Yukon lays out 'buffet' of home energy efficiency incentives

The Yukon government announced an array of new subsidies, rebates, loans and other incentives Thursday, encouraging homeowners and builders to make their houses more energy efficient.

Both the Yukon Housing Corp. and the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources are offering the incentives for everything from "green" house audits to energy efficient appliances.

"If you can use this whole buffet, people working under that they're always going to work better with incentives than they are with regulations," Jim Kenyon,minister responsible for the housing corporation, said Thursday.

In an effort to have residents achieve the Yukon's "GreenHome" designation for energy-efficient homes, the housing corporation is offering a package of incentives until March 31, 2009.

Those incentives include interest-free loans over 10- to 12-year terms to make energy-saving improvements for houses and rental properties. Those improvements could include installing new doors and windows, or implementing heat pumps and solar energy systems.

As well, eligible homeowners can receive a five per cent grant on the cost of home improvements if their residence is certified as a "GreenHome" house.

There'salsoa $400 subsidy for homeowners to conduct an energy audit of their existing houses. Such audits, which pinpoint the types of improvements that could save energy, would allow homeowners to access the government's other incentives, like the interest-free loans.

"What we're saying here is we think those audits are important enough that we're willing to give you $400 towards those audits, for the simple reason that it helps you make good decisions on all these other issues," said Al Lyon, the corporation's director of community and industry development.

Builders can take up a package of grants valued at up to $5,750 toward the cost of building a new home to the GreenHome standard.

Meanwhile, Energy, Mines and Resources Minister Archie Lang announced rebates people can use to buy energy-efficient home appliances.

"The government recognizes that appliance use alone accounts for most of the electric efficiency consumption within the home," Lang said.

"Furthermore, surveys of household energy use indicate that there is a lot that can be done to improve the energy efficiency of the average Yukon household."

Kenyon said it could cost the Yukon government up to $728,000 if all eligible homes in the territory take up the incentives.