Energy efficiency ‘top of mind for homebuyers’: Vaughan developer promotes smart home technology

Energy efficiency is becoming an increasing priority, Country Homes says

Yorkregion.com
Feb. 3, 2022
Dina Al-Shibeeb

Energy efficiency is becoming an increasing priority, according to Vaughan-based Country Homes, a company that's currently promoting smart home technology to improve sustainability by monitoring how much energy is used.

“We’ve seen studies that show energy efficiency is in the top five of homebuyers’ requests,” Christian Rinomato, head of sustainability for Country Homes, said.

“I believe it’s going to be a much larger priority in the coming years, and then it will become the norm. Buyer adoption is going to happen naturally,” Rinomato added.

“This is where the world is heading.”

In one of its recent news releases, Country Homes encouraged use of Schneider Electric's Wiser Energy Smart Home Monitor.

Once the Wiser Energy unit is installed at the home's electrical panel, and after connecting to Wi-Fi and setting up an app for it, people will get access to real-time information about their electrical usage 24-hours a day, seven days a week to be able to see how much they are consuming and at what times.

With that information, it's easy to make little modifications, such as turning off lights, unplugging items that don't need to be plugged in, and setting up zoned heating and cooling, that can have a big impact.

"I instantly fell in love with the Wiser Energy Smart Home Monitor. I've installed it in my own home," said Rinomato. "It gives you so much information at your fingertips."

"That's the beautiful thing about the Wiser Energy Smart Home Monitor system, is that it allows for consumer awareness. That's really the first step of behavioural changes," he added.

The products came after Schneider Electric -- a French multinational company providing energy and automation digital solutions for efficiency and sustainability -- began focusing on the home builders segment in July 2021.

Schneider Electric said that it started working with Country Homes last fall on two of the latter’s discovery homes.

The trend for sustainable homes is indeed ballooning.

The not-for-profit organization Canada Green Building Council said in a report it published in 2020 that as of 2018, the green building industry added 164,260 jobs, representing a 55-per-cent increase over 2014.

Over the same period, Canada’s oil and gas extraction, mining, and forestry industries stagnated in terms of job growth -- they contracted by 2.8 per cent and shed 7,580 positions, the report added.

In its report, CaGBC also called on new construction projects needing to incorporate design elements capable of achieving zero carbon emissions, and “existing buildings need to include deep emission reduction targets in their retrofit plans.”

CaGBC said buildings currently contribute 17 per cent of Canada’s carbon emissions.

Country Homes, already a board member of the Sustainable Housing Foundation, is also trying, alongside its peers, to push for the adoption of a sustainability checklist for the industry to build more sustainable homes.