Decarbonize Existing Buildings
Improve quality of life and bottom line finances for your residents by encouraging deep energy retrofits and preparing for climate risks.
Table of Contents
The Rationale
In 2021, the buildings sector was responsible for around 10.2% of Alberta’s total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The building sector can contribute as much as 40-65% to a community’s emissions profile, depending on industrial activity. In 2030, the vast majority of all the buildings in the province will be ones that are already standing today, and it is estimated that over 85% of existing buildings must be retrofitted to be zero carbon ready by 2050. This signifies both an urgent need and a great opportunity to meet emissions reduction goals.
To build resilience and reduce emissions from existing buildings, municipalities in Alberta, like jurisdictions around the world, are supporting deep energy retrofits on a broad scale. This includes improving insulation, tightly sealing windows and doors, improving ventilation, and fuel switching. This holistic approach will ensure both emissions reductions and energy reductions; improving insulation without replacing fossil fuel heating systems keeps emissions high while the opposite – fuel switching without building envelope improvements – keeps energy use and costs high.
Buildings that undergo deep energy retrofits have the potential to create an all-around more pleasant interior environment with improvements in indoor air quality, thermal regulation, and sound management. Holistic, deep energy retrofits also have cost savings potential due to reduced energy bills over the lifespan of the building, reduced maintenance requirements, and mitigation against fluctuating energy costs. Energy retrofits are therefore an opportunity to minimize energy poverty.
Many of the upgrades completed as part of an energy retrofit also protect buildings and people during extreme weather events like heat domes and wildfires. The local actions below review opportunities to transform existing buildings into resilient, comfortable, and efficient spaces that are prepared for the future.
Vision: What does success look like?
Alberta’s municipalities lead the nation in building retrofits, with all structures undergoing comprehensive upgrades to meet or exceed federal energy efficiency and emissions reduction targets. Retrofit programs focus on fuel switching, integrating renewable energy, improving insulation, and upgrading energy efficient appliances. Retrofits consider measures to ensure upgrades are affordable and accessible to a wide range of residents. Retrofitted buildings in Alberta incorporate resilience measures, for instance protecting structures from hazards like flooding and extreme weather, and enhance health, wellness, and economic co-benefits for all residents.
The Reality
Who is responsible?
Municipalities have limited jurisdiction over requirements for existing building retrofits but have an opportunity to influence and enable building owners to make investments in the efficiency and energy performance of their buildings. Retrofitting buildings is an opportunity for municipalities to strengthen local energy systems, build resilience against the impacts of climate change, and protect buildings and homeowners against rising energy costs.
Federal Legislation, Programs, and Funding
Under its Energy Efficient Buildings Research, Development and Demonstration program, the Government of Canada committed to increasing energy efficiency and addressing climate change by improving how our homes and buildings are designed, renovated, and constructed. It is also allocating funding to support the research, development, and implementation of building codes for existing buildings and new net-zero energy-ready buildings.
Through Natural Resources Canada, the federal government also manages the EnerGuide Rating System for new and existing buildings. Through Codes Canada, the National Research Council and Natural Resources Canada are developing a series of model national energy codes to help the government deliver on its commitment that all provinces and territories should adopt net-zero energy-ready codes by 2030. These newly developed codes will include an alteration to existing building code, the first of its kind for Canada.
In 2021, the Government of Canada issued $2.6 billion to administer the Greener Homes grant and loan programs, which provided homeowners with up to $5000 in rebates and up to $40,000 in no-interest loans for a variety of home retrofit upgrades. The program was fully allocated earlier than expected and as of early 2024, new applications were no longer accepted.
Provincial Legislation, Programs, and Funding
Property owners face several barriers to investing in energy efficiency and renewable energy upgrades, including high upfront costs, access to affordable financing, and concerns over their ability to recover the cost of investment when a property is sold. To help address these barriers, the Government of Alberta passed the Act to Enable Clean Energy Improvements in 2018. This legislation allows municipalities to offer low-cost financing to residents who undertake clean energy improvements through a program known as the Clean Energy Improvement Program (CEIP). CEIP is a series of local programs that help property owners reduce energy use on their properties and keep money in their pockets, all while reducing carbon emissions.
