CMHC Green Home Refund

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation is funding a program for homeowners called Green Home. The idea is to promote home energy efficiency, and CMHC Green Home is offering up to 25 per cent in premium refunds. To qualify, a borrower must buy, or build, or renovate – and must finance through Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. While this refund is focused on promoting home energy efficiency, it also makes the process of upgrades far more affordable.

CMHC Green Home Offers Substantial Refunds for Energy Efficient Homes

Throughout North America, energy-efficient homes provide homeowners with more comfort and a healthier living space. At the same time, energy consumption is reduced, while greenhouse gas emissions are lessened. An energy efficient home will also lower the operating costs because the utility bills will be lower. CMHC refunds are calculated as a portion of the mortgage insurance premium. To be eligible, homes must be built and/or renovated to specific building standards.

Homes that don’t conform to CMHC eligibility guidelines must be inspected and evaluated by a qualified NRCan Energy Advisor. The Energy Advisor will provide a formal EnerGuide energy rating in order to fully qualify for the Green Home premium refund. As part of the program, the home must be evaluated by an accredited NRCan Energy Advisor ONCE before any energy improvements have been made, and then AGAIN after the upgrades and/or improvements have been completed.

The Green Home premium refund and the EnerGuide Rating

From province to province, Energy Advisors use the EnerGuide Rating System from Natural Resources Canada, which is measured in Gigajoules Per Year. With this in mind, the Green Home refund will apply to the EnerGuide Rating system.

An EnerGuide rating is designed to express the energy performance level of a home. Energy Advisors specialize in accurately calculating the EnerGuide rating. It’s done by assessing energy performance right on-site and using NRCan energy simulation software to finalize the calculations. Following the guidelines of Green Home, homeowners can benefit from very substantial CMHC refunds.

CMHC Green Home premium refunds and Great Northern Insulation

As an industry leader in home energy services, Great Northern Insulation specializes in home energy upgrades and retrofits. GNI can play an important role in ensuring the best possible energy rating, based on the improvements made after the energy audit has been completed.

Once the Energy Advisor (approved by NRCan) has presented a list of upgrades/retrofits to improve the home’s energy efficiency, GNI can recommend a number of cost-effective options, each of which is designed to provide long-lasting benefits, with a good return on investment.

Depending on the scope of upgrades that are undertaken, CMHC Green Home offers up to 25% in premium refunds. In other words, the more improvements made, the higher the refund available. After energy improvements have been completed, the Energy Advisor will assess the upgrades.

The bottom line with home energy upgrades is to dramatically improve energy efficiency. With upgrades, the level of performance improvement is articulated in an EnerGuide Rating, which the Energy Advisor will assign. In Ontario, ratings are based on consumption of Gigajoules Per Year

If you’re an Ontario homeowner, and interested in exploring the CMHC Green Home premium refund, Great Northern Insulation can help you with the eligibility requirements, the energy assessment, and with recommendations for upgrade options.

You can find out more by contacting GNI at 1.800.265.1914 or by requesting a home energy assessment at https://www.gni.ca .