While we would like to replace them -  the ecoENERGY retrofitting rebate from the government is not very much ($80 per rough opening). And our home auditor told us that new windows don’t really bring much energy savings in terms of lower heating bills.

Since this winter is so ridiculously mild (NO SNOW and it’s almost February!) we just went around and sealed the old windows on the main floor and basement, like we have other winters. (Shown here is one of our basement windows with its 50-year-old single-pane glass.)

We bought a window-sealer kit at our local hardware store: plastic wrap (thin, like Saran-Wrap) and double-sided tape. You put tape on the window frame, attach plastic to the tape, and then use your hair dryer to shrink the plastic so there aren’t ripples in it.

All the main floor windows aren’t done yet (only the huge front bay window in the livingr00m) but we don’t have the same sense of urgency we have in past winters… Because our newly insulated main floor walls are making the rooms toastier. No more wind whistling through the plaster to make our guests shiver, with us running to jack up the thermostat! And our new EnergyStar steel front door had made the front hall warmer, too!

Maybe next year – but in time to meet our specific deadline of Feb. 2011 – we will purchase new EnergyStar qualified windows and have them installed on the main floor. But as mentioned, at only $80 each in combined fed and provincial rebates, that grand total of $640 won’t make much of a dent in the thousands they will cost.

Eco renovation expert Gail Lawlor shows me how to caulk properly

Betcha read this post title and thought, why can’t I find something that fun to do on a sunny, unseasonably warm weekend?

Well, maybe you’re just not reading the flyers that come with your bills. I didn’t used to, but this month I actually ripped open a Union Gas bill and found a booklet announcing this demo event.

So yesterday Doug and I were off to an energy savings demo hosted by Union Gas and Sears in nearby Mapleview Mall.

The photo shows me getting a caulking lesson from independent consultant, Gail Lawlor, of Energy Matters, at the demo. She is contracted by Union Gas to instruct the  public on the fundamentals of home energy conservation.

Gail also trains contractors (for more than 20 years now) on green practices, including for RONA – with a current focus getting them to appreciate the largely untapped market around ecoENERGY retrofits, and of course, the Home Renovation Tax Credit (which most of them know about, she says.) Gail told me:

“In a room of 50 renovators, I ask ‘who knows about the ecoENERGY retrofit grants from the government, and about 3 people put their hands up. Then I ask, who is talking to their clients and prospects about these huge opportunities, and maybe 1 person puts their hand up!”

Free Stuff – Who Doesn’t Want That?

Union Gas was giving away FREE Energy Saving Kits ($35 in product) that contain the items shown below.

We haven’t unpacked our free kit yet – hey, it’s only been a day – but we’ll be using all these parts… or handing them off to contractors who comes tomorrow to give us a quote on some energy retrofits (including an insulator).

This Energy Savings Kit is free only to folks who are Union Gas customers.

If you’re a Union Gas customer, have you picked one up? Have you done anything with it yet?