The CEIP has a unique delivery model, whereby a central administrator, Alberta Municipalities, administers the program on behalf of participating municipalities, enabling municipalities of all sizes to offer this financing solution. Through CEIP, property owners improve a building’s energy performance by installing energy efficiency and renewable energy upgrades and access competitive financing that covers up to 100% of the upfront costs. This financing is then repaid through the owner’s property tax bill, often using the savings realized as their energy costs go down. Most importantly, this type of financing is tied to the property, not the property owner. If the property is sold, the new owner can assume repayment of the loan, while enjoying the benefits of the upgrades. As of March 2024, 27 municipalities across Alberta have passed enabling bylaws and 13 municipalities have launched active programs.
Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA) was created in 2009 to help deliver on the province’s environmental and economic goals. ERA acts on climate change and supports economic growth by investing in the pilot, demonstration, and deployment of clean technology solutions that reduce GHGs, lower costs, attract investment, and create jobs in Alberta. While ERA focuses on innovation in the industrial and commercial sectors, funding has been provided for building retrofits. ERA receives its funding from the Government of Alberta through the Technology Innovation Emissions Reduction (TIER) Fund.
Currently, Alberta is one of the few places in North America without a provincial or utility energy efficiency incentive program for the residential sector. This means there is a role for Alberta municipalities and relevant organizations to play in reducing the costs associated with energy efficiency upgrades and helping to transform the local residential markets for new services and technologies.
One example of this, is the Home Upgrades Program, which offers free energy efficiency education and home upgrades to low-income families in Calgary, Canmore, and Edmonton. The program provides upgrades such as new furnaces and air-sealing, to reduce energy costs and improve comfort, safety, and efficiency.
The Response
It is essential to have relevant data before embarking on the local actions below. This data is a starting point for decision making and will help inform the actions that are relevant to your community. We recommend acquiring the following data independently or with a consultant for a deeper look:
- Emissions Data: Use the Climate Action Explorer to understand emissions sources by sector and type and explore how the Big Moves can reduce emissions.
- Climate Data: Use tools like Climate Data to identify historical data and future climate projections for decision making. Go further and identify the risks and vulnerabilities of future climate projections on your community.
- Socio-Economic and Demographic Data: Understand how your community interacts with the Big Move to make equitable decisions and optimize co-benefits. Identify opportunities to engage with the community early on and often.
We recommend communities work towards a Resilient, Zero Emissions Building Plan, to guide growth and investment towards meeting building emissions reduction goals.
REFERENCE
The Local Actions
The following local actions have been identified in response to the information above, as well as best practice research, current available data related to waste in Alberta, and criteria such as how the actions reduce emissions and risk, support equity, their feasibility, and cost. These local actions may be designed and/or implemented on their own, or in combination with other community strategies and programs and are recommended for local governments to more toward low carbon resilience as efficiently as possible.
Local Actions Reference
Expand for descriptions of the four types of interventionsEmpower
Providing educational programs, training, grants, and resources that enable community-driven initiatives to empower local residents, community organizations, and businesses to take an active role in climate mitigation and adaptation efforts. Empowering local stakeholders fosters a sense of ownership and responsibility for climate action, ensuring that solutions are tailored to the unique needs and characteristics of each community. Empower also includes the education of staff and industry.
Incentivize
Implementing a range of financial and non-financial incentives to motivate individuals, businesses, and institutions to adopt climate friendly practices. This may include tax breaks, subsidies, and recognition for businesses implementing sustainable practices.
Require
Establishing regulations and bylaws to mandate or compel adherence to climate-conscious practices. Clear requirements help create a legal framework for a baseline level of environmental responsibility.
Partner
Forging partnerships with local businesses, academic institutions, non-profit organizations, neighbouring municipalities, and community organizations helps local governments leverage collective expertise, resources, and builds influence and buy-in for comprehensive climate action.
