient boiler configuration for your project. What's more, they can help you with financial incentives for installing or upgrading to condensing or near-condensing boilers.

For all participants, the purchase price incentive applies to the incremental purchase price of a natural gas near-condensing or condensing boiler over the purchase price of a standard efficiency boiler.   Purchase price incentive payments are limited to a maximum of 75 per cent of the purchase price premium over a standard efficiency boiler. Additionally, Terasen will contribute 50 per cent of a consultant's fees to a maximum of $1,500 toward the cost of analyzing the annual gas usage for space heating using a standard efficiency boiler system versus a higher efficiency boiler system.

Terasen Gas Light Commercial ENERGY STAR Boiler Program

If you're building, converting or upgrading your heating system, you may qualify for a cash rebate of up to $1,495 by installing an ENERGY STAR condensing or near-condensing boiler sized up to 299 MBH.  Typically this would apply to someone who: owns a small commercial building, owns or manages a small (5-20 units) rental or strata multi-family dwelling, is a commercial developer or builder, has a long-term lease for a commercial enterprise.

Residential - Retrofits & Renovations

BC Hydro Current Window Offers – H, C  

BC Hydro ENERGY STAR Appliance Rebates – H, C  

BC Hydro Fridge Buy-Back Program – H, C

If you have a fridge that measures between 10-24 cubic feet and is still in working condition, BC Hydro will pick it up, recycle it, and give you $30.  

BC Hydro Lighting Rebates – H, C

BC Hydro Power Smart is offering in-store instant discounts on ENERGY STAR light fixtures and Energy Star Specialty CFL bulbs.  

BC Hydro Mail-in Rebates – H, C

BC Hydro focuses its incentives and rebates through demand side management by providing rebates on selected products such as programmable switches and thermostats, low-flow showerheads and Ecokits.  Please check the website for updated information as there are time limits on these incentives.

BC Hydro Product Incentive Program – C

To be eligible for the Product Incentive Program, you must be a BC Hydro business customer or a BC Hydro residential strata applying for a project in its common areas. Your project must: meet the minimum criteria of $50 total financial incentives per application, only use approved products identified in BC Hydro's e.Catalog, and be installed by qualified installers  

CMHC Mortgage Loan Insurance Refund – H, C

CMHC offers a 10% refund on mortgage loan insurance premiums when a borrower makes energy-savings renovations to an existing home, if you use CMHC insured financing.

Obtain an NRCan qualified energy assessment and receive recommendations to improve your home’s energy efficiency.  Make the improvements and receive a 10% Premium Refund  

Eco-Efficiency Loan – C

To help businesses and not-for-profit organizations finance energy upgrades, Vancity offers extended amortization on loans, aiming to match monthly energy savings to monthly loan payments. Vancity’s Eco-Efficiency loan is available to businesses, not-for-profit organizations, housing co-operatives and property-managed stratas.

ecoENERGY for Renewable Initiative - C

Making clean, renewable electricity and heat more available and less expensive for Canadians is the goal of two ecoENERGY Renewable Initiative programs:

The $1.48 billion investment in ecoENERGY for Renewable Power will boost Canada's supply of clean electricity from renewable sources like wind, biomass, small hydro and ocean energy by up to 4,000 megawatts. An incentive of one cent per kilowatt hour for up to 10 years, for power produced by low-impact renewable energy sources, will be offered to eligible projects constructed over the next four years.

ecoENERGY for Renewable Heat is a $36 million program that will provide incentives and industry support for the use of renewable energy for heating. In addition, projects for residential solar heating technologies will be explored with partners such as utilities and community organizations.  

ecoENERGY Retrofit – Homes – H, C

ecoENERGY Retrofit – Homes is available to owners of single-family homes, including detached, semi-detached and low-rise multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs) that are no more than 3 storeys high. Also eligible are some small buildings of no more than 3 storeys for which at least 50 percent of the floor area is used as one or more permanent residences. Property owners can qualify for federal grants by improving the energy efficiency of their homes, and reducing their home's impact on the environment. The maximum grant you can receive for a home is $5,000. In the case of MURBs, the maximum grant receivable is $5,000 per dwelling unit. The maximum grant for property owners with multiple properties is $500,000.    

