When Canadians get rolling on their Kyoto Accord promises, all of us will be asked to do our part to conserve energy and thereby cut back on pollution.

Ottawa says each of us creates about five tonnes of greenhouse gases a year by driving our cars, turning on our appliances, and heating our homes. Under their proposed Kyoto targets, the federal government is asking each of us to reduce our output by one tonne.

Homeowners will be asked to ensure that their house is running at peak efficiency. One way they can find out how much energy their house wastes: Get a residential energy audit, as CTV reporter Mark Stevenson did.

Stevenson hired Stephen Farrell of VerdaTech Inc. to come to his home and tell him how energy-efficient his brand new house is.

Farrell checked the whole house, crawled in the attic, and descended into the basement. He then depressurized the house with a giant fan to perform a blower door test to determine how much heat is leaking to the outdoors.

Two hours later, Stevenson got his "Kyoto moment of truth" in the form of a detailed energy report. How did his house rate? He obtained a 73 Energuide rating out of 100. For a house built in 2002, it should have been a higher score. Even Farrell was taken aback.

"I was quite surprised," Farrell said. "And the biggest thing I was surprised with was the amount of air leakage in a new home."

Stevenson learned that to improve his house energy efficiency, he should upgrade the windows and replace the furnace -- both large-ticket investments. But first he's going to talk to his builder about what went wrong that made his new house so drafty.

Farrell advises homeowners to start with small upgrades. Buy a programmable thermostat, for example, to turn the heat down during the day when residents are out of the house at work and school. For each four degrees C the thermostat is turned back, homeowners can save up to 10 per cent in energy costs.

Stevenson is also planning to switch to energy-efficient light bulbs.

"It's going to cost you about $200 to do the changes we're talking about," Farrell says, but notes "you're likely to save $350 to $400 a year."

By making these small changes Farrell says Stevenson will cut his emissions by two tonnes a year. That's twice what Ottawa is asking of every Canadian.

Other tips for improving a house's energy efficiency:

1. Clean or replace the furnace filter in a forced air system once a month during the heating season
2. Seal drafty heating ducts seams with high-quality duct tape (wide metal duct tape is best)
3. Remove window air conditioners in the winter
4. Install low-cost, high-density foam gaskets around electrical switches and outlets on exterior walls
5. Insulate the hot-water tank with a thermal blanket and insulate all hot water pipes
6. If your refrigerator-freezer is more than 20 years old, consider buying a new one. Fridges today use at least 55 per cent
   less energy than those built in the 1970s
7. Weatherstrip your doors and windows to keep the cold air out and warm air in
8. Weatherstrip attic hatches and the back of the hatch as much as possible