Yukoner residents are making a difference in creating a cleaner environment with their increasingly energy efficient homes.

"By replacing old, inefficient appliances with newer, energy efficient models, the Good Energy incentive program makes it easier for Yukon homeowners to move toward a more energy efficient home that lowers their costs, their energy consumption and their greenhouse gas emissions," Energy, Mines and Resources Minister Scott Kent said.

Energy efficiency is an untapped energy resource. Over the lifetime of the program, Yukoners have saved $949,000 on appliance costs per year, and conserved 1.5 million kWh. These energy savings equate to the power needed by 115 modern Yukon houses in a single year.

The territorial government's popular Good Energy incentive program was created in 2007 to reduce energy consumption, energy costs and emissions, and achieve goals outlined in its 2009 Energy Strategy for Yukon.

Rebates are offered as incentives on a wide variety of high efficiency products including household and heating appliances, domestic water and bioenergy systems. To be eligible, products must meet specific energy efficiency requirements or industry standards, such as ENERGY STAR®.

Since the program's launch in 2007, Yukoners have received 12,000 incentives totaling $1.6 million dollars. The Good Energy program has been very successful in transforming the local market to stock and promote energy efficient refrigerators, clothes washers, fridges, freezers and heating systems ranging from wood stoves, to propane and oil furnaces and air source heat pumps.

"The high participation rates and measurable energy savings strongly indicate how the Good Energy program plays an important role in reducing energy loads and realizing Yukon's long-term economic and environmental goals," Minister Kent added. "We encourage all Yukoners to participate and choose consumer technologies offering premium levels of energy efficiency over conventional products."

Building on the success of the popular Good Energy program, the Government of Yukon introduced additional incentives in recent years to assist Yukoners in improving their home's energy efficiency and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

The new Residential Energy incentives program helps Yukoners make their homes more comfortable, improve energy efficiency and make household energy bills more affordable.

Yukoners are now offered incentives for:

• Renovations that improve the air tightness and insulation levels of existing homes; or
• New homes that achieve an EnerGuide for New Homes rating of 85 or greater, and/or
• Installation of a renewable energy system at a residence for generating electricity (e.g. solar photovoltaic panels).

An additional nine new qualifying products were also added under the residential program: heat-recovery ventilators; EnergyStar© windows and doors; and solar, wind, hydro, biomass or geothermal energy generators.

Since coming into effect in January 2015, Yukoners have collected 447 Residential Energy incentives totaling $963,000. This translates into 453,000 kWh of annual energy savings and $75,000 in annual Yukon cost savings. This is in addition to the savings previously mentioned for the Good Energy incentive program.

The Good Energy incentive program is one of many energy efficiency initiatives offered by the Government of Yukon's Energy Solutions Centre.