Since 2010, the City of Yellowknife has had a bylaw in place requiring all new homes built in the city to meet a score of 80 or above under the EnerGuide Rating System. We’ve put together some information related to the impact of that bylaw and the role the AEA has played in evaluating new homes in Yellowknife.
Did you know?
- A 2015 study identified that the City of Yellowknife’s EGH80 bylaw helped contribute to 91 new homeowners collectively saving $272,000 a year—most savings resulting from avoided heating costs through increased building tightness (less drafty homes), and increased wall and ceiling insulation levels.
- Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) recently audited the AEA’s EnerGuide home evaluations for quality assurance and found the AEA’s new home energy evaluations, completed to support builders through the City of Yellowknife’s EGH80 bylaw requirements, are among the best in Canada.
- Since 2012, NRCan reported that only three licensed Service Organizations (the AEA and two others) have ever registered and issued EnerGuide New Home labels on residential buildings in Yellowknife. These organizations registered a total of 329 submissions and the AEA completed 292 (89%) of these.
- Of the 292 evaluations the AEA has submitted to NRCan, 237 (81%) of these achieved an EnerGuide score of 80 or higher.
- According to the most recent data from NRCan, 93% of Yellowknife home evaluations submitted to NRCan and labeled between 2017 and May 31, 2018, met or exceeded the requirements of the EGH80 bylaw.
- 100% of manufactured housing arriving in Yellowknife has met or exceeded the EGH80 bylaw requirements and some Yellowknife developers market these results to potential new home buyers—a celebration of energy-efficiency success!
- EnerGuide home evaluations provided by any NRCan licensed Service Organization (such as the AEA) can support the City of Yellowknife’s existing EGH80 bylaw until December 2019 for new housing building permit applications received up until December 31, 2018.
- The AEA supports maintaining the City’s current EGH80 bylaw, which has helped to ensure that most homes built in Yellowknife meet and exceed the energy-efficiency requirements.
- The AEA believes that maintaining the current EGH80 energy-efficiency requirements, while developing a new energy-efficiency bylaw, would help maintain the momentum achieved to date in highly efficient housing being constructed in Yellowknife.