The government has allocated money to modernize houses
Investments under the greening of housing program will solve two pressing problems at once.
The Government of Canada, in partnership with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), will provide CA$ 15.2 million for four residential retrofit projects in Southern Ontario. The point of the initiative is to strive to maximize affordable sustainability and reduce emissions. In practice, this will be accomplished by improving the energy efficiency of buildings. A pleasant bonus for Canadians living in the retrofitted homes will be savings on their energy bills.
The allocation was announced by Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson and Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault.
"By investing in energy-efficient housing, we are reducing GHG emissions coming from the buildings sector and building healthy and sustainable communities. Canada’s ongoing transition to a net-zero-emissions economy requires innovative housing solutions that create jobs and build climate resilience while making life more affordable through energy savings," Guilbeault concluded.
Today, four Ontario cities were chosen for the program, with funds not evenly divided among them.
- The City of Guelph will receive CA$ 15 million, of which CA$ 5 million is non-refundable and another CA$ 10 million is in the form of a loan. The city has its own well-established environmental program that will provide loans of up to CA$ 50,000 to improve the energy efficiency of homes and install solar panels to generate renewable energy.
- The City of Brantford will receive CA$ 195,000 to find effective ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at community facilities: Wayne Gretzky Sports Center, the Lion’s Park Arena, and the Brantford and District Civic Centre.. The city hopes to reduce energy consumption by 50% within 10 years and 80% within 20 years. Ultimately, the municipality hopes to reach the mark of zero emissions by 2050.
- The Regional Municipality of Waterloo will receive CA$ 67,200 to investigate two ways to reduce emissions in four public buildings.
- Finally, the Regional Municipality of Halton will receive CA$ 28,970 to evaluate the feasibility of constructing a net-zero energy district facility for the Halton Regional Police Servic.
Since 2000, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, through the Green Municipal Fund, has committed more than CA$ 1.11 billion to such initiatives. The national government has invested another CA$ 950 million in the Fund in 2019 to support energy efficiency improvements in buildings.
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