As summer ebbs, commercial natural gas customers in eastern, northern and south western Ontario can still take advantage of seasonal bonus incentives. Union Gas is offering a 75 per cent top-up of its rebate rates on air curtains, which usually range from $250 to $1,500 depending on the product, for equipment purchased between June 1 and September 30, 2015.

The gas utility, which serves approximately 1.4 million residential, commercial and industrial customers outside the Greater Toronto Area, central and southern Ontario, has also temporarily augmented rebates for energy-efficient commercial kitchen equipment, including demand control kitchen ventilation, Energy Star fryers and Energy Star dishwashers.

Air curtains deliver a controlled stream of air at portals between the indoor and outdoor environment to cushion the collision of warm and cold air masses. This can be an energy management tool at doors that are frequently open to the elements — such as in street based and big box retail, commercial building lobbies and shipping/receiving docks — that also thwarts dust and insect migration.

Adding in the summer bonus, Union Gas customers can receive a rebate of $2,675 for installing an air curtain on a freight door larger than 100 square feet or $1,750 for a smaller freight door. Air curtains on storefront and other pedestrian doors are eligible for total rebates of $875 or $440 based on size.

“Air curtains reduce the infiltration of cold or hot outside air through doorways, which significantly lowers both heating and cooling costs compared to doors without air curtains, and extends life expectancy of existing heating and cooling equipment,” observes Andrea Stass, Manager of External Communications with Union Gas. “This is helping customers decrease their operating costs, increase their profitability and shrink their environmental footprint.”

That philosophy is also aligned with Ontario’s Conservation First directive and framework, which calls for enhanced integration of electricity and natural gas incentive programs. However, only natural gas air curtains will be eligible for the Union Gas rebate.