A Commercial Energy Audit Program (CEAP) to support Northwest Territories (NWT) businesses in making energy saving improvements was unveiled today by Brendan Bell, Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

The CEAP is a $100,000 fund to help offset the high cost of energy audits for small and medium-sized NWT businesses and will be dispersed on an application basis. NWT businesses are eligible for up to 90% of the costs of a commercial energy audit.

“Energy conservation and efficiency were identified as key focus areas in the NWT Energy Plan”, said Minister Bell. “This program is one tool to help NWT businesses to address the rising cost of energy, particularly in our more remote, diesel powered communities where reducing costs and greenhouse gas emissions are a priority.”

The program complements the Federal ecoENERGY Retrofit Incentive for Buildings program. NWT businesses that receive an audit will be eligible to apply for Federal Program dollars to help offset the up front costs of energy improvements to buildings.

The Northwest Territories Power Corporation, which has been assisting commercial and residential customers for a number of years through energy efficiency reviews and advice, plans to work with some of their commercial customers in high cost communities to take advantage of this Program.

CEAP will be delivered by the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Program guidelines and application forms are available to NWT businesses through the Department’s regional offices or can be accessed from Commercial Energy Audit website.

May 11, 2007
Deline adopts Deline Energy Plan 2007
The Arctic Energy Alliance congratulated the Charter Community of Deline Dene Council on adopting the Deline Energy Plan 2007. Deline had been working with AEA on the plan since the fall of 2005. The plan is available on the AEA website.

January 29, 2007
The Arctic Energy Alliance has been working closely with numerous communities to help develop individual Community Energy Plans. To view some of the completed Energy Profile posters from various communities in the NWT, visit the Community Projects section on the web site. The complete Community Energy Planning Toolkit is now available for download in the library , or you can request a CD version at info@aea.nt.ca

December 12, 2006
The Arctic Energy Alliance released a Community Energy Planning Toolkit at a conference in Yellowknife. The toolkit is designed to guide northern communities through the 6 steps of successful energy planning. The complete Toolkit is available for download from our web-site, or you can request a CD version at info@aea.nt.ca

October 2, 2006
The Arctic Energy Alliance visited Deline to perform EnerGuide for Houses (EGH) evaluations on 20 privately owned homes. We found that homes rated between mid-50s and mid 70s on the EGH scale. One of the most interesting things we found was that many homes had electric hot water heaters.

In Deline, switching from an electric to an oil-fired hot water heater can produce huge financial savings and greenhouse gas emissions reductions because Deline's electricity is generated with a diesel generator.

The EGH tests were part of the Deline Community Energy Plan and the community helped out by providing a truck for us to get from house to house.

September 7, 2006
The Arctic Energy Alliance was pleased to announce that the Government of the Northwest Territories had approved funding for the EnerGuide for Houses program until March 31, 2007. The decision for funding approval followed the federal government's announcement to cancel the Federal EnerGuide for Houses program as of May 12, 2006.
Under the GNWT agreement, homeowners were eligible to receive a territorial grant on the cost of the upgrades made to their homes. To qualify, the homeowner must have completed an EnerGuide for Houses initial evaluation, the retrofits, and the follow-up audit prior to March 31, 2007.

September 5, 2006
Yellowknife CEP presented to MLAs
The City of Yellowknife energy coordinator (Mark Henry) and the Arctic Energy Alliance presented the Yellowknife Community Energy Plan to members of the NWT legislature. The MLAs were holding public hearings on how to reduce the cost of living in the NWT.

The suggestions in the Yellowknife CEP were very well received. Several MLAs expressed interest in the idea that the GNWT could provide "green financing" for homeowners to help them get over the initial cost of investing in energy efficient upgrades or wood pellet stoves.

On September 6, both the City of Yellowknife and the Arctic Energy Alliance received calls of support from the public audience that were at the hearings.

July 31, 2006
The City of Yellowknife Community Energy Plan was submitted to council in August 2006. For the latest public documents, go to the City's website.