Welcome to the Climate Friendly Homes Tour

Sunday Oct. 6, 2024 see first-hand what your neighbours are doing to make their homes more comfortable and climate-friendly.

Across BC, homeowners are building and retrofitting houses to be more climate-friendly. That means they’ve reduced the energy use and carbon emissions from their homes. How are they doing? It could be using more efficient heating, cooling and hot water systems. It could be an improved building envelope with added insulation and modern windows and doors. It could be innovative design that makes the most of sunshine and natural cooling techniques. Some are even generating their own renewable energy with solar panels.

The point is that every home is a little different. So let’s hit the pavement and see first-hand what homeowners are doing to build climate-friendly homes in your community.

How the tour works

1. Browse the maps.

Select the community you’d like to visit from the listing below. Then click around on the map for previews of participating homes. You can see some of the measures that make these homes more climate-friendly and start thinking about questions you’d like to ask the homeowners.

2. Plan your route.

We recommend spending 20-30 minutes for each stop you’d like to make. Can you walk or bike to the tour stops? Neighbourhood parking may be limited so consider that if you’ll be driving.

3. Visit a climate-friendly home.

This is the exciting part! Bring all of your questions about the homeowner’s experience building or retrofitting. Ask how things are working for them and what they recommend. Local energy experts may evn be in attendance at select locations so they can answer more technical questions.

4. Keep learning more.

After the tour, check out the resources at betterhomesbc.ca and figure out what you might do for your own home. There are thousands of dollars available in incentives for various upgrades, so now is the time to look deeper.