Ottawa – Canada’s buildings sector is the third-largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions across the country. We must increase the scale and pace of retrofitting buildings across the country to make them more energy-efficient, increasing savings and reducing emissions.
Parliamentary Secretary Julie Dabrusin, on behalf of Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, announced a federal investment totalling $4.3 million for five projects , funded under the Greener Neighbourhoods Pilot Program (GNPP) and the Energy Innovation Program (EIP), to support and inform deep energy retrofits.
The announcement was hosted with EnviroCentre at Gloucester’s Carver Place neighbourhood. EnviroCentre received over $2 million from NRCan’s programs for its project, which will develop the local building sector’s capacity to perform deep retrofits faster, saving time and money for retrofits in social housing across eastern Ontario. By customizing renovations for homes in eastern Ontario, this project will help save money for the families who need it most while also increasing the energy efficiency of their homes.
Gloucester’s Carver Place neighbourhood showcases how deep energy retrofits can deliver economic and environmental benefits for affordable housing, leading the way for future work that will create better and more affordable homes. Retrofits through the federally funded project will include:
- replacement of traditional furnaces with electric heat pumps
- upgrades to attic insulation and air sealing
- installation of new heat recovery ventilation systems to improve indoor air quality
Other projects announced today include:
- $1 million for the ReCover Initiative to develop a practical approach to deep energy retrofits for the most common types of residential buildings in Atlantic Canada.
- $1 million for the First Nations Power Authority of Saskatchewan to support the adoption of community-scale deep energy retrofits in Indigenous communities.
- $602,836 for Sustainable Buildings Canada to accelerate deep energy retrofits for Ontario’s social housing.
- $775,897 for Retrofit Canada Society for development of a National Retrofit Repository of case studies and solutions to inform on deep energy retrofits across Canada.
These projects will save money for building owners while reducing emissions that contribute to climate change.