If you’re a problem solver and motivated to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, this job might be for you.
Four years ago, Sarah Grant got a call from her friend Trish Long. Her furnace had quit one cold winter night, and when she had asked about heat pumps as an alternative, she had been “laughed at.” Now, she had an idea. What if, Anne said, they could help people like her who wanted to move from gas furnaces to heat pumps?
Sarah was immediately onboard. With both engineering and computer science degrees under her belt, it was a small step to becoming a certified energy adviser registered with Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). In 2020, the pair launched Goldfinch Energy. We asked Sarah to tell us more.
Penny Caldwell: What do you do, exactly?
Sarah Grant: We are a team of registered energy advisers who work with people who are motivated to make their homes better for the planet, more efficient, and more comfortable. We provide a range of services, including energy audits, but also additional design and installation support as needed. We look at the whole house as a system, how everything interacts, and help come up with a plan.
PC: How can someone become a registered energy advisor?
SG: The training involves passing two exams and then doing a number of audits under the mentorship of and with quality assurance by a senior energy advisor. (No specific education is required, but organizations across Canada offer preparation courses.) It’s a great role for someone who is both analytical and people oriented. There is some basic math and building science which, if you don’t already know, you can learn.
PC: What’s the pay like?
SG: How much someone makes really depends on the business model. Some do high-volume but not high-quality audits. I’d estimate an advisor makes around $80,000 per year.
PC: Do you see opportunities for this industry to grow?
SG: Currently the industry is not very stable as typically an energy audit is needed only when there are programs that require it. At the end of January 2024, Natural Resources Canada announced a pause for new applicants [to the Canada Greener Homes Grant, a rebate program jointly offered in Ontario by Enbridge Gas and Natural Resources Canada. The window to have a pre-audit done in order to qualify for the rebate program closed in Ontario on Feb. 5th.] Beyond that there aren’t any other rebates, though that’s likely just temporary.
There are still zero-interest and low-interest loans [of up to $40,000] that require an energy audit to access. And it’s likely that by spring there will be one or two new rebate programs.
Editor’s Note: While the Canada Greener Homes Grant is currently not accepting new applications, there are other grants and programs still available, such as the City of Toronto’s Home Energy Loan Program (HELP), which helps fund retrofits including rooftop solar and heat pumps. Sarah and her team of energy advisors are registered to help residents with the program, and you can connect with them on the Natural Resources Canada registry under ER Energy Solutions. Here’s what you need to know about the loan program.
PC: What are the key elements of an audit?
SG: We look at the building envelope and help people figure out where the house is losing heat in the winter. Most of the energy consumption and fossil fuel emissions in our homes is from heating, not air conditioning. That’s because the temperature difference we’re trying to make up in the winter is larger than in the summer. Where our home is losing heat could be where there’s not as much insulation, or poor performing windows, or air leakage. Air leakage is the top source of heat loss in a home. We test that by hooking up a big fan to the front door of the house for a blower door test. You can literally feel the drafts in the home where air leakage is occurring.
We’ll measure insulation, windows, doors, and air leakage and figure out opportunities to make improvements based on a homeowner’s plans, the cost, and what might have the biggest bang for the buck. We also look at mechanicals—your heating and cooling systems, how your hot water is heated, and any ventilation to bring in fresh air and exhaust the stale air. If you’ve requested a Cleantech report roadmap, we’ll do a customized report that is meant to be a lot more actionable with detailed costs, recommendations on contractors, suggested next steps, and so on.
PC: Is there anything you can’t fix?
SG: Everything is fixable, it’s just how much someone can spend. Air leakage is a good example. Only so much can be done by walking around with a caulking gun to address the leakage around the baseboards. To really make improvements involves adding an air barrier. In a newer home, that’s required by the building code. With just insulation, it’s like only having a sweater on your home. Adding an air barrier is basically like putting a wind breaker around your whole house.
I was at a house this morning where the owner just bought it and doesn’t want to do a gut on the inside, but the siding needs to be replaced. So, we talked about adding the air barrier on the outside. Take off the siding, add the air barrier, maybe add a few inches of insulation, and then put on new siding. You can add the air barrier on the inside or the outside, depending on what’s planned. The hardest homes are the ones that are very leaky, but they’re beautifully finished inside, they’re nicely insulated, and the owner doesn’t want to change the siding. There’s only so much you can do.
What we do at the end is sit down at the kitchen table with the homeowners and talk about what we observed, about their goals, and help make a plan that can meet their goals.
PC: Is it dirty work?
SG: Sometimes it’s dirty. I was in a house recently where I definitely saw some mouse and rat faeces in the basement. Poking your head in the attic, you never know what you’re going to get, and we wear proper protection in case we see vermiculite that can have asbestos in it. So, there are aspects that are dirty and a bit physical, like carrying around big ladders and that big fan that we use to check air tightness. Other than that, it’s paper-and-clipboard sort of stuff, nothing too intense.
PC: Your team is comprised mostly of women. Is there anything about the business that women can do particularly well?
SG: There are four of us now. One male and four females. It hasn’t necessarily been intentional, it’s more a natural consequence of the type of people we want on the team and the services we provide. What I’ve realised is that a lot of the folks who reach out are women. And I think there is an inherent trust there. A typical energy report is quite technical. What we do at the end is sit down at the kitchen table with the homeowners and talk about what we observed, about their goals, and help make a plan that can meet their goals. We’re interested to get to know people, and we want to truly find out what’s required to make a helpful, customizable, and actionable plan. So perhaps it’s those aspects—the communication skills, caring about people and helping them—that are traditionally female attributes.
PC: How many audits do you do in a year?
SG: While the grant was running I would say 150, roughly one a day Monday to Thursday.
PC: What do you like best about the job?
SG: I personally love the work. I get to meet interesting people, have an impact on their lives, improve their comfort, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Over the years, the awareness has increased. Just like we’ve seen more people get onboard with electric vehicles, going from a gas furnace to a heat pump is kind of similar environmentally. It’s been a pleasant surprise to see the understanding and interest in reducing home emissions grow. That’s very motivating.
I’ve always been interested in grass roots-based stuff. I helped start a community garden and worked at the grass roots level in international development as well. The other interesting thing about the space of making our homes better for the planet is that there are lots of amazing neighbourhood organizations and community groups out there that are working hard to get people on board. They have done a lot of on-the-ground work to raise the interest in heat pumps and to help disseminate information about what a heat pump is and can do and the rebate programs. I get a lot of joy out of working in partnership with these organizations.
