As Canadians celebrate Environment Week, the Environmental Stewardship Committee is aiming to make Jasper a little bit greener.
The committee, which oversees the Environmental Stewardship Fund鈥攁 joint program funded by Parks Canada and the Municipality of Jasper and governed by an advisory committee of Jasper residents and representatives from Parks and the municipality鈥攚ants to improve awareness about energy conservation and climate change.
It plans to do that by offering money to Jasperites who buy energy efficient appliances for their homes.
The Jasper Residential Energy Efficiency Rebate Program is a three-year program that aims to get more energy efficient appliances into people鈥檚 homes. It will do this by offering rebates to homeowners who purchase Energy Star appliances in the next three years.
Starting June 1, Jasperites are eligible for a $500 rebate when they install an Energy Star furnace in their homes, $200 if they install an Energy Star Fridge, $100 for an Energy Star clothes washer, $50 for a programmable thermostat and $25 for LED lighting.
Environmental Stewardship Coordinator Janet Cooper said the program will run for three years, including this year鈥檚 slightly late start. She鈥檚 budgeted $25,000 a year for the program, and hopes that Jasperites take advantage of the $875 in rebates each household is eligible for.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a great thing to do in a municipality. As everyone else is working on really big picture stuff, and trying to transform clean energy sources and technology, they say the best thing you can do right now is reduce your consumption,鈥� she said.
Cooper said that is why the rebate program is so great for the town: people will take advantage of it because of the money, but as they find out about the different rebates that are offered for different products it will reinforce the importance of conserving energy in their homes, and get them thinking more about how to do that.
鈥淔or someone in Jasper, the most effective thing we can do is really try to promote behaviour change in how they consume energy. So a rebate program will give them just a little push to think about 鈥榦h, well maybe my ancient fridge is sucking up twice as much energy as it should, and maybe it鈥檚 time to make that investment and switch over.鈥� And if a lot of people did that it can really impact our consumption,鈥� she said.
鈥淚鈥檓 really hoping that it really gets it in people鈥檚 minds, and raises awareness.鈥�
Cooper said that with the Environmental Stewardship Program entering into a new five-year contract it鈥檚 hard to say what the future of the rebate program will be. However, she hopes Jasperites will take advantage of the program while it鈥檚 here, and make the town just a little bit greener.
Trevor Nichols
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