Departments > Planning & Development > Development Services Division > Green Initiatives > Information for Homeowners and Residents

The City of Victoria encourages homeowners to save electricity by accessing B.C. Hydro's Power Smart information and interactive tool "Analyze My Home".

EnerGuide is a Natural Resources Canada initiative that helps consumers purchase the most energy-efficient equipment on the market. The EnerGuide label is a tool to help you make an energy-wise choice when buying a new appliance. It shows how much energy appliances consume in a year of normal service and makes it easy to compare the energy efficiency of each model to others of the same size and class.

If you are thinking of renovating, please review Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)'s information on renovating for energy savings.

The City does not offer a "public drop off " service at our operation site due to public safety concerns, and the requirement to control the raw product used in our operation. Material can be dropped off at either the City of Victoria Public Works Yard on Saturday from 7am to 2pm (for more information contact 361-0400, Monday to Friday, 8am to 4 pm), or at one of the locations operated by the CRD.
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• Lighting: Turn off lights whenever you leave a room in your home. Turn off all lights at night. Turn off lights near windows when day lighting is adequate. Enjoy natural light whenever possible.

• Appliances: Turn off all unnecessary appliances, high tech devices and gadgets like computers and stereos. Run the dishwasher only with a full load and use air-dry and economy settings.

• Heating: Only heat the rooms you need by closing vents and doors of unused rooms. Set your thermostat using a programmable timer. Wear clothing for the season.

• Save Water: Take five-minute showers instead of baths and use cold water for laundry. Heating water uses electricity. Use a water-saving showerhead.

• Transportation: Carpool, use transit, use your bicycle or electric scooter.

• Idling: Turn off the engine if your vehicle is parked for 10 seconds or longer.

• Computer and Monitor: Turn off your monitor if you're leaving your home computer for more than 30-40 minutes. Turn off your computer when not in use or at the end of the day.

• Printing: Use the double-sided/duplex printing feature.

• Electronic Devices: Unplug your charger when you are not using it, or plug everything on a power bar to easily turn off all devices at once.

For more home energy conservation tips, click here.

If Victoria's 42,000 households were to turn off just one light for one hour, enough electricity would be saved to:

• Run 6,000 dishwasher loads
• Brew 8,000 pots of coffee
• Pop over 33,000 bags of microwave popcorn
• Make over 140,000 pieces of toast

• City Green Solutions – Energy Efficiency and Home Energy Assessments
• BC Hydro Power Smart Tips and Products
• The Good Life – Make Every Hour Earth Hour
• CRD Recycling and Composting
• Recycling Directory
• Greater Victoria Compost Education Centre
• Encorp Electronics Recycling
• Carpool.ca
• Living Green Victoria
• LifeCycles Project

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