Blue Grouse Estate Winery ground sourced heat pump and controls installed by Southwest Solar & Heating

Blue Grouse Estate Winery is certified sustainable and on their way to being certified organic.

The winery was named the Judges’ Choice – Best Overall Entry in the 2016 Vancouver Island Real Estate Board Commercial Building Awards and also won the Award of Excellence in the Hospitality category at the event.

This beautiful facility designed by Boxwood incorporates design features such as controlled solar gain to passively heat the building in winter and cool it in summer. Daylighting has also cut their electricity use by about 66%.

We are proud to be part of this great winery’s sustainability plan. In 2018 we helped them walk the talk by installing their ground sourced heat pumps and controls. This allowed them to heat and cool the wine tanks as needed and get colder water for processing the wine. It also improved the heating in the building.

In their own words,

The Blue Grouse Estate Winery’s philosophy evolves from the concept of “stewardship”, where our aim is to make everything we touch better when we leave it, than it was when we found it. We apply this to training our team of employees, the environment that hosts our vineyard and home, the vines we grow, the wines we make, the infrastructure which supports the winery and vineyard, and the economics of our business model – everything.

 

BC Hydro Power Smart

Home renovation rebates are available from BC Hydro when you improve your home’s energy efficiency. For instance you can qualify for a $2,000 rebate for a new air source heat pump for your central heating system.

If you’re looking to upgrade your existing electric heating system, a heat pump can be more efficient than a traditional electric furnace or baseboard heaters. Unlike other heating and cooling systems, which convert fuel or electricity directly into heat, a heat pump moves heat from one place to another, in the same way as an air conditioner.

BC Hydro recommends that you get multiple quotes and consider different systems to determine the product and service provider that best meets your needs.

For more detail on their available rebates please visit:  https://www.bchydro.com/powersmart/residential/savings-and-rebates/current-rebates-buy-backs/home-renovation-rebates/rebates.html

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efficiency bc

Combination Space and Water Heat Pump

The Home Renovation Rebate and EfficiencyBC Program is offering a rebate of up to $3,000 for installing a combination space and water heat pump system.

Review the highlights of the program below, or visit: https://efficiencybc.ca/incentives/combination-space-and-water-heat-pump/

According to EfficiencyBC:

Available Rebates

  • Up to $3,000 incentives are available if you are fuel switching both your fossil fuel water heater and fossil fuel space heating (pre-approval required).
  • If you are on electric water heating and fossil fuel space heating, you may be eligible for $3,000 (pre-approval required).
  • If you are on fossil fuel water heating and electric space heating, you are only eligible for the electric heat pump water heater incentive. If the product is on the eligible heat pump water heater list then no pre-approval required, if it is not, then pre-approval is required.
  • Select municipalities have Municipal Offers of up to an additional $2000 that can be accessed only when converting from fossil fuel heating (natural gas, oil, or propane) to an electric air-source heat pump.

If you receive $2,000 in program incentives for this measure (not including municipal top-up), then your combination space and hot water system upgrade can count as one upgrade towards the Two Upgrade Bonus or the Home Energy Improvement Bonus. If you receive $3,000 in program incentives for this measure (not including municipal top-up), then your combination space and hot water system upgrade can count as two upgrades towards the Two Upgrade Bonus or the Home Energy Improvement Bonus.

Eligibility Requirements

Upgrade Requirements

  • The heating system must serve the main living area.
  • The heat pump must become the primary heating system of the home.
  • All fossil fuel heating equipment must be removed or decommissioned.
  • The primary back up system must not be natural gas, oil or propane. Homes with a natural gas or propane fireplaces are eligible if the fireplace is a secondary heating system.