Stratford's Program for Energy Audits and Renewable's (SPEAR)

This operational study will undertake research to support the development of a new program within the Town of Stratford called Stratford’s Program for Energy Audits and Renewables (SPEAR), a government run retrofit program with very little upfront costs to the consumer that will be designed to introduce energy-saving measures in the built environment. SPEAR would have three simple steps: conserve energy, promote energy efficiency and establish renewable energy to compliment the energy consumption that cannot be reduced or made more efficient. The goal of SPEAR is to remove all typical barriers associated with energy audits, retrofits and renewable energy assessments in residential and commercial properties in the Town of Stratford. Research will be carried out to ensure that the program is financially feasible and leverages all existing provincial and federal energy efficiency programs on behalf of the program participants. An important aspect of SPEAR is that program participants would only need to make one payment and have one site visit to upgrade their home in three different ways: 1) audit to assess energy efficiency; 2) retrofit to upgrade building components (e.g. insulation, windows); and 3) renewable energy assessment. When this program is fully implemented, SPEAR would potentially reduce the community GHG emissions by 13,336 tonnes by 2026, which would account for approximately 65% of the required community reductions mandated by the municipal government.A Triple Bottom Line analysis will be used to assess the effectiveness of this proposed program. Programs of similar structure are currently being employed in other countries and government programs in Germany would be reviewed. Stakeholders will be consulted through prearranged interviews, meetings and workshops. Interactive workshops with local residents and businesses will be used to collect feedback on the types of barriers they encounter when attempting to have energy audits or retrofits completed in their homes and businesses. A project test phase will also be carried out to audit and retrofit at least three residential homes and one business in Stratford to test the program effectiveness.