Local Action #1: Support energy efficiency upgrades through retrofits of existing buildings
Municipalities can champion energy efficiency upgrades in existing buildings and can ensure that municipal action also considers opportunities to relieve energy poverty. Municipal staff, especially in permitting departments, can encourage upgrades during the renovation process and incentivize energy efficiency through fee reductions. Collaborative efforts with industry such as retrofit accelerators, demonstration projects, and labelling requirements contribute to market transformation and foster innovation in the building sector. The following interventions can be customized where necessary for the community’s context and reflect best practice research for how municipalities can improve energy efficiency in existing buildings in Alberta.
Training for Municipal Staff: Provide education and training to municipal permitting and inspection departments so they understand their role in supporting energy efficiency strategies.
Education Alongside Billing and Licensing: Create educational materials and fact sheets that trained staff can use to communicate the value and benefits of incorporating energy efficiency upgrades into renovation plans. Permitting departments are the primary points of contact for owners who are renovating a building or home, and the application stage is a particularly opportune time to suggest additional upgrades and promote incentives or other supporting programs. Key points of contact, such as tax bills, utility bills, business licenses and property assessments, should be considered as opportunities to educate, encourage, and identify opportunities for energy efficiency.
Share ENBIX Resources: Incorporate Emissions-Neutral Buildings Information Exchange (ENBIX) resources into communications and engagement with professionals in the building, construction, and renovation industries. EMBIX is a resource that supports information sharing on reducing emissions from buildings in Alberta. Through 2028, ENBIX will be developing a variety of platforms to enable the local building industry to share knowledge and build capacity for low-carbon building and renovation practices across Alberta.
Public Recognition: Publicly recognize and build awareness of deep energy retrofits that achieve high energy efficiency standards to provide positive publicity for building owners.
Building Permits: Design building permits to incentivize energy efficiency by offering fee reductions or accelerated processing for retrofit projects that include ambitious energy efficiency measures.
Local Rebates and On Bill Financing: Upfront capital costs remain a large barrier to the uptake of energy retrofits. Municipalities can reduce costs for residents and improve the business case for energy efficiency or clean energy solutions by offering discounts and rebates, tax credits, or on-bill financing, which is a loan made to a utility customer to pay for energy efficiency improvements.
Clean Energy Improvement Program (CEIP): Implement CEIP in your community whereby property owners improve a building’s energy performance by installing energy efficiency and renewable energy upgrades, and access competitive financing that covers up to 100% of the upfront costs. This financing is then repaid through the owner’s property tax bill. Many municipalities across Alberta have passed bylaws and launched programs. View program locations.
Lead by Example with Municipal Buildings: Show leadership in the community by retrofitting municipal assets to be energy efficient. Document the process and communicate to residents the GHG reductions, cost savings, and how the building is more comfortable for users as well as any other co-benefits.
Energy Labelling and Benchmarking: Introduce requirements for home energy labelling and energy benchmarking. In larger buildings, such as high-rises or offices, these requirements can help identify opportunities to improve energy efficiency and conservation. By understanding how typical buildings perform, governments at all levels can identify and implement high-impact demand-side management strategies and target specific performance issues that are common to multiple buildings. Publicly disclosing building energy efficiency embeds energy performance in market decisions and making information available about building performance empowers people to make informed decisions about what to buy, lease or rent.
Municipal Retrofit Plan: Leverage community data to develop a retrofit plan for your municipality that considers procurement and uses an integrated design approach. Having an integrated, holistic plan in place that outlines ideal intervention points and recognizes the building types in your community can prepare your municipality to access new funding opportunities and identify incremental energy improvements that contribute to a deep retrofit.
Update Procurement Policy: The best tool to reduce embodied emissions is to use local, low-carbon building materials and municipalities can do this by updating their procurement policies. For example, the City of Edmonton’s Climate Resilience Policy requires that all new civic construction must consider using the material with the lowest embodied carbon.
