Wendy Martin and her husband, Gilles, decided to renovate their 150-year-old home in Springfield to make the drafty house warmer and easier to heat during the winter months. Thanks to a number of energy efficiency improvements, the Martin home went from an EnerGuide rating of 0 to 75, an incredible jump in rating that brings the Martin home close to par with average houses built today. Efficiency NB’s New Homes program encourages homes to be constructed to a minimum EnerGuide 83.

 

“We’d heard about Efficiency NB through word of mouth and in the newspapers, so we knew retrofits for energy efficiency would make considerable improvements, but we didn’t realize just how much,” says Wendy.

 

Gilles, the driving force behind the retrofits for energy efficiency, was killed in a motorcycle accident last summer and was not able to see the work completed, but Wendy takes comfort in the fact that his efforts and project have been completed, and to such great success.

 

“I think he’d be happy with it. The house is toasty warm,” says Wendy. “And I found the program worked well. I wouldn’t have known where to start, on my own, but with the help of the energy advisor and energy assessment papers that laid out what to do, it was very easy.”

 

Wendy now primarily heats with a heat pump and had five Energy Star rated windows and two insulated doors installed. The upgrades also included: attic insulation, foam insulation added to exterior walls and foam and some glass fiber insulation to foundation walls.  Better air sealing was done throughout the house as the energy efficiency upgrades were undertaken.

 

The Martin home won Efficiency NB’s Residential Retrofit award because it had the most significant improvement in the EnerGuide rating for energy efficiency among all participants in the program in 2010.