Transition Brockville archive
Tag : Retrofitting (16)
National Observer / Natasha Bulowski / 21 April 2021
The federal budget’s plan to retrofit residential buildings falls short of what is needed to reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and create well-paying jobs, experts say.
The budget, announced Monday, includes a $4.4-billion investment over five years to improve energy efficiency in residential buildings with projects like replacing oil furnaces or low-efficiency systems, fixing drafty windows and doors, installing solar panels or upgrading wall insulation. But experts estimate the actual cost of retrofitting Canada’s residential buildings is more than 14 times that amount.
[ FULL ARTICLE ]
CBC News / Jonathan Ore / 29 January 2021
According to 2017 data from Statistics Canada, 43 per cent of homes in Canada are heated with natural gas. They’re billed as cleaner than coal or oil, but nearly 18 per cent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions come from heating our buildings.
Some homeowners like Manning are switching to electric heating systems to do their part to reduce emissions even further than the oil-to-natural gas shift. But it can come with a high price tag — Manning said the bill for their retrofit reached $16,000.
That’s when the town of Berwick stepped in. Its Green Energy Program offered to finance a homeowner’s new heat pump with a loan, letting them pay it back over 10 years.
[ FULL ARTICLE ] [ See also: Local Improvement Charge (LIC) Financing Pilot Program Design for Residential Buildings in Ontario and Ontario: Local improvement charges ]
National Observer / Yasmine Ghania / 29 December 2020
In hopes of getting the country to meet its 2030 emissions reduction targets under the Paris Agreement, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other ministers announced a climate plan on Dec. 11 that includes an investment of $2.6 billion over seven years to help homeowners.
The feds plan to provide homeowners with up to $5,000 in grants and one million free EnerGuide assessments to make their homes more energy efficient, though no timeline for these initiatives has been announced yet. Canada’s National Observer spoke to two companies in Ontario that do these assessments to get a better idea of how they work and how they’re environmentally beneficial.
[ FULL ARTICLE ]
Sustainable Kingston / Tess Wittmann / 31 July 2019
Small and medium business owners in Ontario have a tight timeline of opportunity to receive federal funding to improve the sustainability of operations and their bottom lines.
The Government of Canada’s newly launched Climate Action Incentive Fund: Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises Project stream, covers new sustainability projects undertaken by businesses with fewer than 500 employees. Eligible projects range from retrofitting a fleet of trucks to use biodiesel, to purchasing energy-efficient industrial equipment upgrades, to adding solar and insulation to an office building. There is $72.4 million is earmarked for Ontario.
Applications for funding are open until October 15, 2019, or until funding is exhausted.
[ FULL ARTICLE ]
Natural Resources Canada / Heads Up: Building Energy Efficiency / 29 June 2017
In honour of Canada’s 150th birthday, Canadians from coast to coast to coast will celebrate our country’s history, not just on Parliament Hill, but in their own communities, at their local arenas and recreation centres. So what better year to make sure that those community gathering spots are as energy-efficient as they can be?
To mark the celebration, the Government of Canada’s Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program is investing $300 million to retrofit and improve existing community infrastructure assets and facilities, including projects that ensure a better future for Indigenous peoples and promote a clean growth economy, such as upgrades that reduce water and energy, or installing renewable energy systems.
[ FULL ARTICLE ]
CBC News / Muriel Draaisma / 13 June 2017
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and Education Minister Mitzie Hunter announced on Tuesday that $200 million from the province’s cap and trade program will go towards making schools in the province more energy efficient.
The amount is part of the $1.4 billion that has been earmarked in the 2017-18 fiscal year for school renewal and repairs, Wynne and Hunter said at a news conference at a northwest Toronto school.
Wynne said the money from what is known as the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) will enable schools to install such energy-efficient features as new windows, lights and furnaces. Funded by Ontario’s cap and trade auctions, the GGRF supports retrofit projects designed to reduce energy use in schools.
[ FULL ARTICLE ]
