Brockville Climate Action Group

Put ENERGY STAR to work for your organization

This guide is designed to help your organization buy and promote energy efficient products while working within your own purchasing framework and rules. This second edition has been revised and updated to include new information and new tools that will make it easier than ever to identify and select the most energy efficient products available on the market.

Ontario's point-of-sale Retail Sales Tax (RST) exemption for certain new ENERGY STAR® qualified household products purchased, rented, or leased ended on September 1, 2009.

[ ONTARIO GOVERNMENT NOTICE HERE ]

Toronto Star / Stephen Dupuis / 07 March 2009

For years, Energy Star was virtually the only game in town for lowrise new home builders looking to differentiate themselves in the market and respond to consumer demand for more energy-efficient new homes. Meanwhile, LEED (short for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) had cornered the highrise residential market on the green label front.

As with everything else, things are changing rapidly, particularly with respect to green labels for lowrise housing. With the introduction this week of the new LEED Canada for Homes label, homebuyers now have a full continuum of choice ranging from Energy Star to GreenHouse to LEED, not to mention established programs like R-2000 and proprietary builder-specific green programs.

What do all these labels and logos mean? What are the costs and benefits to the homebuyer? Like anything else, it's important to do your research on the labels themselves, but it's equally important to ask yourself a few questions to determine your own priorities.

Government of Ontario / Press Release / June 2007

To encourage Ontario consumers to purchase products that are more energy efficient, the Province of Ontario has announced a temporary RST exemption for qualifying energy-efficient household products. This initiative is aimed at supporting energy conservation by reducing the demand for electricity.