EnerQuality says it has hit a milestone: labelling its 75,000th ENERGY STAR home.
Since the modest start of just 96 homes in 2006, the first year of labelling ENERGY STAR for New Homes, EnerQuality now labels more than 6,000 homes a year.
“It’s a brand our buyers recognize and appreciate,” Tartan Homes owner-manager Bruce Nicol said in a news release.
In 2005, the home building industry through EnerQuality, in partnership with Natural Resources Canada, developed ENERGY STAR for New Homes (ESNH) for the Canadian market. ESNH homes are on average 20 per cent more energy efficient than typical code-built ones.
“ENERGY STAR has been the most effective tool in the government’s box to influence the marketplace towards greater energy efficiency and less carbon,” EnerQuality president Corey McBurney said.
EnerQuality builders range from the large – with more than 100 homes per development – to small custom firms building just one or two homes each year.
Mattamy Homes, one of the early adopters of ENERGY STAR for New Homes, is also the builder of EnerQuality’s 75,000th ESNH home.
Vice-president sustainable development Subhi Alsayed says Mattamy realized from the start what an important program ENERGY STAR would turn out to be.
“Early on, Mattamy recognized ENERGY STAR as a framework for quality control of energy performance and an industry leadership indicator. For that, we are proud to have been one of the early adopters of ENERGY STAR for New Homes in this market.”
A 2015 Environics-Genworth survey found 72 per cent of first-time home buyers said energy efficiency is an important factor in home buying. The emphasis on energy efficiency falls even higher than proximity to schools or public transit.
“No other program has connected with both consumers and industry as ENERGY STAR has,” McBurney said.
Nicol of Tartan Homes completely agrees. “With each home, and for each home buyer, it’s as if Tartan gets a glowing character reference from a wise aunt or uncle.”
EnerQuality’s long-term involvement in ENERGY STAR for New Homes was recognized just last year, with two federal ENERGY STAR Canada Awards – Participant of the Year and Sustained Excellence.