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Canada and Manitoba Invest in Helping Homeowners Install Energy-Efficient Home Heating Systems

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WINNIPEG, MB, March 21, 2025 /CNW/ – Manitobans have a natural choice for cleaner, more affordable home heating: energy-efficient heat pumps. By replacing oil-based heating, heat pumps provide reliable warmth in winter and cooling in summer while lowering home energy costs — all while cutting pollution.

Today, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources and the Honourable Mike Moyes, Manitoba Environment and Climate Change Minister, announced a federal investment of approximately $7.9 million toward the Oil to Heat Pump Affordability program (OHPA) to support climate action in Manitoba and help low- to median-income homeowners reduce their energy bills. Including funds from Efficiency Manitoba, the Manitoba government is contributing up to $2.6 million toward the co-delivery of the OHPA program.

Eligible homeowners can receive an up-front payment of up to $20,000 toward the purchase and installation of a high-efficiency heat pump in homes currently heated with oil, plus a one-time $250 heat pump bonus payment to further help participants with the costs associated to transition from oil heating. More information, including details on eligibility and how to apply, is available on Canada.ca.

Efficiency Manitoba will support this enhanced OHPA program by providing outreach and marketing support as well as a financial contribution toward the installation of ground source and cold-climate air source heat pumps.

The federal government has OHPA program co-delivery arrangements in place in British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Yukon. Discussions are also underway with other provinces and territories.

Provinces, territories and the federal government are working together to reduce energy bills and help Canadians reduce their carbon emissions.

Quotes

“Canada is partnering with the Government of Manitoba to make it easier for Manitoba homeowners to replace their expensive oil furnaces with efficient heat pumps, which will save money on annual energy bills, reduce energy use and decrease personal carbon footprints. This investment is helping Manitobans transition to efficient year-round heating and cooling systems and making the cost of living more affordable.”

The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson
Minister of Energy and Natural Resources

“Our government is committed to making life more affordable for Manitobans, and this program will help those who heat their home with oil to save money on their energy bills while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We are pleased to partner with the Government of Canada on the Oil to Heat Pump Affordability program, which will help Manitoba achieve our goal of supporting 5,000 Manitoba families to heat and cool their homes with heat pumps.”

The Honourable Mike Moyes
Manitoba Minister of Environment and Climate Change

“Heat pumps can provide clean and energy-efficient heating and cooling. Efficiency Manitoba aims to make accessing incentives to install these systems as easy as possible. We’re pleased to work with the provincial and federal governments to support the Oil to Heat Pump Affordability Program and make upgrading to heat pumps more affordable for Manitobans.”

Colleen Kuruluk
CEO of Efficiency Manitoba

Quick facts

The OHPA program was first introduced in November 2022 as a $250-million investment under the Canada Greener Homes Initiative. On February 22, 2023, the program was opened to pre-registration and was fully launched in late March 2023, with the first grants being issued shortly thereafter.Every year, on average, a Canadian household participating in the OHPA program saves $1,337 on energy costs and achieves 2.78 tonnes in greenhouse gas reductions.To date, the OHPA program has contributed to reducing 37,719 metric tonnes of greenhouse gases — equivalent to removing 11,574 cars off the road.The OHPA program has received more than 38,700 applications to date nationally.This program will support approximately 520 Manitoban households in making the switch from oil heating to an energy-efficient heat pump.Manitoba has set a target of supporting 5,000 Manitoban families in making the switch to heat their homes with heat pumps.Efficiency Manitoba is Manitoba’s Crown corporation dedicated to energy efficiency. With legislated long-term energy savings targets to achieve, the organization has diverse programs available to help Manitobans save energy, money and the environment.In October 2023, the federal government announced that it is working with provinces and territories on co-delivery agreements including:increasing OHPA funding up to $15,000, where up to $5,000 matches supplementary provincial and territorial contributions via co-delivery arrangements; andan upfront payment of $250 for eligible applicants through the Canada Heat Pump Bonus.Heat pumps are one of the best ways for homeowners currently heating with oil to save money on energy bills and fight climate change. Electric heat pumps are energy-efficient heating and cooling systems that provide comfortable temperatures for your home year-round by exchanging heat from outside the home. This results in greater savings for homeowners and reduced energy intake for utilities and grids.Since 2020, 1,229 Manitoba residents have installed heat pumps using federal government funding.In jurisdictions without co-delivery arrangements, oil-heated households can apply to the national program to receive up to $10,000 in federal OHPA funding for switching to electric heat pumps.Under Budget 2024, the Government of Canada is taking numerous steps to make life more affordable for Canadians while addressing climate change. This includes the Canada Greener Homes Affordability Program, which will support the direct installation of energy efficiency retrofits for Canadian households with low- to median-incomes.

