Pointers

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Carbon tax and your energy efficiency

February 2, 2017 /

Last November, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that by 2018, Canada would have a “national floor price” for carbon pricing. Carbon pricing is a tax aimed at lowering carbon emission, both for private residences and manufacturers and businesses. The minimum tax that Canadians can expect to pay for in 2018 is an additional $10 per ton. Some provinces like British Columbia and Alberta have decided to give exemptions of the carbon tax to farms and selected air travel businesses.

Based on studies by the David Suzuki Foundation, the country’s economy can aim for a 20% growth in the next ten years while reducing its carbon emission by 50%. Other studies expect a lost in competitiveness with our economy. As a consumer it might be time to look at decreasing our consumption where possible and cost effective to save on the future carbon tax. To do so, there are a lot of new tools and strategies available to improve the energy efficient of your home. We have identified a few interesting ones that may help understand what can be done.

Check Out My Heat Map

Imagine if you could see an aerial map of your home that showed you how much heat you were losing and where. Well you can visit My Heat Map. This is a very interesting and visual tool providing you an infrared aerial view of your property. The infrared technology identify, through a color coded system, the level of heat loss on your home. The visual representation is further analysed an a score of your property is provided. The data was collected in October 2015 for most major cities, so if you updated and improved the efficiency of your home since it would not be reflected on the map.

You can look at your property and navigate your neighbourhood to see which property is more efficient then others. Now this tools is aimed at energy efficiency through heat loss. So insulation is the main remedy and the map can assist you in identifying the main location where additional insulation can be added. Your can go further and have an energy audit completed to see where else you can save energy. Stay tune for part 2 where we will identify some tools beyond insulation and specific energy efficiency tricks and hopefully reduce your carbon tax in the future.

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