Energy use label urged by 2019 for resale homes

OTTAWA — Listing your home for sale in Canada could soon mean you not only have to tell people how much it costs to buy it, but also how much it costs to run it.

When 11 provinces and territories signed the Pan Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change in 2016, they agreed to look at requiring all existing buildings to have an energy label outlining how much energy the home or building uses as early as 2019.

This week, a coalition of environmental groups wrote to the federal government saying Ottawa should set that date as a hard target and help provinces implement a policy that requires the information from a home energy audit be provided when a home is listed for sale.

“It’s just another way for a home to be valued and also gives an indication of how energy efficient is this home and what kinds of improvements and therefore cost savings could I be making if I’m going to be buying this home,” Karen Tam Wu, director of the buildings and urban solutions program for The Pembina Institute, told The Canadian Press.

The recommendation was one of nearly two dozen the Pembina Institute and nine other environmental organizations made in a letter to Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr and Environment Minister Catherine McKenna this week.

A spokeswoman for Carr said when the minister met with his provincial counterparts earlier this week in New Brunswick, they endorsed a plan that helps outline how they will meet this and other goals of the framework.

However, the plan doesn’t mention requiring the information at the time a home is listed for sale.

Rather, it suggests an online portal will be created in 2019 to start sharing information on building energy use, but that full adoption of energy labelling for all buildings, including residential homes, wouldn’t be required until 2026.