The Canadian Greener Homes Initiative provides up to 700,000 grants of up to $5,000 to homeowners who are looking to make energy-efficient changes or upgrades to their homes. Some of the items that may be covered by the initiative include better insulation or upgraded heating and cooling units. The Initiative also provides free EnerGuide evaluations with an energy expert to help homeowners plan retrofits and changes that will be most valuable to them and help them maximize the amount of energy they are saving. These evaluations typically cost up $600, so it is a huge savings to get this for free.

Now that you know what the Canada Greener Homes Initiative is, you may find yourself wondering why the Canadian government is investing in these grants. Why do they care if your home is more energy-efficient? Both homes and commercial buildings account for approximately 18 percent of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions. By helping homeowners to become more energy-efficient, it helps to decrease these greenhouse emissions, which helps the environment and helps to fight climate change. When your home is more energy-efficient, you also spend less on energy expenses, which provides you with more money. You can then spend this money, which helps the local Canadian economy.

While the initiative is primarily designed to better the environment and fight climate change, the initiative is also designed to create jobs. As was mentioned above, this program provides free EnerGuide evaluations with an energy expert. This helped to create new jobs in the energy field. One of the goals of this program was to create a diverse group of energy advisors. This provided career opportunities specifically for this program, with the hope that these individuals will be able to take the skills they learned through this program and use those skills in the future to continue to promote energy-efficiency.

If you are looking to make energy-efficient changes to your home, it is rare that you can get help paying for those changes. This program allows you to qualify for up to $5,000 to pay for changes that will help you to save both energy and money. If you are considering installing a heat pump, this is a program you should jump on. It is rare that there is a heat pump discount or rebate, so you should take advantage of it while you can.