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Green Building 101 Resources

This page is under continual development as we add resources and case studies related to our Green Building 101 workshop (click HERE for registration details).



Grants & Incentives

  • GVRD Incentives--A useful list of GVRD Financial Incentives on their BuildSmart site
  • EcoEnergy Grants for Residential Property Owners--Government grants for improving the energy efficiency of your home.
  • LiveSmartBC Energuide Incentive Program--The province of BC will be offering an incentive of $150 towards having an initial D evaluation completed on your home as part of their new LiveSmart program. The incentive will be tied into the current federal ecoENERGY program to encourage home owners to reduce their energy consumption.
  • CMHC Mortgage Loan Insurance--A 10% CMHC mortgage loan insurance premium refund may be available when you use CMHC insured financing to purchase an energy-efficient home or make energy-saving renovations.
  • BC Hydro Fridge Buy-Back Program--BC Hydro will pickup and recycle your old, inefficient second fridge and give you $30 for it
  • Vancity Bright Ideas Loan--Grants range from $3,500-$20,000 at a reduced rate of interest. To qualify, you need to make renovations recommended by an EnerGuide for Houses evaluation of your home.
  • Vancity/Real Estate Foundation Green Building Grant--Each year, the program provides one or more grants up to $50,000 each to qualified recipients. Total annual grants are a minimum of $100,000. Applications are accepted from charitable organizations, not-for-profit organizations or co-operatives
  • VanCity Cashback--The VanCity credit union provides a cash reward of $170 for energy efficient home renovations recommended by an EnerGuide for Houses evaluation. The renovations must achieve at least a five-point improvement in the EnerGuide for Houses rating. The $170 value is intended to cover the cost of the EnerGuide for Houses evaluation; your renovation must cost $3,500 or above.
  • RBC Homeline Plan®--RBC has a green home renovation program offering: a $300 rebate for all new RBC Homeline Plan® clients towards a home energy audit, a chance to win $25,000 towards a home retrofit project, and educational tools to help customers better understand the financial and environmental benefits of an energy retrofit (provided in partnership with the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation)
  • Development Incentives--Development incentives may be offered at the discretion of the District for projects that support the District's vision and policy objectives through exemplary environmental performance.

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Rating Systems
While the majority of these rating systems are geared towards commercial buildings, there are some which are appliable to homeowners such as R-2000, Built Green and soon to be forthcoming, LEED for new homes. Even though these rating systems are commercial buildings based, they are still helpful when determining which areas to focus on for your home and are a useful reference "guide" to green building in general.

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Case Studies

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Fact Sheets and How-to Guides

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Green Building Links

Education

SEI (Solar Energy International)

  • SEI offers hands-on workshops and online courses which focus on solar, wind and water power and natural building technologies. Please visit: http://www.solarenergy.org for more information.

BCIT

Langara

  • Environmental Stewardship--enables participants to evaluate and meaure energy savings, advance energy efficiency and renewable energy in new and exisiting buildings, participate in emerging business opportunities and more.

LEED

Doulgas College

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