Metro Vancouver EnerGuide Rating System Critical Mass Report

2017

City Green created the Metro Vancouver EnerGuide Rating System (ERS) Critical Mass Report to show the uptake of ERS home energy labelling in Metro Vancouver communities between January 2007 and February 2017. These statistics were compiled to complement a voluntary energy disclosure program – RateOurHome.ca – to demonstrate that a critical mass for home energy labelling may already have been achieved, and that significant energy consumption and greenhouse gas reductions can be realized through participation in home energy labelling programs. 

There have been an estimated 61,785 new and existing homes labelled in Metro Vancouver through the Energuide Rating System (ERS) since 2007, representing approximately 11% of the total housing stock eligible for ERS single family detached and attached labelling. Over the ten year period from 2007-2017, an estimated 88,781 ERS pre- or post-upgrade home energy evaluations were completed for existing homes in Metro Vancouver, and a combined 23,830 plan evaluations and energy labels were provided for new homes. 

Approximately 39.395 homes in Metro Vancouver had both a pre- and post-upgrade ERS home energy evaluation completed. The 85,644 upgrades completed since 2007 represent a modelled GHG savings of 102,135 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (t CO2e) per year. 

Without a transparent and publically accessible way for local governments and other stakeholders to access information on the numbers of homes that receive energy labels and complete energy upgrades, the individual and collective positive economic and environmental impacts of home energy improvements are virtually invisible. By showing a critical mass of past labels on RateOurHomes.ca, Metro Vancouver can more effectively show that there is already an existing public desire for home energy labelling information, and that the lack of disclosure of this information is an information gap for homeowners and homebuyers in this region.

To view the program that City Green’s report contributed, see: http://rateourhome.ca/Pages/default.aspx