\u201cIf people use solar power or do things to reduce gas emissions, things that will improve long-term climate change and reduce things like wildfires and hail storms\u2014catastrophic events\u2014that will eventually allow insurance companies to charge less because they spend billions of dollars on catastrophic events, however, it\u2019s difficult for companies to assign risk reduction for someone who puts a solar panel on their house.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Three](\"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Depositphotos_4719457_L.jpg\" "\\"-\\"")
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That isn\u2019t to suggest that green home upgrades aren\u2019t worth pursuing. For example, high-ratio mortgage holders can benefit from a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation premium refund of up to 25% if they buy or build an energy efficient home, or even if they make the according renovations themselves.<\/p>\n
Still, those savings won\u2019t come through typical home insurance but rather mortgage loan insurance, says Thouin, but there are ways to accrue savings.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you install energy efficient pipes and plumbing systems to use water more efficiently, i.e. less water, it will reduce the risk of cracks, leaks and poor water quality, which lowers the risk of flooding in your home, therefore, the insurance company will lower your insurance,\u201d said Thouin.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, it might be a while yet till insurance companies begin discounting green upgrades to homes, and Thouin believes one way to get the ball rolling is through government intervention.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it comes to green rebates, it\u2019s really going to have to be a partnership between government and insurance companies working together,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to take some time to have enough individual dwellings to make catastrophic events happen less frequently, and until then perhaps the government can provide insurance companies with subsidies they could pass along to individuals who install green energy efficient improvements to their homes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Green home upgrades are growing in popularity, but anyone expecting a break on their home insurance premiums as a result might have to hold their breath a little longer. Insurance companies are always evaluating risk but that becomes difficult when the sample size is paltry. Justin Thouin, co-founder of LowestRates.ca, which released a report on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":27456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9282"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9282"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28898,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9282\/revisions\/28898"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}