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EARTH HOUR BLU IS TODAY. 8:30-9:30PM


 

In honour of todays Earth Hour Blue, we thought we would offer a couple solutions for the other 8,765 hours in the year. Below are 50 ways to green your home and save money in Greater Vancouver (as determined by the REBGV):

LOCATION - Choosing Where You Live

1 Green neighbourhoods. Buy a home in a neighbourhood close to work, transit, shopping, community centres and other services.

2 Transit-oriented density (TOD) New, compact, complete green neighbourhoods are being built with transit as their focus. Instead of owning a car, join a car share cooperative, take transit, cycle or walk.

3 Lower Cost Luxury. If features such as a gym or pool are what  you want, buy a strata unit with these amenities and share costs.

4 Score your location. Walkable neighbourhoods offer health, environmental, financial and community benefits. Enter your address or the address of a home you want to buy at www.walkscore.com. This tool calculates a walkability score based on the homes proximity to transit, grocery stores, schools and other amenities.

HOME IMPROVEMENT - Heating and Cooling

5 You choose, you save LiveSmart BC offers a variety of incentive and rebate programs.

6 Install a high-efficiency heating system. Make sure it’s ENERGY STAR rated.

7 Weatherize your home From windows to doors to insulation and weather stripping. Don’t forget to seal your ducts.

8 Insulate your pipes. It will prevent costly heat loss. 

9 Insulate your hot water heater. Buy a pre-cut jacket or blanket for $10–$20. You’ll save up to 10% on heating costs. 

10 Install a programmable thermostat.Set it lower at night and during the day when you’re away. Lower the temperature. Each degree below 20C saves you 3-5% on heating costs.

11 Clean your furnace filter.This optimizes performance.

12 Get the most from your fireplace. Here’s how to make it efficient.

13 Use curtains. In the daytime during summer, close to help cool your home. 

14 Install ceiling fansThe energy it takes to run a fan is less than an air conditioner. In summer, make sure the fan’s blades are rotating anti-clockwise for a cooling effect. In winter, the fan should be running clockwise, pushing the warm air down.

15 Use an electric fan. Skip the air conditioning. On hot summer days, place a bowl of ice in front of a fan to cool down.

16 Fix leaks. Fix leaking taps. One drop per second equals 7,000 litres of water wasted per year. 

17 Install a filter. Stop buying costly bottled water which adds to the landfill.

LIGHTING - make the switch

18 Change your light bulbs. Lighting accounts for 15% of your energy bill. Replace old bulbs with ENERGY STAR rated bulbs. Check for rebates.

19 Motion detector lights.Turn lights off outside when not in use.

20 Keep it dark. Light pollution is an increasing problem. Turn off outdoor lights to save energy and encourage night life such as bats and frogs. A single bat can eat tens of thousands of mosquitoes nightly. If you have safety concerns, use motion detector lights – which come on, only as needed.

21 Holiday lights Use LED lights.

KITCHEN - cooking and cooling

22 Replace your fridge. An old energy guzzling fridge costs you about $85 a year to operate. Replace it with an ENERGY STAR fridge. BC Hydro will rebate you $50. BC Hydro will also not only come and pick up your old fridge free-of charge, they’ll give you $30. 

23 Replace your freezer. Buy an ENERGY STAR appliance and BC Hydro will rebate you $25.

BATHROOM - water consumption

24 Low flow shower. Hot water accounts for 25% of your energy costs. Showers can be the largest single contributor to overall hot water use in a home, accounting for 15% of total household energy use. Save with a low-flow showerhead.

25 High efficiency or dual flush (you choose the amount of water used) toilets. These are now required in new homes because of water savings.

OFFICE - power suckers

26 Use smart strips. Also known as power bars, this lets you power off all equipment at the same time.

27 Buy energy smart electronics and save.

28 Recycle your old electronics.

YARD IMPROVEMENT - get back to the roots

29 Conserve water Fresh water comprises just 3% the world’s total water supply, so conserve. Get a rain barrel and harvest water you can use in your garden. Local governments such as Vancouver and Richmond will subsidize the cost.

30 Drip irrigation It saves water compared to sprinklers.

31 Elbow grease Don’t power wash your driveway. Sweep it or use a scrub brush and pail.

32 Less lawn Lawns waste water. Instead conserve and beautify using indigenous plants such as ferns, tiger lilies and hostas.

33 Grow your own How much more will you spend on food this year? Even a few miniature fruit trees and a small vegetable garden in a raised bed or in containers will help keep you healthy and save you dollars. Lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries and blueberries thrive in our climate. 

34 Preserve your produce Invest in home canning jars and equipment and a small freezer and enjoy your produce year round – at considerable savings. 

35 Bee Friendly we need bees to pollinate, so get a few plant bee-friendly annuals suck as sters, merigolds, sungflowers, zinnias; or perennials such as clematis,foxgloves, hollyhocks, roses or shrubs such as Buddleia.

36 Go chemical-free “Get rid of weeds without using chemicals that harm us and our pets,” advises REALTOR® and Richmond City counselor, Derek Dang, who led the way to a bylaw banning cosmetic pesticides. His suggestion, “Use dish detergent or weed by hand.”

37 Plant fruit trees They’ll give you shade and fruit. Plum, apple, pear and more.

38 Compost It will make your garden grow and divert waste from the landfill.

GREEN AND CLEAN - chemicals

39 Clean green Vinegar, baking soda and lemons clean as well as expensive, chemical-filled cleaning supplies for a fraction of the cost.

40 Green Laundry detergent Use phosphate-free, biodegradable detergent. 

41 Upgrade your washing machine  Replace your old washing machine with an ENERGY STAR washer that gets clothes clean using cold water and BC Hydro will rebate you $75. Wait until you have a full load instead of washing clothes as you need them. Clean your lint trap after every use.

42 Install a clothesline Dryers use a large amount of energy

43 Get a rack If your neighbourhood or strata prohibits clotheslines, buy a small drying rack.

LIVING GREEN - RRR

44 Recycle. Recycling keeps materials that can be recovered (paper, glass, metals, plastics, food etc) out of the landfills; and in the case of organics like paper, food, yard waste, it significantly reduces greenhouse gases from landfills. 

45 Buy local Buy local, organic and fair trade food. Your food doesn’t travel long distances, you support local farmers and the local economy and you consume less pesticides.

46 Don’t use paper or plastic. Use cloth bags when you shop or reuse your plastic bags.

47 Backyard chickens and bees. Become involved in your own food production, raise chickens for their eggs or bees for their honey in your backyard.

FINANCING - It's not always just about the lowest rate

48 Borrow green Most financial institutions offer “green” mortgages, including:

  • BMO Eco Smart Mortgage offers home buyers preferred interest rates on qualifying green properties. 
  • RBC Energy Saver™ Mortgage gives home buyers a $300 rebate for a home energy audit and preferred interest rates.
  • Vancity offers a Bright Ideas Home Renovation Loan at prime +1% to home buyers and owners making green renovations.
  • CMHC offers a 10% Mortgage Loan Premium refund and possible extended amortization for buyers purchasing an energy-efficient mortgage or making energy saving renovations.

 

49 Loan program Pay-as-you-Save (PAYS) loan program will help home owners and businesses finance energy efficiency improvements through a loan from BC Hydro or FortisBC. Pilot programs starting in November 2012 in certain BC locations.

RESOURCES

50 Green Tool Kit BC Real Estate Association’s Green Tool Kit provides information, references and links. It also provides comprehensive information on rebates and incentives.

 

 

 


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