Energy activist Marion Pape says a project piloting energy efficiency labelling on homes for sale is a great tool for getting more homes assessed overall.

City Green Solutions, a Victoria-based non-profit group, has already performed some 70 assessments on Salt Spring over the past 18 months. Pape said the pilot program will hopefully help achieve a “critical mass” of participants.

“This is another angle on the island to get people thinking about [living sustainably],” Pape said about the Home Energy Labelling Pilot.

“It’s not usually an easy sell. I really appreciate teaming up with the realtors because it makes our team a little broader.” With the Salt Spring Energy Strategy and the Salt Spring Earth Festival Society, Pape and colleagues like Elizabeth White have worked with the CRD to create a $75 rebate. The rebate, funded through the proceeds of a Green Cities grant, is available to homeowners who agree to get their homes assessed and to post the information as part of the MLS information.

Neil Chura, a certified energy advisor who performs home energy assessments for Greenrun Homes, said that popular features of island show-homes can be modified to increase energy efficiency. For example, cathedral ceilings finished in tongue and groove cedar can be very porous, but including an underlying layer of natural plaster can resolve the issue. Chura also said that Salt Spring homes with “waves of additions” often lose air where the additions meet.

“A big part of the assessment is education for the homeowner as to current conditions in the house,” Chura said. Assessors go over the home component by component and follow guidelines from Natural Resources Canada. After testing the air-tightness with a blower door — any air that normally leaks out can be felt rushing in — they build a computer model of the house. Efficiency is measured per square footage.

“It gives people something concrete they can do to work toward goals,” said City Green’s communications director Paula Steele, who noted that provincial energy reduction targets aim to reduce energy use by 33 per cent by 2020.

Pape has also worked with the Salt Spring Energy Strategy to create a Salt Spring Sustainability Checklist for the Islands Trust and the CRD. This checklist, to be given to every person who puts a house on the local market for the next six months, is a guide for “residential construction including additions, renovations and accessory buildings.”

The checklist includes tips on site planning, tree removal, water management and landscaping, as well as guides to sustainable house design and building materials.