Education and Capacity Building: Partner with and provide support to building owners to understand the value of more resilient, higher performance, less carbon-intensive buildings. This could include training opportunities, engagement sessions, or communications campaigns. Through collaboration with industry, municipalities can support market transformation and capacity building for builders, designers, contractors, and tradespeople on the latest energy efficiency policies and measures.
Help Desks or Energy Concierge Programs: Explore opportunities to work with regional partners or neighbouring municipalities to offer programs that make retrofits easier for home and building owners. Partnerships may bolster funding applications and provide a business case for businesses to support the service. Help Desk and Energy Concierge services can provide building owners with free advice and guidance on the best retrofits to undertake and available incentives (see CEA’s Retrofit Assist Model).
Pilot and Demonstration projects: Collaborate with local groups, organizations, or businesses on initiatives or events that invite people into a high-performing, energy-efficient space (see the Eco Tour Case Study). People can’t touch or see U or R values, air changes, or waste heat, but they can listen to quiet heat pumps and feel comfortable in spaces with air-tight, insulated walls and roofs. Demonstration projects allow the construction industry to show their skills, build capacity in their teams, and prove the feasibility of technologies that are newer to the Alberta market.
Consult and Engage: Support regional partnerships that can accelerate market transformation. The 2030 Districts Network encompasses private sector-led organizations with support from local government. The model brings building owners together to create a shared vision for emissions reductions and work together to retrofit their buildings to transition to a low-carbon future (see Greater Victoria 2030 Resilient District Case Study).
Eco-Solar Home Tour
The Eco-Solar Tour Society of Alberta organizes free open house style tours of homes and businesses that display practical and timely examples of sustainability including: renewable energy (solar, wind, and geothermal), energy security, energy efficiency, water efficiency, low emission technologies and natural landscaping. The annual tour creates an opportunity for the public to experience how homes and businesses are reducing their utility bills while reducing their carbon footprint. While tour sites change from year to year, a focus is placed on deep retrofits. The Cities of Edmonton and Calgary, alongside corporate and industry sponsors, make the tour possible.
Energy Retrofits to Alberta’s Multi-Unit Residential Building Owners
Alberta Ecotrust Foundation and Efficiency Capital have joined forces to facilitate energy efficient retrofits in multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs) across the province. The partnership, supported by the Climate Innovation Fund of the Alberta Ecotrust Foundation and Efficiency Capital’s energy-as-a-service model, aims to accelerate building retrofits. The first project, comprising two buildings with 165 units in Edmonton, is underway, proving the existing market demand for these offerings in Alberta. The collaboration aligns with the climate goals of the City of Calgary and the City of Edmonton, targeting significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from residential buildings. With over $140 million in combined capital, the partnership aims to foster resilient communities, create jobs, and drive emissions reductions in Alberta.
St. Albert Place Lifecycle and Facility Repair Project
St. Albert Place is a municipally owned building that houses city hall, a library, theatre, museum, and studios. In 2024, the building will undergo a substantial retrofit valued at $14 million, derived from the City’s repair budget and the federal Green and Inclusive Community Buildings program. The retrofit aims to reduce energy usage by 29% (equivalent to preventing 559 tons of emissions annually or taking 120 cars off the road for a year), enhance climate resiliency, and promote sustainability. The project will include installing 470 solar panels on the roof, modernizing electrical and air-handling systems, switching to efficient LED lighting, enhancing accessibility, installing electric vehicle charging ports, and installing triple-pane windows.
Residential Rebates
The Town of Banff provides rebates to help residents save water and energy and to support transportation methods that help protect the environment. Rebates are provided for energy-efficient appliances, energy-efficient doors and windows, furnace upgrades, heat pumps, water heaters, and home energy audits. Rebates are also provided for transportation methods like E-bikes and crampons.
Benchmark YYC
The City of Calgary helps building owners (commercial, multi-unit residential, institutional or industrial buildings) measure and track the energy usage in their buildings. Owners join the program by registering online, submitting energy performance data, and then receive an Energy Performance Scorecard for comparison with other buildings on the Energy Performance Map. Participants benefit by gaining an understanding of energy consumption, energy costs, and energy emissions, creating a baseline for upgrades, and becoming eligible for ENERGY Star Certification.
