RULES OF THE GAME

The 12 homes chosen for the program must be fully detached, low-rise buildings, built before 1985. Each of these homes must be heated by natural gas or heating oil. The final choice of these homes will be made in strict consultation with energy conservation experts so as to ensure that the challenge will be as fair as possible. The homeowners themselves, like their homes, will be chosen to be fully representative of Canada’s diverse contemporary populace.

The rules of the game are simple but will be rigorously enforced:

1. The homeowners must make all the final decisions as to which improvements they will undertake.

2. Simple draft proofing of the home, the replacement of light bulbs, and the installation of low-flow water faucet devices may be done by the homeowners themselves. All other work must be completed by professional contractors.

3. All purchases must be made, and all services provided at market value.

4. All homes must be fully restored to a finished appearance.

Each homeowner will have plenty of help. Our challenge will begin with a thorough assessment of each home—an "Energy Efficiency Evaluation," as developed by the Government of Canada, will be completed by a trained evaluator. The evaluator will arrive at an EnerGuide Rating (on a scale of 1 to 100) for each home, a ranking which profiles the heat loss in the home, and the efficiency of the hot water heating.

The average daily electricity consumption of each home will also be determined at the outset by a utility technician. This technician will offer information relating to the efficiency of all the appliances, fans and lighting systems in the home. He/she will as well provide tips on how to save electrical energy in less obvious ways—hanging clothes to dry, unplugging various electrical units at night, etc. Precise data on what energy conservation might be gained by making changes in each of these areas will be clearly presented to our homeowners.

Likewise, at the outset of our challenge, a 'before the retrofit' gas or heating oil consumption baseline measure will be established by utility technicians.

Water consumption will be measured by simple metering of the home, rated by the number of occupants over a designated period.

All our homeowners will be required, whenever possible, to recycle any appliances or other material being removed from their home because of the CODE GREEN CANADA retrofit.

Once renovations are completed according to the schedule established, our technicians will re-visit each home to assess the improvements achieved, and provide the quantitative measures that will allow us to determine our winner.

The Winning Formula

The overall winner of the CODE GREEN CANADA challenge will be determined on the basis of the following formula:

	40% the numerical increase in EnerGuide score.
	20% the reduction in electricity use (a % measurement comparing the old pattern of consumption with the new).
	20% the reduction in gas/heating oil use (a % measurement comparing the old pattern of consumption with the new).
	20% per-occupant consumption of water.

May the greenest home win!