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Goodbye to Natural Gas

July 17, 2024

Hello,

There are some changes coming to the Building Code in BC ( and the rest of Canada ) and we thought you’d be interested in the details. We had a registered Energy Advisor come and present to our office recently and he shared some of the details.

BC has created a STEP code with a plan to have all homes Net Zero ready by 2032.  This is a phased project that is rolling out over the next several years and homes are going to become more energy efficient.  By 2030 all new buildings will be zero carbon and will not use fossil fuels  for their heating, cooking or cooling needs.  New homes will not have natural gas stoves, fireplaces or hot water tanks.  People are being encouraged to install heat pumps for heating and cooling systems and there are incentives available to encourage owners to convert their existing homes to more energy efficient systems.

A concern in the past with energy efficient homes was the cost.  Historically it has been really expensive to purchase and operate homes with solar panels and/or heat pumps. The majority of homes we see in Kelowna are heated and cooled with natural gas forced air furnaces. We just did a quick search of the MLS system and there are 1863 single family properties listed right now in the Central Okanagan- 13 of them have solar panels. Over the past year there have been 7 homes sell  with solar.  This number will likely increase as the new building code changes come into effect.  Given the fact Kelowna receives over 304 days of sunshine per year, one would think we would see more solar as an electricity option.  My husband Derek and I installed solar panels on our house a few years ago and it has cut our electricity bill down by about 60%.  We have done some calculations and feel that it will take 7 - 8 years for the installation to pay for itself.

There are rebates available and if you are considering updating your home, it’s worth looking into: https://www.betterhomesbc.ca/  Additionally, the Energy Advisor told us that some lenders are starting to provide reduced interest rates for constructing energy-efficient homes and you may be able to qualify for a rebate on mortgage insurance premiums when you purchase an energy efficient home. https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/consumers/home-buying/mortgage-loan-insurance-for-consumers/cmhc-eco-programs

As always, if you have any questions about real estate we would love to help! We hope you are enjoying this gorgeous summer weather and getting some time to play!

Tamara and Shannon

 

 

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