Vancity Launches Free Home Energy Advice service with City Green Solutions

Vancity today announced a partnership with the non-profit organization City Green to offer its members free expert home energy advice on how to make their home more comfortable and climate-friendly.

The new Home Energy Advice service provides personalized guidance to help Vancity members navigate all aspects of home energy upgrades with an expert by their side. The program is open to all Vancity members who own a detached home, duplex, townhome or a rowhome. Energy experts will help Vancity members address home energy related issues and achieve energy improvement goals by providing advice, making recommendations, directing to other support offers, rebates and financing options and providing support and advice.

Rising cost of living, increasing energy costs, and more extreme weather events like heat domes mean that improving the comfort and energy efficiency of homes is top of mind for many people. Research by Vancity and OPEN Technologies on the experiences of people who embark on a home renovation found that getting good impartial and non-biased advice is one of the biggest challenges homeowners experience when looking to upgrade or renovate their home.

Vancity’s new Home Energy Advice service aims to fill this gap by providing free, tailored advice on making homes more energy efficient by upgrading insulation, windows, air sealing and installing climate-friendly, energy-efficient systems for space heating and cooling. Experts from City Green provide one-on-one advice using an approach that considers how all parts of a home interact and affect each other (House-As-A-System). For example, an AC unit brings cool air to your home, but City Green’s low-carbon solutions can help keep that cool air in.

Vancity has a commitment to be net-zero by 2040 across all its mortgages and loans; in 2021, residential mortgages made up 27 per cent of the credit union’s lending-related emissions.* Vancity is focused on helping its members improve the energy efficiency of their homes while reducing emissions, and this service will help Vancity members identify opportunities for energy improvements.

“Our research shows that while upgrading the energy efficiency of their home is top of mind for many, it can be daunting to start and there is a significant lack of knowledge about how to go about it,” said Andrea Harris, VP, Impact Strategy at Vancity. “Vancity is committed to helping our members take action on climate change. We hope this program demystifies the energy upgrade process and provides homeowners with the information needed to get started with improvements.”

“Energy Experts are not trying to sell you anything. Our job is to provide members with good advice, help find solutions to home energy issues, answer questions, and to be there as a trusted non-biased advisor to help members feel confident in making home energy improvement investments,” said Peter Sundberg, Energy Expert and Executive Director, City Green Solutions. “The advice we’re providing can help make homes more comfortable, more affordable to operate and climate-friendly” Peter continued.

How the program works

• 1. Get in touch: Take 10 minutes to answer some online questions about your home, your home renovation goals and your motivations for energy efficiency upgrades.
• 2. One-on-one with a City Green energy expert: City Green will match you up with an expert to meet virtually or over the phone. You’ll get advice right away and then a summary of the recommendations in a personalized report.
• 3. Contractors and what else to look for: Your expert can guide you through next steps such as directing you to other support resources, providing advice on selecting the right products and contractors, reviewing quotes, and answering your questions as you go through the home energy retrofit process.
• 4. Need an EnerGuide Evaluation?: ?: If your home has multiple energy improvement opportunities and members are looking to access the federal Canada Greener Homes Grant program (Up to $5000 in grants and $600 EnerGuide Subsidy), members can select their energy advisor of choice on the CleanBC Energy Advisor Search Tool and have an EnerGuide Home Energy Evaluation. Vancity members can also access the pre-and-post retrofit rebates (up to $400).

To apply for the free advice service, please visit: https://www.vancity.com/member-perks/city-green-home-energy/

Supporting Information

• Vancity offers Planet-Wise Renovation Solutions to encourage energy‑efficient and climate‑friendly retrofits at incentivized rates for Vancity members.
• Vancity’s Non-Profit Housing Retrofit Program provides grants of up to $80,000 for non-profit housing providers across BC to help them improve the energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions, and boost the overall sustainability of the province’s affordable housing stock.
• The Planet-Wise Climate Business Guide for Climate Action supports small businesses in transitioning to a low-carbon economy.
• In April 2021, Vancity became the first Canadian financial institution to join the Net-Zero Banking Alliance.
• Vancity set a commitment to be net-zero by 2040 across all mortgages and loans.
• In 2019, the credit union signed the Global Alliance for Banking on Values’ Climate Change Commitment and joined the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF), committing to measure and disclose the climate impact of its loans and investments. It has disclosed emissions for 2020 and 2021.
• Vancity is a signatory to the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative’s (UNEP FI) Collective Commitment to Climate Action, which requires signatories to set and publish targets for aligning their portfolios to strive for a 1.5 degree Celsius trajectory, based on scientifically established climate scenarios.
• Vancity’s President and CEO, Christine Bergeron, represents North America on the UNEP FI’s Banking Board.

About Vancity

Vancity is a values-based financial co-operative serving the needs of its 570,000 member-owners and their communities, with offices and more than 50 branches located in Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, Victoria, Squamish and Alert Bay, within the territories of the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka'wakw people. With $35.5 billion in assets plus assets under administration, Vancity is Canada's largest credit union. Vancity uses its assets to help improve the financial well-being of its members while at the same time helping to develop healthy communities that are socially, economically and environmentally sustainable.