Powersense Home Improvement Program – H

If your home is located in the FortisBC service territory (including the Lower Mainland), and is electrically heated then you may be eligible for PowerSense rebates based on the number of kWh saved per year. Typical savings can arise from insulation, window upgrades, lighting and draft proofing.

In addition PowerSense offers rebates for Air Source and Ground Source Heat Pumps at $0.05 per kWh in savings.  Alternatively, you can apply for a loan of up to $5000 OAC financed over 10 years at 4.9%.  

RBC Energy Saver Loan – H, C

Make a qualifying environmentally-friendly purchase and receive a 1% discount or a $100 home energy audit rebate on a fixed rate installment loan over $5,000.  Eligible products and services include:

-Environmentally-friendly products and services recommended as a result of a home energy audit

-Products and services that qualify for a government grant as outlined by the Office of Energy Efficiency

-ENERGY STAR qualified products  

RBC Energy Saver Mortgage – H, C

Once your audit is complete, submit your receipt or invoice to your branch within 120 days of receiving your RBC Energy Saver Mortgage.  Your home energy audit rebate will be credited to your RBC account. The amount will be the actual invoiced amount of the home energy audit, up to a maximum amount of $300.  

SolarBC Incentives – H, C

SolarBC contractors will provide you with a $1,000 discount at the point of sale of your solar hot water system and we'll also help you take advantage of a further $1375 in incentives available from the Federal ecoEnergy Retrofit and the Provincial LiveSmart BC programs.

Rather than the full $1,000 point of sale discount, participants can opt for a lower $300 point of sale discount and can finance the remaining cost of the system through our SolarBC Low Interest Loan. SolarBC has negotiated a special rate for participants through our finance provider, TD Bank. The SolarBC Low Interest Loan can provide a five year, fixed rate loan at 3.75 per cent.

http://www.solarbc.ca/install/households

In addition, multi-unit affordable and social housing providers in B.C. (including not-for-profits and housing co-ops) are eligible for the SolarBC incentive for social housing. The SolarBC incentive matches the ecoENERGY for Renewable Heat incentive to a maximum of $40,000. The incentive is calculated as follows: Performance Factor x Incentive Rate x collector area = anticipated incentive amount.

http://www.solarbc.ca/install/social-housing

Terasen Gas coupons – H, C

Terasen Gas Light Commercial ENERGY STAR Boiler Program - C

If you're building, converting or upgrading your heating system, you may qualify for a cash rebate of up to $1,495 by installing an ENERGY STAR condensing or near-condensing boiler sized up to 299 MBH.  Typically this would apply to someone who: owns a small commercial building, owns or manages a small (5-20 units) rental or strata multi-family dwelling, is a commercial developer or builder, has a long-term lease for a commercial enterprise.

Toilet rebate – H, C

The City of North Vancouver, District of North Vancouver and District of West Vancouver have teamed up with the North Shore Recycling Program to deliver a toilet rebate replacement program. Your old toilet is worth $50 when you replace it with a new 6L or dual-flush model.

Vancity Bright Ideas Loan – H, C

This personal loan is at prime+1 rate for up to ten years. You can borrow as little as $3,500 or a maximum of $20,000. To qualify, you need to make renovations recommended by an ecoENERGY Retrofit - Homes evaluation of your home. These renovations must achieve at least a five-point improvement in your home’s energy efficiency rating.  

Water Meter Program - Richmond – H

The City of Richmond has a program to encourage voluntary installation of water meters to promote water conservation. The program pays for meter installation.  

Water Meter Program – Surrey – H

The City of Surrey has a program to encourage voluntary installation of water meters to promote water conservation. The program pays for meter installation. 

