By Abigail Bimman
Free fridges and insulation upgrades have helped 88 low-income households save energy and more than 200 homes in and around Ottawa will benefit next, says Dana Silk, general manager of the non-profit EnviroCentre, which runs energy efficient programs.
“We’re really going to make a significant impact on their electricity bill,” he says.
The Ontario Power Authority started this energy efficiency assistance program in November, and it administered by Ottawa’s EnviroCentre. The program renovates privately owned, low-income, single-family homes that are electrically heated for up to $3,000 in energy efficiency upgrades.
Yolande Mennie’s home had a foot-high open space between the ceiling of the ground floor and the floor of the second level side attic. The space was sucking heat from the house and raising her heating bills. Mennie says she heard about the initiative on the radio and decided to give it a try to combat her “dead air” problem. The EnviroCentre blocked off the space and insulated the attic.
“Because I’m low-income, there’s no way I could do these retrofits myself,” Mennie says. She has a chronic illness and is on a disability pension. “The EnviroCentre took care of everything.”
Mennie also received a new Energy Star fridge, which Silk says is the most common energy efficiency upgrade.
The EnviroCentre also provides energy-saving tools like low-flow shower heads and compact fluorescent light bulbs. These bulbs use 25 per cent of the energy of a typical incandescent one.
“A lot of families have done the basic measures and they recognize the need to lower their bills,” Silk says. Families can afford to buy the $5 or $10 light bulb, he says, but cannot afford a $600 fridge.
Silk says several thousand households in Ottawa would qualify for the program and this pilot project is going to help about 10 per cent. Few of these houses are in Centretown, which has many apartments and duplexes.
Such buildings are not being considered for the pilot project because it is too hard to tell how much energy is being saved by a portion of the larger building.
After winning a competitive bid, a company called the Appliance Market became the provider of the General Electric Energy Star fridges.
Gilbert Gelineau, the company vice president, says he sells three different models to the EnviroCentre. The 16-, 18- or 20-cubic- foot fridges retail for $639, $869 and $,1349 respectively. Appliance Market sells them to the EnviroCentre for a discounted price that neither party would disclose.
“They were very happy with the offer we made,” says Gelineau.
Energy Star fridges can save a family $200 a year by using an average of 500 kilowatt hours instead of some households’ average of 2,000 kilowatt hours of power.
He says the fridges they replace are usually 15 years old. Compared to these, an energy efficient fridge’s compressor runs three or four times faster on a quarter of the amount of power, says Gelineau.
The new fridges require less energy to stay cold because the outer case is foam-injected, creating an airtight seal.
“Basically it’s like a well-built cooler,” he says. Older fridges use less reliable, fibreglass insulation.
Silk says it has been difficult to get the word out about the program.
“The niche that we’re working with is narrow because most people living in Ottawa are heating with natural gas.”
Silk says only 10 per cent of single-family homes use electrical heat.
But for people who do heat electrically, like Mennie, he says the program makes a big difference.
Mennie says she has not received her first bill, so she has no proof of her savings yet. However, she says the house feels much warmer.