Green Communities Canada deep dives into federal data on reducing GHG in housing sector

Nov. 8, 2023 – Green Communities Canada has completed an in-depth review of federal data on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Canada’s low-rise housing sector. The progress report also makes recommendations for improving the effectiveness of the Canada Greener Home Grant incentive program. 

The the Retrofitting Canada’s Homes: Progress Report #1, published by Green Communities Canada, analyzed data from over 188,000 building retrofits documented with the EnerGuide rating system across Canada in 2020 t0 2022.

“The data shows the number of home retrofit projects has increased nearly fourfold since the launch of the Canada Greener Home Grant, but the average energy savings are modest at just 21 per cent.” says Kai Millyard, Green Communities Canada’s EnerGuide service organization manager, in a news release.  “Over 8,000 homeowners have shown that much deeper savings are possible in all parts of the country but these are just one in 16 retrofits now – the incentives are too small for widespread deep retrofitting.” 

Recommendations in the report include accelerating deep energy retrofits as key to achieving the country’s GHG emission goals while minimizing the societal costs associated with the energy transition; adopting deep retrofits as the program’s objective, and redesign incentives accordingly; revising program messaging to emphasize deep retrofits, and a complete retrofit plan (envelope, mechanicals, renewables) rather than piecemeal measures and more.

Read the full report and its recommendations here.