Home Energy Evaluations

What is a Home Energy Evaluation?

The EnerGuide home evaluation and rating system, developed by Natural Resources Canada, helps homeowners enhance energy efficiency and reduce high energy costs.

An EnerGuide Home Evaluation, or energy audit, involves a thorough inspection from basement to attic to assess your home’s total energy consumption. This evaluation helps you understand your current energy use and identify potential upgrades for improved efficiency. A trained professional examines various components of your home, including insulation, windows, doors, heating and cooling systems, and air leakage.

The EnerGuide evaluation includes two stages: the pre-retrofit and post-retrofit audits. After the initial audit, you receive a detailed renovation report with recommended upgrades, a breakdown of your energy usage, and your EnerGuide home rating before and after suggested improvements, along with additional energy-saving tips.

Once you’ve completed your retrofits, the auditor performs a second assessment to evaluate the effectiveness of your energy improvements.

Why Get a Home Energy Evaluation?

A home energy evaluation identifies how your home uses energy and highlights areas for improvement. This assessment helps you plan effective retrofits by revealing where energy efficiency can be enhanced.

Since your home operates as an interconnected system, changes in one area can impact others. While contractors may focus on specific upgrades, a Registered Energy Advisors evaluate your home’s overall energy performance to ensure balanced and optimal results.

The evaluation also provides valuable insights into your home’s current performance, enabling you to make informed retrofit decisions and address underlying issues for improved efficiency and comfort.

Why Retrofit Your Home?

Reduce your carbon footprint and support global efforts to combat climate change.
Lower your energy bills through improved efficiency and reduced consumption.
Address issues like drafts, uneven temperatures, and inadequate insulation.
Create a more comfortable living environment and improve indoor air quality.
Energy-efficient upgrades boost your property’s value and enhance its appeal to potential buyers.

A Home Energy Assessment Can Help You Access Rebate Programs Such As:

Home Renovation Savings Program (HRSP)
The HRSP helps homeowners make energy-efficient upgrades through two streams: the Home Energy Assessment stream, which requires a pre- and post-retrofit EnerGuide evaluation, and the Non-Audit stream, which allows one or more upgrades from a set list without a full audit. Eligible upgrades include insulation, air sealing, windows and doors, heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, smart thermostats, and more. Rebates vary depending on the type and number of upgrades completed.
Learn more about the HRSP →

CMHC EcoPlus Rebate
The CMHC EcoPlus program provides rebates for energy-efficient home retrofits with a single home energy audit. Eligible upgrades include insulation, windows and doors, and heat pumps. The rebate is applied after completion of the work, based on the verified energy improvements.
Learn more about CMHC EcoPlus →

Green Venture is no longer offering EnerGuide home energy assessments.

We’re proud to have supported homeowners through this service over the years and are grateful for the opportunity to have been part of so many home energy improvement journeys.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

When should I get an Energy Audit?

When planning any renovations that involve your furnace, water heater, windows, doors or insulation.
When planning major renovations.
If your house is hard to heat, drafty or your energy bills are high.
If you want to know the best way to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions.
If you are experiencing poor air quality or are observing mold and mildew.
If you experience noticeable differences in temperature or air quality between different areas in your home.
If you are keeping your home at unsafe temperatures due to the expense of energy bills.

What happens during an Energy Audit?

A Registered Energy Advisor will measure your home and determine the specifications of all heating equipment. The energy auditor will determine the amount of existing insulation in your attic, walls and basement. They will determine the heat losses depending on the number, size, location and type of windows. A blower door will be temporarily set-up in an exterior doorway to measure the amount of air leakage in the whole house.

A blower door test is a measurement of your home’s air leakage. Home air leakage describes the gaps and holes in your building envelope where indoor air escapes or where outdoor air can enter. This is important because the more leaks there are, the harder your home has to work to heat or cool itself. In very leaky homes, money and energy are being wasted on heating or cooling air that does not stay.

The setup to conduct a blower door test fits a fan to a doorway to depressurize your home and draw in air through the cracks or gaps in the structure. The pressure gauge measures the rate of airflow required to keep your home at a constant pressure. The results are used to calculate the rate of air leakage in your home.

The initial audit takes about 3 hours, and the follow up audit takes about 2 hours. This can vary depending on the size and complexity of the home.

What is unique about an EnerGuide Energy Audit?

A sample EnerGuide Label detailing energy consumption information.
Source: Government of Canada

The EnerGuide home evaluation and rating system was designed by Natural Resources Canada to help home and property owners make their homes more energy-efficient and reduce the burden of high energy costs.

The EnerGuide home evaluation provides a standardized, data-driven, baseline measure of the energy performance of your home.
You also receive a personalized renovation upgrade report that includes recommended upgrades, a breakdown of your energy usage, your EnerGuide home rating before and after recommended upgrades, and more tips for saving energy

How do I prepare for an assessment?

Complete all ongoing renovations before your audit.
Ensure the advisor has access to every room in the house.
If access to the attic is in a closet, remove all belongings and shelves from the closet. Ensure that access to the basement and crawl space is clear.
If you have any wood burning fireplaces or stoves remove ashes and do not use them for 24 hours prior to the audit.
Have available your most current copy of one of your gas bills and property tax bill.
The legal homeowner must be present for the duration of the audit.

Do I need a follow-up audit?

If you are a participant in the Canada Greener Homes Loan or in a rebate program, a post-retrofit audit is required to complete the program.