Your condo or rental suite
Although condos and apartments tend to use less energy than detached homes, there are lots of opportunities for savings, whether you rent or own.
Make small changes one suite at a time
As an individual living in a condo or an apartment, there are numerous simple and low-cost actions you can take - from washing your clothes in cold water and installing low-flow showerheads to turning down your thermostat and unplugging seldom-used appliances. Check out our lighting and appliances and heating and hot water sections for more information. For greater impact, share these tips with your neighbours or discuss them at your next strata council meeting.
BC Hydro often offers mail in rebates on selected products such as programmable switches and thermostats, low-flow showerheads and Ecokits.
Invest in the future, use fewer resources, live better and save money
Check out One Earth Initiative Society's eco-strata guide. This green guide for multi-family dwellings in Metro Vancouver holds dozens of practical tips on how you can green your building. The goal is to help you create a eco-strategy and take action to reduce your building's impact on the earth.
Get a free energy-saving kit
BC Hydro is offering an energy saving kit to low income households. Whether you rent or own, live in an apartment or house, this kit can help you save energy and money! It contains such energy-saving products as CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs), weather stripping, window-insulator film, electrical outlet and switch sealers, fridge and freezer thermometers, a low-flow showerhead, tap aerators and a nightlight.
Beware the decorative fireplace
Encourage your strata council to let owners know they should limit the use of the fireplace to special occasions and perhaps the occasional romantic night. Decorative fireplaces, as their name implies, are not an effective heating source. In fact, many units are only five to 10% efficient as compared to 100% efficiency of electric baseboards.
Even if your strata pays the natural gas bill it can significantly affect your monthly fees, some larger stratas spend over $20,000 on fireplace use.
Improve your natural gas efficiency
Managing energy costs is a hot topic for many apartment and condo developments, especially for those sharing a common bill for appliances like en suite gas fireplaces. Fortis BC offers great tips on how condos and apartment buildings can save on their gas bill without spending a lot of money.
Fortis BC also offers a FREE energy assessment for condo and apartment buildings located in the Lower Mainland, Squamish or the Interior that spend more than $20,000 annually on energy costs.
Check out Green City's offer for multi-unit affordable housing units
The City Green Solutions Affordable Warmth BC program is working on creative solutions to bring the economic, environmental and social benefits of energy efficiency to the affordable housing sector in BC. They are providing no-cost energy assessments for a select number of multi-unit affordable housing buildings in the Capital Regional District and the Metro Vancouver Region. Contact City Green for more information on how to apply.
Have your building energy retrofitted
Apartment and condo buildings often lack the resources to make major energy improvements. The federal government has a retrofitting program which offers $10 per gigajoule of estimated energy savings or 25% of eligible project costs. Find out more about this program for multi-unit residential buildings and mixed-use commercial/residential buildings.
Let these factsheets help you save water and energy
Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation offers factsheets for multi-unit residental buildings, highlighting ways to save energy and water in appartment buidings along with costs, benefits and precautions. CMHC's easy-to-reference factsheets will benefit property owners, strata councils and managers.
Turn down your hot water boiler
Many buildings have large hot-water boilers which provide heated water to the individual units. These tanks are typically set to 60 degrees Celsius. According to CMHC you'll save 1% per degree you lower it. Canada Safety Council recommends a minimum temperature of 54 degrees to prevent water-borne diseases. Remember to have your hot-water boiler flushed by an expert annually. This will help keep heating costs down and enhance its life span too.
Explore your options
If you're building a condo building or are a building manager or strata council member, seek out other ideas regarding how to improve your building's energy efficiency in the One Day at work - your building section.
