Through the delivery of our services we help projects to achieve, and be recognized for, meeting high performance standards such as ENERGY STAR for New Homes, R-2000, LEED Canada for Homes, and Net Zero Energy.
For homeowners and projects in need of ecoENERGY Retrofit Homes services exclusively, BEC provides ecoENERGY evaluations to the same level of service our professional new homes clients demand, at rates that rival our value priced ecoENERGY competitors.
Our staff are specialists experienced in high performance ‘green’ homebuilding. They have a diverse knowledge base spanning building science, energy efficiency, and both interior and mechanical design.
With our shared expertise, BEC helps to originate designs that — improve occupant comfort, health and safety — reduce the cost of home ownership — and reduce the impacts of buildings on the environment.
The ecoENERGY Retrofit – Homes program provides professional advice and financial assistance of up to $5,000 to encourage owners of existing low-rise properties to make smart energy retrofit decisions that will result in significant energy cost savings, more comfortable living spaces and a cleaner environment.
Natural Resources Canada’s Office of Energy Efficiency administers the program and provides the grants, but local service organizations across the country deliver the program to homeowners.
To qualify for ecoENERGY incentives homeowners need to have a home energy evaluation completed before they undertake eligible home improvements. To obtain an appointment with a service organization such as BEC Consulting homeowners must first register with Natural Resources Canada and obtain a customer identification (CID) number.
A major benefit of the ecoENERGY program is the EnerGuide Rating and professional advice that you will receive as part of the pre-retrofit evaluation. This information can enable a homeowner to make significant reductions in energy costs and to significantly improve home comfort. The one time grants should be considered gravy... a bonus that your receive in addition to the other benefits, rather than as the primary objective of having an evaluation.
Secondly, not all energy advisors share the same level of knowledge and skill... The best advisors and service organizations tend to cost a little more. Saving $25.00 on the cost of an energy evaluation may not be the wisest choice when your results are highly dependent upon the knowledge and experience of your advisor and support you will receive from your advisor and service organization.
LOOKING TO BUILD GREEN? UNSURE WHERE TO START?
Ask us about our free consultation. An initial consultation with BEC Consulting will allow you to become familiar our design optimization process, and the green certification options we provide. Our inspection and certification options are your assurance that the green features that we help to design into your home are properly incorporated into the home construction process.
Still not sure of the benefits from increased home performance? The sound design choices we help implement result in a high level of energy efficiency (EnerGuide 80+, 30% better than code) and exceptional performance in comfort, and durability, as well as providing the potential for greatly enhanced indoor air quality. Our experience over the past 20 years illustrates that these are the area that resonate most with homeowners.
Additionally, the payback from energy efficiency upgrades can help offset the costs to achieve exceptional performance in areas that do not have their own financial clear payback to the owner or builder such as environmentally responsible use of materials or water efficiency.
Many home buyers expect a typical code-built home to not only hold aesthetic appeal, but to also keep their family comfortable, safe, and operate at a high efficiency and low cost. Those of you who follow Mike Holmes hear that too often this isn't the case. Most people do not realize the building code represents the minimum performance standard acceptable; a code-built home is the lowest performing home that a builder can legally build, period.
How many consumers consider buying the base package on an automobile? How many manufacturers only offer a single engine package on a car model? How many dealers ignore a potential car buyers desire to discuss fuel efficiency and/or performance packages? Yet in the homebuilding industry sales agents routinely ignore opportunities to sell performance and upgrade opportunities to potential homebuyers. Our research demonstrates that this is due to the fact that most builders do not offer performance improvement packages or energy efficiency upgrades
Designing for Energy Efficiency requires knowledge, experience, and a disciplined design evaluation process.
The following video from Natural Resources Canada explains the EnerGuide Rating System and evaluation process used for NRCan housing programs.
The best person to explain the benefits of owning a high performance green home is someone who actually owns and lives in one.
The U.S. Green Building Council has a video on Vimeo where homeowners talk about their LEED certified homes.
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31-12-2010
John, I must admit in sincerity that I have appreciated everything you have provided to me, and that the continued exchanges with you emphasize my impression from our first conversation that it was the right thing for me to approach BEC with regards to my LEED consultation and certification needs.
21-04-2010