Derek McCarthy & Rikki Tortola

Domtor Energy Services is a new company that helps Cape Breton home-owners with the energy efficiency and air quality of their homes. Domtor provides a range of services for increasing home performance, including energy assessments, air quality measurement, home inspections, radon testing, and more.  

“Your home is a complex system and each home is unique,” said Dominic (Rikki) Tortola, President of Domtor. “Every component in your home’s system interacts with all the others. When you change one thing, it affects something else.”

Dominic (Rikki) Tortola

That’s a lesson that Rikki learned the hard way. Originally a carpenter by trade, he took advantage of construction rebates to make his own home more energy efficient. But his home became so tight, it negatively affected the air quality. Fixing the problem led him to research home systems and how they interacted. 

“The deeper I got into it, the more fascinated I became,” said Rikki. “And then I realized that there was an opportunity to start a company to help other people with home performance. So I took courses, got nationally-certified, and Domtor was born.”

Domtor has partnered with Trinity Energy Group to offer $99 home energy assessments through Efficiency Nova Scotia, which enables homeowners to qualify for up to $5,000 in efficiency upgrades. Domtor is the only Cape Breton-owned company certified for advanced home performance testing. 

“Some folks think the program is only for low-income households,” said Rikki. “But that’s not the case. Everyone qualifies if they own their own home and it’s at least 6 months old. So if you are thinking about renovating, it's better to spend a little money up front to conduct proper tests, and avoid wasting money and creating other problems.”

Looking forward, Rikki thinks the future looks bright. Most of the houses in Cape Breton are older buildings that will benefit greatly from proper performance testing. Not only can they become more energy efficient, they will also become healthier to live in and increase in market value.

“We not only want to help Cape Bretoners live more comfortably, we also want to create new jobs in Cape Breton,” said Rikki. “That’s part of our mission, and we believe we will make that happen.”

BOOK YOUR HOME ENERGY AUDIT

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Domtor Energy Services & Consulting 

81 Kytes Hill Drive, Sydney NS B1M 1A7

[email protected]

902-317-6984