Water Saver Kits – H, C

Helping residents do their part for the environment and prevent water shortages, the City of Vancouver is offering water saving kits for using water more efficiently in the home and garden. Especially suited for older homes, the indoor water saver kit can help retrofit your kitchen and bathroom into using 15 to 20 percent less water. It includes a low-flow showerhead, faucet aerators, toilet tank bags, leak detection dye tablets and Teflon tape. The outdoor water saver kit includes an automatic timer, trigger nozzle hose gun, hose washers and sprinkler gauges, allowing residents to save up to 21 cubic meters of water per year. Available at a special reduced price for Vancouver's residents only, each kit is $12.

Institutional, Commercial & Industrial - Retrofits & Renovations

BC Hydro Compressed Air Initiative

If you are an industrial customer that spends more than $50,000 annually on electricity and has a compressed air system greater than 200 hp, you are eligible to participate. The Compressed Air Initiative focuses on improving the design, operation and maintenance issues of the entire system. A BC Hydro energy management engineer will identify opportunities by conducting a Compressed Air Saving Estimator (CASE) of your system. Based on the opportunities identified in the CASE, the next step would be a comprehensive investigation of your compressed air systems through an Energy Efficiency Feasibility Study.  After that, we will help you get your project off the ground by offering you financial incentives of up to 75% of the project cost.   

BC Hydro High-Bay Lighting Initiative

Warehouse storage or logistics facilities can qualify for project funding (to a maximum of 60% of total project costs) to install new energy-efficient fluorescent lighting and controls in your facility. The incentive will be based on the total electrical savings of the project.  

BC Hydro Product Incentive Program

To be eligible for the Product Incentive Program, you must be a BC Hydro business customer or a BC Hydro residential strata applying for a project in its common areas. Your project must: meet the minimum criteria of $50 total financial incentives per application, only use approved products identified in BC Hydro's e.Catalog, and be installed by qualified installers  

BC Hydro Project Implementation Funding

Implementation Funding is available to large commercial, government and institutional customers to reduce the capital cost of implementing electrical energy efficiency projects. Implementation Funding is designed to allow customers to meet internal hurdle rates, such as payback periods and return on investment. Through the Power Smart Partner Program, you could receive funding for up to 60% of the incremental cost of lighting, mechanical, HVAC and other energy efficiency projects. The funding level is also based on a tiered approach, meaning projects that were previously too costly may now be eligible for richer incentives.  

BC Hydro Refrigeration Initiative

If you have a large ammonia refrigeration system, we provide you with funding and resources to ensure your system is performing efficiently, and to help you sustain those efficiencies (and cost savings) over the long term.  We provide full funding for a preliminary end-use assessment of your refrigeration system to identify areas of improvement and associated costs. Based on opportunities identified in end-use assessment, we then provide 75% funding to perform an energy study for a comprehensive investigation of selected refrigeration systems and to help you build the business case for a project. When you are ready to implement your project, you may be eligible for financial incentives of up to 75% of the project cost. This helps you remove internal hurdles, such as reducing the project payback period.  

ecoENERGY for Industry Assessment Incentives

Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) offers financial incentives for two types of assessments through the ecoENERGY for Industry program:

-Process Integration (PI) studies are powerful analytical tools that go beyond conventional energy audits to systematically optimize interactions between systems in industrial facilities that consume significant amounts of energy.

-Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) studies go beyond conventional physical studies to analyze fluid flow and heat transfer in processes. Through computer modelling, CFD studies can be used to optimize system design and operation parameters for the efficient use of energy.

