We live in Toronto, Canada which has all four seasons (with current weather being broadly very cold winters and warm summers) and our house is about 100 years old. It is our first house.
This is our journey to save money on our combined (Electricity and Gas) Energy budget, reduce risks to our health, and to do our part in creating a healthy environment for all.
This will be broken into four additional posts:
- Weatherisation of our home
- Replacing end of life appliances – Cooker, Fridge, Washer and Dryer
- Replacing an old Gas Furnace
- Replacing an ancient Gas Water heater
Learning about homes
In 2021 we bought our first home. I have lived most of my life in rental apartments, condos and flats. Looking after your own home when you have had a mixed bag of Landlords – is a journey.
As a housewarming gift, a friend bought me a really good book “How your House Works” (I got the third Edition, a fourth is in the works). This was a great primer and helped me and my partner fix a few things ourselves.
Over the next several years (in part due to cost and time commitment), I participated in several courses. I applied for a free course Electrical Coach with Rewiring America whilst living in Chicago, USA. I discovered them from research on Induction heating and some very funny videos they produced ->
I have been interested in electrical efficiency for some time, so this seemed like a good moment to invest some time to learning more. I studied Electrical work for three months full-time and became a pre-apprentice. This was frankly an incredible course in so many ways – you can read my journey here.
In 2024, I got into a cohort for the Electrical Coaches course. This was a very useful course, without a doubt gave me a lot of knowledge and I learned a bunch of wisdom from people who do this full-time. I learned a lot from this course – in my work I do a LOT of systems thinking. It taught me to think about the house really as one system, and that everything is impacted by choices in the other.
Home revonvation Rebates and saving
In Canada we have a number of rebate programs and interest free loans that you can apply for.
At a Canadian Federal Level we have a couple programs:
- Canada Greener Homes Loan – Interest free for three years
- Canada Greener Homes Grant – We applied for this before it closed
At a Provincial level for us in Ontario the programs are extremely limited – and “delegated” to the local monopoly Gas Company, Enbridge.
Home Renovation Savings – https://www.homerenovationsavings.ca
It’s worth noting that you CANNOT get grants/rebates if you have started the work and in the Ontario Provincial case your contractor needs to be verifield by the provincial government.
In Terms of Rebates I would check the websites – when do they start, when do they run out, what is the actual amount you will receive. Many market big numbers but you will only be able to access them if you have a bigger home.
The next post will focus on Weather and Weatherisation of our Home
Eric Brooke's Blog 