Greater Victoria 2030 District
Hosted by the Building Owners and Managers Association of BC, the Greater Victoria 2030 District includes 37 buildings which cover 3.6 million square feet of space. The owners of the participating buildings have committed to meet a target of 50% reductions in energy and GHG emissions as established by Architecture 2030 in its 2030 Challenge for Planning. The District of Saanich and the City of Victoria have provided funding to the initiative as it aligns with their climate leadership goals to reduce emissions in existing buildings. The two local governments also participate as steering committee members and have committed to the same emissions reduction target for their civic buildings.
Local Action #2: Support resilience upgrades through retrofits of existing buildings
Climate change exposes existing buildings to new risks and stresses and affirms the need for existing buildings to better protect residents from things like heat, smog, and wildfire smoke. Since it is estimated that 70% of buildings standing today will still be in use in 2050, it is important to consider how building retrofit solutions anticipate future climate conditions. The following interventions can be customized where necessary for the community’s context and reflect best practice research for how municipalities can improve resilience in existing buildings in Alberta.
Public Education about Cooling Centres: Local governments should prepare emergency response plans and engage in public education efforts to raise awareness about cooling centers and their accessibility to vulnerable populations. By dispelling myths, providing clear guidelines, and addressing concerns, cooling centers can become more welcoming and inclusive spaces for all individuals seeking respite from extreme heat.
- In rural areas, limited access to public transportation and remote locations can hinder residents’ ability to reach cooling centers during extreme heat events. Local governments can provide transportation to cooling shelters in heat events, but more interventions need to be considered that address this disparity, considering the specific needs and constraints of these areas.
Heat Pump Education: Communicate the benefits of electric heat pumps for both heating and cooling. Educate builders, municipal staff, and residents to limit disinformation about heat pump efficacy in colder climates.
Climate Risk and Vulnerability Assessments: Municipalities need to:
- Better understand how the local climate and natural environment is projected to change in the future,
- Prioritize climate change impacts at various scales, including existing buildings,
- Identify and implement local actions to manage climate risks and opportunities to ensure communities are resilient and adapted to future climate change, and
- Develop community capacity and support actions to encourage community actions on climate resilience.
Internal Capacity: Ensure municipal staff keep up to date on new or emerging funding opportunities for retrofitting corporate and community buildings to be resilient. This might include joining peer networks related to climate action. While the Canada Green Home Initiative ended in the spring of 2024, resilience and protecting people and assets during extreme weather is a leading priority of all levels of governments (especially considering the cost to repair and rebuild).
Grants to Improve Resilience: Develop local rebates or incentives to support homeowners to complete retrofits that build resilience. The following are examples of activities to build resilience in retrofits that can be included in a rebate program:
- Resilience against fires; fire-resistant cladding materials, replacing roofing and eave projections, etc.
- Resilience against flooding; alarms with emergency batteries for sump pump systems, backwater valves and alarms to prevent sewage backup during flooding, etc.
- Resilience against wind; adding hurricane-resistant shutters, installing window blinds and films, etc.
- Resilience against power failure; standby emergency battery backup stand alone system, etc.
Support Renters in Energy Efficiency Retrofits: Excluding renters from energy efficiency initiatives exacerbates their vulnerability to climate impacts, particularly extreme heat events, relative to homeowners and disproportionately affects historically disadvantaged communities. This exclusion not only increases the risk that policies, such as carbon taxes, will raise renters’ energy costs but also hinders equitable access to energy. Furthermore, after retrofits, landlords might use renovations to justify rent increases, posing challenges for low-income tenants who may struggle to afford higher rents or live in substandard housing conditions that could benefit from energy efficiency upgrades. Strategies to address this may include:
- Expanded eligibility for efficiency programs to include renters.
- Regulations or incentives for landlords to install energy-efficient appliances when replacing old appliances (see Ontario Residential Tenancies Act).