Funding is available for up to 50 percent of the cost of a study.  

ecoENERGY for Renewable Initiative

Making clean, renewable electricity and heat more available and less expensive for Canadians is the goal of two ecoENERGY Renewable Initiative programs:

The $1.48 billion investment in ecoENERGY for Renewable Power will boost Canada's supply of clean electricity from renewable sources like wind, biomass, small hydro and ocean energy by up to 4,000 megawatts. An incentive of one cent per kilowatt hour for up to 10 years, for power produced by low-impact renewable energy sources, will be offered to eligible projects constructed over the next four years.

ecoENERGY for Renewable Heat is a $36 million program that will provide incentives and industry support for the use of renewable energy for heating. In addition, projects for residential solar heating technologies will be explored with partners such as utilities and community organizations.

ecoENERGY Retrofit Incentive for Buildings

Natural Resources Canada's Office of Energy Efficiency (OEE) offers the ecoENERGY Retrofit Incentive for Buildings, the commercial/institutional component of the ecoENERGY Retrofit financial incentives for existing homes, buildings and industrial processes. If you have not yet started a new energy efficiency project, you could receive up to $10 per gigajoule of estimated energy savings, 25 percent of eligible project costs or $50,000 per project. When applying, you will need to provide a pre-project energy audit of your buildings.  

ecoENERGY Retrofit Incentive for Industry

Natural Resources Canada's (NRCan's) ecoENERGY Retrofit program is designed to help industrial facilities overcome financial barriers to improving the energy efficiency of their operations. NRCan will provide a financial incentive of up to 25 percent of project costs to a maximum of $50,000 per application and $250,000 per corporate entity to help small- and medium-sized industrial facilities implement energy-saving projects.  

Green Building Grant Program

The Green Building Grant Program was established in 2004 by Vancity in partnership with the Real Estate Foundation of British Columbia. Each year, the program provides grants of up to $50,000 each to qualified recipients. Applications are accepted from charitable organizations, not-for-profit organizations and co-operatives. The Green Building Grant Program will consider funding projects, which focus on innovative renovations or retrofits that reduce the environmental impacts associated with the construction and operation of non-industrial buildings. Project elements that will be considered for funding are: design, equipment or technology purchases; project-related research or project-related educational products and services; and structural changes or site improvements.  

Green Municipal Fund

FCM’s Green Municipal Fund (GMF) offers below-market loans, in combination with grants, to support green building projects. Eligible applicants can request up to $4 million in loans and $400,000 in grants for each project.  For municipal governments, GMF offers interest rates 1.5 per cent lower than the Government of Canada bond rate for the equivalent term. Any municipal government, or municipal utility or corporation wholly owned by a municipal government in Canada may apply for funding under this call for applications. Projects eligible for this call for applications fall into two categories: energy efficient building retrofits and energy efficient new building construction. This funding opportunity is restricted to buildings owned but not necessarily operated by eligible applicants.  

Revenue Canada Capital Cost Allowance

Any entity paying federal tax is eligible for this benefit for renewable energy systems. Electricity generation systems include: certain co-generation and specified-waste fueled electrical generation systems, small-scale hydro-electric installations (not exceeding 15 MW of average annual capacity), wind energy electrical generation systems, enhanced combined cycle systems, expansion engines, photovoltaic electrical generation systems (three kilowatts capacity or larger), geo-thermal electrical generation systems, electrical generating systems using solution gas that would otherwise be flared during the production of crude oil. Thermal energy systems include: active solar systems (including ground-source heat pumps), heat recovery systems, specified-waste fueled heat production equipment.   

SolarBC Incentives for Local Governments

The SolarBC program now offers an incentive for local governments that are interested in installing solar hot water on municipal buildings.  The SolarBC incentive matches the ecoENERGY for Renewable Heat incentive to a maximum of $40,000. The incentive is calculated as follows: Performance Factor x Incentive Rate x collector area = anticipated incentive amount.

SolarBC Incentives for Schools

Subsidies of up to 50% (to a maximum of $12,000) of the installed cost are available upon installation and commissioning of the solar hot water system.  Installations may take place on new, replacement or existing buildings. Existing buildings will be evaluated against operational requirements (eg: declining enrolments, schools facing closure).  

Terasen Gas Efficient Boiler Program 

The Terasen Gas Efficient Boiler Program is designed to encourage the use of high efficiency, natural gas hydronic space heating systems in commercial applications. If you're a commercial building owner, developer, consulting engineer or contractor, Terasen can help you select an efficient boiler configuration for your project. What's more, they can help you with financial incentives for installing or upgrading to condensing or near-condensing boilers.