Related information

Oil to Heat Pump Affordability programCanada Greener Homes InitiativeCanada Greener Homes Affordability ProgramCanada Green Buildings StrategyElectric heat pumps

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MITTI LABS & SALESFORCE PARTNER TO SCALE WATER-SAVING RICE FARMING PRACTICES THAT REDUCE METHANE EMISSIONS

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Salesforce will purchase 500,000 high-integrity, data-backed methane reduction credits from Mitti Labs by 2030, bringing water resilience to India’s smallholder farmers. 

SAN FRANCISCO and BENGALURU, India, Oct. 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Deep-tech company Mitti Labs today announced a five-year carbon credit offtake agreement with Salesforce to scale Climate-smart rice farming across tens of thousands of smallholder farms in India. Coming just weeks after Mitti Labs’ offtake agreement with Google, this new partnership shows the growing corporate demand for satellite-verified rice methane credits as a scalable offset solution with near-term impact. 

Climate-smart rice farming replaces traditional continuous irrigation with alternate irrigation, where farmers let their fields dry out during safe windows in the growing cycle. This low-cost practice shift helps the world grow more rice with less water, while abating methane emissions derived from microbe growth in oxygen-free soils. Alternate irrigation can cut methane emissions by up to 50% and water usage by up to 40%, without affecting yields. 

Agriculture is responsible for 40% of all human-induced methane emissions, which are a powerful driver of climate change. Methane traps 85 times more heat than CO₂ but only stays in the atmosphere for a decade, meaning that every ton that is not emitted today delivers a fast, tangible reduction in near-term warming. 

Commitments from companies like Salesforce are helping Mitti Labs scale these practices. Mitti Labs plans to scale its operations to meet this demand: by 2028, it plans to issue 2 million credits per year from its projects located in India and Southeast Asia. 

“Salesforce is a founding member of the Beyond Alliance’s Superpollutant Action Initiative. We know that superpollutant reduction is one of the best ways to slow near-term warming, and we are committed to directing capital toward high-impact mitigation efforts. Reducing methane emissions from rice farming is a scalable climate solution that also helps preserve water resources for future generations,” said Jamila Yamani, PhD., Director of Climate & Energy at Salesforce.

Every credit delivered under the agreement will be backed by field-level evidence and satellite-verified field dry-downs. Mitti Labs’ GeoAI platform, developed with support from NASA, fuses high-resolution satellite radar with field-collected ground truth to track flooding, soil moisture and crop health across individual smallholder plots. This provides credit buyers with transparent, independently verifiable proof of impact at a scale that manual monitoring is not able to match.

Beyond reducing methane emissions, the partnership is projected to save 700 billion liters of water, or roughly eighteen months of Bengaluru’s annual supply, easing pressure on groundwater retrievals in regions where rice farming competes with urban and industrial water usages. 

“Carbon credit buyers are increasingly asking not just what impact a project delivers, but how they can see it for themselves. Having Salesforce join Google in backing rice methane reductions shows that high-integrity, data-verified agricultural credits are becoming a core part of serious climate offsetting strategies. This agreement lets us reach tens of thousands more farmers with practices that cut emissions, save water and strengthen livelihoods,” said Xavier Laguarta, co-founder at Mitti Labs.