- Affordability covenants, which require landlords receiving free energy upgrades to ensure the benefits of upgrades are passed on to tenants through affordable rents, comfortable homes, or eviction protection (see Efficiency Nova Scotia Affordable Multifamily Housing Act).
- A right to maintain tenure for tenants after a renovation.
- Indoor temperature standards, maintaining appropriate temperatures throughout the year.
Identify Buildings for Heating/Cooling Shelters: Heat-related illnesses pose severe health risks, particularly to those without access to reliable cooling solutions in their homes. Cooling centers serve as crucial sanctuaries for individuals who lack air conditioning, including older adults, children, people with chronic medical conditions, communities of color, the homeless, and those with mental health disabilities. Expanding the number of buildings that can double as cooling centers in centralized locations can better accommodate the needs of diverse communities during heat emergencies and reduce the burden on local medical facilities. For example, the City of Calgary sends out alerts during heat events with the locations of cooling centers and includes criteria such as if the centres have drinking water stations.
Build Partnerships: Collaborate with local businesses, non-profit organizations, and utility companies to provide expertise, resources, and financing options for home and building retrofits. These partnerships can help leverage additional funding and technical assistance to support retrofit initiatives and maximize their impact. For example, EPCOR’s Backwater Valve Subsidy offers financial assistance to provide backwater valves for homeowners who have had previous basement flooding or live in areas with previous neighbourhood flooding.
Emergency Response Plans for Extreme Heat and Wildfire Smoke
Extreme heat and wildfire smoke have been identified as the top two natural hazards for Canmore without an existing Emergency Response Plan, making these risks a high priority for action.
The project was completed through a review of best practices for heat and smoke risk management actions from response plans in other jurisdictions. An online community survey and public open house outlined local perspectives related to heat and wildfire smoke exposure. The project also included meetings and workshops with Town and local stakeholders, which focused on: the impacts of extreme heat and wildfire smoke on wildlife behaviour and health & wellbeing of residents, building guidelines to explore potential cool and clean air centers, and emergency response planning.
Flood Disaster Risk Explorer
Calgary’s Disaster Risk Explorer lists the top hazards that can affect residents. It provides a profile of each hazard, including: an analysis of its risk, relevant historical events, and key mitigation work being undertaken by The City. The information in this tool comes from Calgary’s Disaster Risk Assessment (DRA) process, which is documented in the 2022 Disaster Risk Report.
Taking the Flood section as an example, detailed information is provided online on flood maps, preparing for floods, flood alerts and notices, and after a flood.
Photo: Ryan Quan.
Infrastructure Vulnerability Assessment
The Climate Infrastructure Vulnerability Assessment Final Report assesses the vulnerability and risks of infrastructure in the Town of Okotoks under a changing climate. The report identifies river flooding, drought, and extreme heat as some of the highest risks to Town infrastructure systems.
Facility Climate Adaptation Report Cards for each municipal building were developed to provide an overview of the key risks associated with each facility. The report cards act as a valuable reference for facility managers and operations staff to support their asset management and decision-making.
The Facilities Climate Adaptation Action List includes a detailed list of climate adaptation actions for each facility. It outlines risk mitigation actions, estimated costs, and approximate timelines for implementation.
Photo: Stephanie N. Jones
Community Capacity Building Education Program
The City of Spruce Grove developed a Community Capacity Building Education Program to help communicate climate change impacts and build individual and community capacity to respond to climate change through behaviours and decision-making in the four categories of resilient vegetation, water management, resilient homes, and emergency preparedness. Through empowering individuals with climate knowledge and building awareness, this project will continue to promote community action and build resilience to climate impacts.
Helpful Resources
- Retrofitting Canada’s Homes: Progress Report #1, Deep Energy Retrofits Canada, Green Communities Canada
- How to Finance the Retrofit of Municipal Buildings, C40 Knowledge Hub
- Municipalities Accelerating Deep Retrofits, Resources for Local Governments, Pembina Institute
- Getting the Most out of Your Retrofits, ReCover and QUEST Canada
- Climate Resilience and Deep Retrofits, Pembina Institute