An energy retrofit at the Harbourfront Centre (HFC), a downtown Toronto arts and culture centre, will be the first in Canada to be completed through crowd financing, reports online clean investment platform CoPower.
The project was funded by the Toronto Atmospheric Fund (TAF) in 2013, then refinanced through the CoPower platform.
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“The energy conservation measures—which cost $95,000 in total—included LED lighting and upgraded boilers that have reduced HFC’s utility costs and lowered their greenhouse gas emissions,” according to a CoPower release. “Investors using CoPower’s platform will receive competitive financial returns paid out of the savings from Harbourfront Centre’s energy bills.”
By financing the original retrofits in 2013, TAF allowed Harbourfront “to make energy improvements to its buildings without having to tie up its own capital,” CoPower explains. “Part of the energy savings are used to pay back the initial investment,” with the remainder “allowing HFC to allocate more of its funds to programming.”