With Salesforce’s support, Mitti Labs will deepen its engagement with rice farming communities and expand the ‘digital twins’ GeoAI datasets that support the roll-out of its programs. As demand for the world’s staple crop continues to grow and rainfall patterns become less predictable, the next five years in the partnership offer a chance to strengthen food security and realize the full potential of rice farming as a climate solution. 

About Mitti Labs

Mitti Labs combines satellite technology, AI and field operations to create a water and climate resilient future for rice farming. To date, its programs have saved 500 billion liters of water — the equivalent of Bengaluru’s annual supply. In July 2026, Mitti Labs received an ‘A’ rating from leading ratings agency Sylvera in recognition of its rigorous implementation and measurement protocols. 

Mitti Labs customers include global technology, service, food and agriculture businesses such as Google, Cool Effect, Ebro Foods, and Syngenta. Since launching in 2023, Mitti Labs has grown to 150 employees and secured $12.5 million from investors such as Lightspeed India, Aramco Ventures, Voyager Ventures, Godrej Industries Group, Cisco Foundation, Francis Family Fund, and Volta Circle. Visit mittilabs.earth to learn more.

 

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Xobin Introduces AI Interview Auditor to Make AI-Led Hiring More Trustworthy

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A new AI agent designed to review AI-conducted interviews, identify evaluation inconsistencies, and help organizations make more reliable hiring decisions.

CHENNAI, India, Oct. 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Xobin, a talent intelligence platform, today announced Xobin AI Interview Auditor, a new AI-powered solution designed to independently review interviews conducted by AI.

As more organizations adopt AI interviews to screen and evaluate candidates, a new challenge is emerging: How can companies be confident that the AI interviewer is making reliable assessments?

Xobin aims to address this challenge with an AI agent that reviews the interview itself.

Who Is Checking the AI Interviewer?

AI interviews are helping companies evaluate candidates at scale. But organizations also need a way to check whether those interviews were conducted and evaluated appropriately.

Xobin AI Interview Auditor is designed to examine AI interview conversations and help organizations answer important questions:

Did the AI ask relevant questions for the role?Did it properly evaluate the candidate’s answers?Did it overlook important information?Was the evaluation consistent with the interview conversation?Are the final scores and recommendations supported by evidence?

The goal is simple: AI interviews should be auditable, not just automated.

An Independent Review of AI Interviews

Xobin AI Interview Auditor introduces an additional layer of review to the AI hiring process.

Instead of relying entirely on the conclusions generated by an AI interviewer, organizations can use the auditor to identify potential inconsistencies and areas requiring human attention.

Each AI interview report now carries a quality badge, a short scorecard and plain-language flags. These show hiring teams at a glance whether the interview met Xobin’s quality standards and which sessions need a closer look, such as “this interview had long delays” or “the candidate tried to steer the AI off topic.”

Xobin’s in-house team also reviews all flagged audit reports to keep improving how the auditor and AI interviewer perform.

This approach is intended to improve transparency and give hiring teams greater confidence in AI-assisted hiring decisions.

Building on Xobin’s Existing AI Interview Capabilities

Xobin already offers Guided AI Interviews, enabling organizations to evaluate candidates through structured, interactive AI-led conversations.

These interviews also support the evaluation of emerging AI-era skills, including AI fluency, prompt engineering, and vibe coding.

Through Xobin’s existing real-time prompt editor, candidates can demonstrate how they interact with AI, construct and refine prompts, and approach practical problem-solving challenges.

For software development roles, this enables employers to assess how candidates use AI-assisted coding tools, rather than relying exclusively on traditional coding questions or theoretical knowledge.

With the introduction of AI Interview Auditor, Xobin is adding an independent review capability to its existing AI interviewing technology.

While Guided AI Interviews assess candidates, AI Interview Auditor assesses the quality and reliability of the AI interviewer’s evaluation.

