Ottawa seeks 2,000 new energy auditors to get home retrofit program going

Ottawa is seeking to train 2,000 in energy auditing in an attempt to begin a new "green home renovation program."

The Liberals have announced that they will furnish up to $10 million in contracts to "recruit, train and mentor 2,000 energy advisers to advise people how to cut their home energy use." Calls began Monday for anyone seeking to take on the job of training said new workers.

This occurs in support of the Canada Greener Homes Grant, unveiled last fall, which will provide as many as 700,000 grants of up to $5,000 each to help homeowners make energy-efficient improvements to their homes

Proposals will purportedly prioritize under-represented groups such as women, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities, LGBTQ2 communities, and racialized Canadians.

All buildings in Canada, including homes, private businesses and public buildings, contribute almost one-fifth of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions each year, largely from the fuels used for heating and electricity. Retrofits seek to improve energy consumption by installing better windows, improving insulation, upgrading to a more efficient furnace or adding solar panels, all of which mitigate emissions.

This is the first of two major retrofitting projects that has recently been discussed. Another seeks to repurpose dormant oil and gas wells sitting idle across Alberta, with advocates from Energy Futures Lab and the Canada West Foundation saying existing infrastructure like wellbores, roads and pad space could find other energy uses, including geothermal, micro-solar, hydrogen, recovery of lithium, or carbon capture and storage.