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Canada Green Building Strategy prioritizes energy efficiency for homes and buildings

July 23, 2024 – Natural Resources Canada released the Canada Green Buildings Strategy (CGBS), saying it will drive energy efficiency improvements in Canadians’ homes and buildings, with a focus on addressing affordability and reducing GHG emissions.

According to NRCan, CGBS aims to:

• Accelerate retrofits of existing buildings.
• Ensure buildings are built to be energy-efficient, climate-resilient, and affordable.
• Seize economic opportunities “associated with more-efficient, lower-carbon building materials and technologies”.

The strategy mentions numerous initiatives that are already underway. It also contains a few new or updated ones, which we’ll highlight here:

The CANADA GREENER HOMES AFFORDABILITY PROGRAM (CGHAP) is an $800-million retrofit program that will support low- to-median-income Canadians, including renters, to reduce their monthly energy bills by upgrading their homes. It will include direct installation delivery (no cost to the household) and will stack with provincial and territorial programs to support the retrofits. The new program will provide up to four times more than the $5000 from the Canada Greener Homes Grant.

Ottawa has committed $30 million to continue developing a NATIONAL LABELLING APPROACH that builds upon its existing ENERGUIDE RATING SYSTEM for homes. The approach aims to provide homeowners and prospective home buyers with consistent information about home energy performance across the country.

The AFFORDABLE HOUSING FUND provides funds as low-interest and/or forgivable loans and contributions to partnered organizations for new affordable housing, and the renovation and repair of existing affordable and community housing. To be eligible, projects must meet minimum energy and GHG reduction requirements. Budget 2024 announced $976 million over five years starting in 2024-2025, and $24 million in future years, to launch a new Rapid Housing Stream under the Fund.

Between 2024 and 2026, new amendments to the ENERGY EFFICIENCY REGULATIONS are planned, which will see the update or addition of energy efficiency or testing standards for things like air-conditioners, heat pumps, gas-fired furnaces (commercial) and storage water heaters, as well as electric and oil-fired water heaters (household).

Additionally, the Government of Canada is “committed to introducing a regulatory framework that will allow the phaseout” of the installation of oil heating systems in new construction as early as 2028. (The phaseout would include exclusions for regions with insufficient access to the grid.)