Building Trust in AI Hiring

“AI is increasingly being trusted to interview candidates and recommend who should move forward. But who is checking whether the AI got it right?” said Guruprakash Sivabalan, Founder and CEO of Xobin.

“We believe the future of AI hiring requires more than automation. It requires accountability. Every AI interview should be explainable, reviewable, and supported by evidence.”

About Xobin

Xobin is a talent intelligence platform used by 5000+ organizations in 55+ countries, helping organizations make evidence-based decisions across hiring, talent development, and workforce management. Its solutions include AI interviews, skill assessments, psychometric assessments, and talent intelligence.

Website: https://xobin.com

Media contact
Guruprakash Sivabalan
Founder and CEO, Xobin
Email: guru@xobin.com 
Website: www.xobin.com

 

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Inntot Recognized as an official STMicroelectronics Authorized Partner for Software-Defined Radio Digital Radio Receiver Solutions

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Collaboration brings together STMicroelectronics’ automotive tuner technology and Inntot’s Software-Defined Radio IP to support cost-effective, multi-standard digital radio solutions

KOCHI, India, Oct. 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Inntot Technologies, a leading provider of Software-Defined Radio (SDR) and in-cabin audio technologies, today announced that it has been recognized as an official STMicroelectronics Authorized Partner. The collaboration combines STMicroelectronics’ high-performance automotive radio tuners with Inntot’s highly competitive and optimized SDR software IPs, offering global Automotive Tier-1 suppliers and automakers a complete, cost-effective digital radio receiver solution.

The combined solution enables automakers and Tier-1 suppliers to support multiple digital radio standards, including Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM), Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB/DAB+) and China Digital Radio (CDR), within automotive infotainment systems without the need for dedicated hardware decoders.

As the global automotive industry shifts toward integrated cockpits and Software-Defined Vehicles (SDVs), Tier-1 suppliers face increasing pressure to lower Bill of Materials (BOM) costs while maintaining high audio performance.

By pairing STMicroelectronics’ RF tuner ICs (such as the STA709/STA710 series, TDA7707/TDA7708 series) with Inntot’s high performing, lightweight, low-CPU-usage SDR stacks, the solution offers several benefits:

Reduced Hardware Complexity: Eliminates dedicated baseband Integrated Circuits (ICs), minimizing board space, power consumption, and thermal dissipation.Multi-Standard Global Coverage: Supports key broadcast standards across global regions (Europe, APAC, GCC, India, and the Americas) via software configuration.Faster Time-to-Market: Pre-validated middleware, hardware abstraction layers and OS abstraction layers accelerate system integration for Automotive Grade Linux (AGL), Android Automotive OS, and RTOS environments.Seamless Switching and Rich Data Services: Fully supports advanced features including seamless blending from analog to digital and vice-versa, alerts including emergency warning, album art/slideshows, Service and Program Information (SPI) and TPEG traffic notifications.

“Automotive radio is increasingly becoming a software-defined experience, giving automakers greater flexibility to address different standards and markets through software,” said Rajith Nair, CEO of Inntot Technologies. “Our partnership with STMicroelectronics is an important step in advancing that transition and bringing scalable digital radio solutions to more vehicle platforms globally.”

The joint STMicroelectronics and Inntot SDR receiver solutions supporting DRM, DAB/DAB+, CDR standards are now available for evaluation, sampling, and integration into automotive Tier-1 infotainment programs.

About Inntot

Inntot is a leading Software-Defined Radio (SDR) and In-Cabin Audio Technology company. Inntot’s SDR IP portfolio supports Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB/DAB+), Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM), China Digital Radio (CDR), HD Radio, DTS AutoStage, and RadioDNS. With SDR deployments in more than 2.6 million cars and deployment underway in 4.4 million cars, the company holds 13 granted patents in the digital radio domain. Inntot is a member of WorldDAB and its technical committee and DRM Consortium and its technical committee. Inntot is also the winner of Digital Radio Mondiale Enterprise Award 2020.

Inntot Contacts

Media: info@inntot.com

Website: www.inntot.com

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