By Cheryl Evans

Fall has arrived right on schedule with a plummet in temperature and a chilly, leaf-swirling breeze. If that wind whistles its way through gaps and cracks into your house, you know that as cold air comes in, your money is leaking out.

The City of Kitchener’s Local Environmental Action Fund (LEAF) and REEP Green Solutions are teaming up to make it easy for owners of drafty, inefficient, pre-1970 homes to improve their energy efficiency and get some serious cash back for doing the work.

The REEP Kitchener Home Energy Grants, provided by the City of Kitchener’s LEAF Program, have created a $500,000 fund to help homeowners improve insulation and seal gaps and cracks in their homes.

These retrofit grants, valued at up to a maximum of $5,000 per residence, aim to make Kitchener’s older homes more comfortable to live in, cheaper to heat and cool, and lessen their burden on the environment.

The City of Kitchener has been an active participant in home energy retrofit programs and has been a strong supporter of REEP Green Solutions since the non-profit environmental organization was founded in 1999.

Grants for insulation and air sealing are now available exclusively through REEP to owners of Kitchener homes built on or before December 31, 1969.

Many pre-1970 homes have walls with no effective insulation and therefore have potential for substantial energy and money savings.

Aside from wall insulation, other qualifying upgrades include attic, basement, crawl space and exposed floor insulation.

In order to participate, Kitchener residents must arrange an initial home energy evaluation with REEP before starting their upgrades.

The grants are available on a first-come-first-served basis, based on completion and verification of the home retrofit.

With the recent return of the federal government’s eco-ENERGY program, qualified homes could receive a total of $10,000 back for home retrofits. Now, that’s a great reason to throw a party!

To celebrate the launch the REEP Kitchener Home Energy Grants, REEP Green Solutions and the Victoria Park Neighbourhood Association are inviting community members to ‘save your energy for the dance floor’ at the Retrofit Retro Dance Party, being held Sept. 24 from 8 p.m. until midnight at the Schwaben Club in Kitchener.

REEP staff will be on hand all night to provide information about home energy grants and upcoming free tours, workshops and events that will help people to sort through their options to decide which energy efficiency upgrades are best for their homes.

A brief summary of grant information will happen at 8:30 p.m. and then the party gets into full swing when dancing begins at 9 p.m. A 10 p.m. buffet is included with admission.

Partiers are invited to dig their favourite ‘retro’ clothes out of the closet, request their favourite tunes and join in the retro trivia and dance contests to win prizes.

Who ever said that home energy upgrades couldn’t be fun?

Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for seniors, students and the unwaged. Kids under five are free.

For more information about the REEP Kitchener Home Energy Grants, ecoENERGY, free energy  conservation events and workshops and to purchase party tickets online go to www.reepgreen.ca.

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Guest columnist Cheryl Evans and her colleague Rita Weigel work in education and marketing for REEP.