Climate Solutions in your neighbourhood?

This post was contributed by NCAH Organizer Shelley Serebrin.

Do you know of climate solutions happening in your neighbourhood? Here is a great example of one I have had a chance to be part of.

Our community climate action team obtained a grant from the City of Nanaimo to run a project to bring together residents in the Old City and Rock City neighbourhoods respectively and engage them in the idea and process of home energy retrofits (windows, insulation, sealing, heat pumps etc).

Fun, friendly gatherings of six residents each were invited to a to hear the stories, and experience low carbon energy systems (LCES) at the home of a neighbour who had done retrofits. A thermal imaging camera was a fun piece of tech we used to show residents where home energy leaks may occur. Everyone hovered around the camera, curious about what the images meant and how they might use it to understand the energy losses in their homes, enabling them to focus on the problems. Robust discussions resulted from the “show and tell” sessions as we enjoyed light refreshments. 

What did the participating residents get out of these gatherings? First, they saw that there were people in their neighbourhood who had taken action to reduce their home energy needs, eliminated fossil fuel use, increased the comfort of their home and saved money in the long run. They heard about how their neighbour navigated the process to obtain government grants or rebates. They learned about tips on the selection of LCES systems. They had myths debunked, such as, all heat pumps are noisy. They signed up for an Energy Advisor to visit their home with the thermal imaging camera, free of charge. Participants received a brochure describing the support they could obtain in their energy reduction journey, free of charge, through the Home Energy Navigators program. They shared their stories with each other and they had a good time!

A year later, the participants were asked what their plans were and what effect the gatherings and information had on their actions to reduce home energy use and to lower (eliminate) their fossil fuel burning. This is a summary of their responses.

• Inspired to take action from their neighbour’s experiential stories, as well as the images from the thermal imaging camera. 
• Home Energy Navigator program was useful to assist with the basic process but many needed more specific guidance about their particular home to take action. It’s a complex 
• Several did smaller retrofits including increasing insulation or sealing leaks around doors and windows. 
• One decided to retrofit a fossil fuel system with a heat pump system, increase insulation and seal areas that needed this treatment. 
• Some had challenges with moving forward because of their unique situation or their stage of life. 
• Recommended this project for younger families who own older homes because they would most likely stay in the home and make home energy improvements to realize the full benefits and to increase resale value. 
• Called for the expansion and greater reliability of government grants and rebates.

Interested in knowing more about this project? Would you like to follow-up with another gathering to discuss permaculture principles and how they can apply to your home environment or neighbourhood community? Drop me an email ([email protected]).  Perhaps we can organize a workshop in the near future.

I want to thank the City of Nanaimo for funding the Thermal Imaging Camera and Home Energy Retrofits (TICHER) project from the Community Environmental Sustainability Project Grant. 

Some interesting findings: 
We discovered a problem in a closet where, for the first time in the 8 years we have lived in this house, mildew appeared in a back corner. The thermal imaging camera clearly showed a cold area where the insulation must have come away from the wall. We had hired a company to blow cellulose insulation into the attic, but before they did that, we asked them to secure the vertical insulation batting around the closet. 
The two photos below illustrate the use of the thermal imaging camera and what was done to remedy the heat leak: