The Canada Greener Homes Grant likely won't end in March 2024

 

The Greener Homes Grant provides homeowners with up to $5,000 in rebates for energy efficient upgrades.  Shortly after it was announced in 2021, NRCan received tens of thousands of applications, and wait times for an energy assessment grew to several months.  As someone who enjoys sharing my knowledge and experience, I decided to obtain a license from NRCan to do home energy assessments.

The program funding is $2.6 billion, which was initially expected to last until 2027.  However due to the popularity of the program, and due to the amount of the average grant being higher than expected, the program may end in March 2024.  This was announced by NRCan on 2023-11-09 during a service organization town hall meeting.

Anyone who gets an initial energy assessment done before the program end date will still be eligible for the grant.  I think it's possible, and even likely, that additional funding will be provided to the program.  Whether that funding comes before March, and whether the grant amounts will remain the same, is more questionable.

Instructions for how to find a service organization and book an energy assessment are on the Greener Homes Grant site.

2023-12-09 Update:

I contacted my MP, Kody Blois, and he called me back to discuss the Greener Homes Grant.  He said climate change initiatives continue to be a top priority for the Liberal government.  Kody said he spoke with Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources.  Kody said Minister Wilkinson confirmed they will "recapitalize" the Greener Homes grant. 

Solar PV 101

 

In most parts of Canada, with the benefit of the Greener Homes Grant, the payback period is less than 10 years.  And with the Greener Homes Loan, homeowners with good credit can get 0% financing for the full cost net of rebates.

A single solar panel will produce 400 to 600 Watts of power when facing the sun on a clear day.  For comparison, a microwave running on full power consumes about 1200 watts.  Inverters convert the direct current power from the panels to 120/240 volt alternating current used in the house.  Most homes would need at least 20 panels to provide for all of their power needs, though there may not be enough room on a southerly-exposed roof for that many panels.

Since batteries are costly, most homeowners will set up net metering with their power utility.  The inverters will send unused power on sunny days to the grid, and the homeowner will get credit to use that power at a later time.  A reasonably-priced 5000 watt system will cost around $13,000, while a 10,000 watt system will cost around $22,000.  Considering the time required for electrical permits and inspections, system installation time is about two months.

Solar system prices over the long term have been dropping, however the global chip shortage and shipping backlogs caused prices to increase during 2021 and 2022.  Prices have started to come back down, and system costs will likely reach a new low in 2024.

Gas and Electric Car CO2 Emissions in Nova Scotia

Electric vehicles are often referred to as zero-emission vehicles, however that's a bit misleading when the electricity comes from burning oil and coal.  In places like British Columbia and Quebec, where most generation is hydroelectric, EV emissions are close to zero.  Considering coal still plays a large part in in the Nova Scotia generation mix, I decided to compare the CO2 emissions of gas and electric cars.

According to NSPower 2021 reporting, each kWh of electricity produced results in 603 grams of CO2 emissions.  Canada's most popular electric cars are the Tesla models 3 and Y, the Ford Mach-E, and the Hyundai models Kona and Ioniq 5.  According to NRCan, it takes an average of 18 kWh of electricity to drive these vehicles 100 km.  Since EV chargers and batteries are not 100% efficient, about 10 to 15% of the grid power will be wasted as heat.  Assuming 12% losses, the CO2 emissions can be calculated as:

18 kWh/100km * .6 kg CO2 per kWh * 1.12 loss factor = 12.1 kg/100km

Referring again to NRCan, the average new car with a gasoline engine has a fuel efficiency of 8 L/100km.  Burning 1L of gasoline produces 2.3 kg of CO2, so the CO2 emissions can be calculated as:

8 L/100km * 2.3 kg/L = 18.4 kg/100km

This means a gas-power car produces about 50% more CO2 than an electric car charged from the NS grid.  Nova Scotia is slowly reducing the amount of oil and coal used for power generation.  If you don't want to wait, the quick way to get to zero emissions is to install solar PV panels to generate enough power to charge your vehicle.