For all participants, the purchase price incentive applies to the incremental purchase price of a natural gas near-condensing or condensing boiler over the purchase price of a standard efficiency boiler.   Purchase price incentive payments are limited to a maximum of 50 per cent of the purchase price premium over a standard efficiency boiler. Additionally, the program will pay your contractor up to a maximum of $400 for performing an estimate of the peak space heating load.  The program will pay 50 per cent of the cost of the necessary venting modifications up to a maximum of $2,000.  The program will also pay a monitoring incentive of $1,500 during the first year of operation plus $1 per gigajoule of total natural gas saved.   

Terasen Gas Light Commercial ENERGY STAR Boiler Program - C

If you're building, converting or upgrading your heating system, you may qualify for a cash rebate of up to $1,495 by installing an ENERGY STAR condensing or near-condensing boiler sized up to 299 MBH.  Typically this would apply to someone who: owns a small commercial building, owns or manages a small (5-20 units) rental or strata multi-family dwelling, is a commercial developer or builder, has a long-term lease for a commercial enterprise.

Breaking Ground: A development company in Comox leads by example and installs a solar hot water system in a new home

EMILY KENDY, Solar BC, Dec 8 08

Source: http://www.solarbc.ca/blog/emily-kendy/2008/12/08/breaking-ground 

Many congratulations to Welko Developments this month, the first builder in British Columbia to access the New Homes incentive program. Their Solar Hot Water system was installed by registered SolarBC contractor, TerraTek Energy Solutions Inc.

“We built it on a spec house and the reason I wanted to use solar hot water is to put something green on the house that was tangible and people could see,” Says Jayson Welsh, of Welko Developments. He explains that other green aspects of the house, from insulation to recycling and green-friendly paints are hidden. “And as a builder, I also wanted to set myself apart.”

Despite wanting to take advantage of cutting edge energy solutions, Jayson says he would like to see more builders getting certified to build green. “I believe in using new energy systems to reduce fossil fuels, and I’m big on recycling.”

While he sees solar hot water being quite a feasible option on the West Coast, he does admit that the economy and cost of the systems makes it a difficult sell at the moment. However, this isn’t stopping him from promoting and installing systems. “I’m building my own house next year and will be implementing a solar hot water system, or a panel.”

Scott Fleenor, Principal of Terratek, based out of Courtenay, BC, doesn’t think there is a lack of demand. He sees a lot of interest in solar hot water installations, especially with new builds. “The main reason is consumer awareness,” says Fleenor. “Take houses being rated by EcoEnergy evaluators – customers know that a home with an energy rating of 80 will cost less in operating costs than one with a rating of 70. Because of this awareness, the demand for green homes has increased and solar hot water is one of the most economical and viable options available.”

Scott also believes that the technology works very well in this climate and thinks SolarBC is an excellent way to help promote the eco-friendly technology. “Lowering energy bills is a good thing,” he says. “As is conserving the environment, which is what we’re all about.”

"Incentives for Energy Efficient Upgrades"

Laura Krohn, LiveSmart BC Outreach Specialist, Light House and City of Vancouver Sustainability Group

"Incentives for Energy Efficient Upgrades"

Laura Krohn, LiveSmart BC Outreach Specialist, Light House and City of Vancouver Sustainability Group 

Government incentives for building and renovating “Green”
Nafisa Abdulla, Canadian Home Builders’ Association of BC, Oct 11 07

I am a student and I rent a room in a house. Our electricity bills are very high and we would like to do something about lowering them. Are there any incentives for renters?

Where to find incentives and rebate programs.

Some resources for rebates and incentives are:

1) BC Hydro: www.bchydro.com/powersmart

2) GVRD: www.gvrd.bc.ca/buildsmart/incentives.htm

3) ecoENERGY Program: oee.nrcan.gc.ca