Energy Assessment
A Goldfinch Energy Assessment is the first step towards a low-carbon home. It is not a stand-alone service but, rather, the preliminary step we take to understand your home. By collecting measurements and details of your home, we can then provide you with a plan in the form of a Cleantech Roadmap or Heat Pump Selection Service.
What is a Goldfinch Energy Assessment?
An energy assessment looks at the energy use in your home and helps you determine where your home is losing heat.
An energy assessment with a Goldfinch energy advisor is more thorough than a typical audit-for-rebates. Our team will take the time to carefully measure your home and do our best to establish insulation levels. Insulation detection may involve removing outlet covers on external walls and, in cold weather, using thermal imaging. During the air leakage test, we look for drafts in your home and let you feel the leaky areas to get an idea of problem areas that could be fixed to improve comfort and efficiency.
We use measurements and data to inform our recommendations and we aim to provide a heat loss calculation that is as accurate as possible. Heat loss calculations can be helpful when sizing a heat pump.
We can help to diagnose hot and cold issues that may be stemming from issues with ductwork and we have experience with heat pumps, solar panels and green renovation approaches.
Our assessments take some time to complete but our clients frequently tell us how much they appreciate the quality.
What to Expect During an Energy Assessment
Initial Assessment
For most of the energy assessment we will quietly take measurements and photos inside and outside of your home. We will try to establish insulation levels in walls and if you have an attic hatch, we will poke our head inside to measure the insulation in that part of the house. We will also take note of your windows and your existing mechanical equipment (heating, hot water and ventilation). During the air leakage test (using a blower door), we will block off a door to the outside and run a large fan to quantify the draftiness of the house. If you have a fireplace, it should be cleaned out in advance to avoid having ash blow around during the test. At this point, you may want to join us for an air leakage tour to feel drafts that could be closed up to improve comfort and efficiency. After we have a feel for your house, we will discuss our findings with you and sit down for a Roadmap discussion if applicable. The entire assessment usually takes around 2.5 to 3 hours depending on the complexity of the house.
Upon Completion of the work
A post-retrofit energy audit may be needed to complete a loan application or if desired to confirm the updated state of the home.
The post-retrofit assessment is much shorter than the pre-retrofit assessment. Its purpose is to document the changes that were made to the home. We will take photos and conduct another blower door test to compare the airtightness of the home to the results of the pre-retrofit test. The on-site part of this assessment can usually be completed within an hour unless the home has undergone an addition or several upgrades have been made.
Rebates and Loan
Rebates
Goldfinch Energy Advisors are registered with Energy Werx Corp., which is one of the Service Organizations that is licensed by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) to deliver the Home Renovation Savings rebate program. Access to this program can be added to our base services for an additional fee. We will be happy to discuss this option with you during our visit to your home. For more information on the rebate program, please visit the Home Renovation Savings website.
Greener Homes Loan Process
Rates
Pre-Retrofit Energy Audit:
A Goldfinch Energy Assessment is included with a Cleantech Roadmap or Heat Pump Selection Service.
Post-Retrofit Energy Audit: $300
Required in order to claim complete a loan application for the Greener Homes Loan and City of Toronto HELP Loan.
If you're doing an addition, a $100-$200 fee may be applied to the post-retrofit audit depending on the extra time required to remodel the home in the energy audit software program.