As a follow up to my previous blog about Energy Efficency I came across a great article in the Report on Business written by Martin Mittelsteadt. It follows up to my previous blog on Energy Efficency and cutting our Energy Expenses and saving on the HST taxes. This is about lightbulbs, specifically for a Commercial application, but it can also be applied to our residences.

 The incandescent light bulb goes back to the time when our Peterborough works GE plant was known as the Edison Electric and my great grandfather Charles Huffman was the foreman of the shop were they built electric street cars. The fluorescent bulb which has been used commercially for offices stores and plants is 1930’s technology. As the incandescent bulb has been forced off the market as an energy hog, new technology is being developed to replace the old light bulb.

 A Canadian company, CRS Electronics is betting it’s future on the latest technology the energy efficent LED ( light emitting diodes ). They are marketing now to the commercial market, however, in time they will be marketed by the Philips and General Electic’s of the world for home use. The cost benefits of the energy efficent bulbs is remarkable, especially for 24 hour a day use. CRS bulbs cut energy use by 88% and are expected to last 25 times longer, yet still having the brightness and look of standard lighting. They are energy efficent because 80% of the electricity they use is converted to light while an older incandescent bulb convert only 5% and thus produce incredable heat. Even the new compact fluorescent bulbs ( I just hate them ) are only converting 25% of the the electricity and are really not that energy efficent.

 Like I said they are not inexpensive to purchase, about $ 60.00 a bulb, especially compared to halogen, but in large commercial or institutional buildings the savings are real. Humber college purchased 1000 bulbs from CRS and estimates that over the nine year life span the school will save about $ 500.00 per bulb. Also, it saves labour costs as the school would have used 3000 halogen bulbs and they also would have been sent to landfill.

 The lighting market is similar to the computer chip market 10 years ago, so expect dramatic price reductions in halogen and LED. lighting and the energy efficency will transfere to our residences.

As noted in the business section of the Toronto Star, sales of resale homes in the GTA remained hot in February. According to the Toronto Real Estate Board,sales were up 77% over 2009 and the price average continued to climb up 19% over February 2009. On a really positive note listings finally started to improve with an increase of 24%.
 Locally in the Peterborough Real Estate market the market again showed a big improvement over February 2009.Sales increased by 42 % and sales volume was up 58 %. I do not have the average price increase, but it will also reflect the increase. Similar to Toronto, the Peterborough market had 471 new listings compared to 416 in 2009, but our inventory still remains low with 1605 active listings compared to 2092 listings in February 2009.
 As I haved previously blogged February 2009 was at the low end of the market last year, but the unit sales for 2010 still compare favourably with 2008 which was a very good sales year, especially winter and spring.
 So what does all this mean for future interest rates and the Bank of Canada’s view of inflation. The Governor, John Carney did leave the bench mark lending rate at the historic low rate of0.25% at Tuesday’s meeting. Mr. Carney also pledged last year that the Bank would leave the rate at that level until July 2010. There are signs that the economy is better and even the core inflation rate of 2% target in January came in sooner than expected. The next date for the Bank to meet is April 20 and that decision could mean the  end of very easy money. The Bank had originally estimated that the economy would not return to a full tilt until late 2011, it may in fact happen before, and rates will start to increase sooner rather than later.
 How does all of this impact our local Real Estate Market. Locally the most units sold in February were in the range of $ 200,000 to $ 220,000 followed by the price range of $ 220,000 to $ 240,000.This showes that it is still an affordable market, and with more new listings every day it is still a good time to buy and a good time to sell. it could be a more balanced market this Spring compared to the last few months. As I have previously blogged a five year fixed rate mortgage will be the best option for first time buyers or those with less than 50 % equity, but if you are in a good equity position the variable rates may never be as low, so take advantage today. For more detailed mortgage information make an appointment with our Centum Mortgage Manager Mike Jones at 705-743-4444. Check out my web site at Harry Huffman.com and link to Mortgages to see the current rates, updated evry day.

In Christina Blizzard’s comment page in the Toronto sun of Feb. 23/10 she asks the question ” How much will the new HST. cost consummers. According to the Ministry of finance the HST will ad $ 100.00 to the average electrical bill and for natural gas $ 125.00. Because of new promising discoveries in Canada and the United States it appears that Natural Gas prices should remain constant, at least for a few more years. However, as the Ontario government pushes for more solar and wind power as a source for more of our electricity,(at a subsidized rate) and our nuclear power generation has to be replaced and expanded our electricity costs will be increasing as will the subsequent HST.
 We can be proactive with our homes and investment properties. Although the Federal Government grants for renovations are not going to be renewed, there are still great programs for energy efficent upgrades and improvements including windows/doors insulation and hi-efficency furnaces. Go to my web site , log on to my blog and click on the link to CMHC and go to the consumer section. You can check out the grants from the Provincial and Federal governments. If you live in the Peterborough region check out Peterborough Greenup or the Energuy.
 Jay Leno has taken action to almost eliminate any electrical costs associated with his garage. As you may not know, Jay has one of the great auto/bike collections in North America, and all the restoration work is done in his shop. Auto garages, dealerships and body repair shops consume huge amounts of electricity and energy. By using solar power he has reduced his costs He is now having a magnetic wind turbine installed which is engineered and built by Enviro Energies of Grimsby Ontario. For a fascinating look at his collection and shop go to www.Jay Leno’s Garage.com and to see a video of this wind turbine,scroll down the right side of the Home Page to ” Green Garage ” and to the Magnetic Turbine link.
 See there are ways to save energy and beat the ” Taxman”

According to a report today by Tony Wong in the Toronto Star Business section Re/Max Ontario Atlantic,reports that the G.T.A. leads Canada when it comes to the lack of listings on the Real Estate Market. This is contributing to the upward pressure on prices, something that I have previously written about in several of my blogs.
 In the GTA there were 41 % fewer listings for sale in January 2010 than the previous year. Across Canada 81 % if the markets in the survey showed a marked decrease in the number of listings  In Ontario, Kitchener/Waterloo had 33 % fewer listings and Ottawa had 30 %. Out on the west coast Vancouver was down 27 %. How about our local Peterborough On. market, Active listings in 2009 were 1850 listings and in 2010, only 1414 listings or down 24%.
 This, then drives the consumer to the new home/condo market were sales in the GTA were up in January 2010 over 2009 a spectacular 237%. Talk about a bubble! well not exactly, January 2009 was going to be the year from hell and the world as we new it was going to come crashing down. so lets compare this year to January 2008 and sales are only up 11%. And as we should all remember we in Peterborough had a very cold and snowy 2008.
 If you are considering a move the facts show that in southern Ontario we are for the moment in a “Sellers Market”