• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
Celebrating our 1,000th edition. The climate news you need
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  FEATURED
BREAKING: U.S. Senate Passes Historic $369B Climate Package August 7, 2022
Researchers Point To ‘Dangerously Unexplored’ Risk of Global Climate Catastrophe August 2, 2022
Koch Network Pressures Manchin, Sinema as Advocates Praise ‘Game Changing’ Climate Deal August 2, 2022
Coastal GasLink Cost Skyrockets 70% to $11.2B August 2, 2022
Ottawa Releases Regulatory ‘Frame’ for Net-Zero Grid by 2035 August 2, 2022
Next
Prev

Haley: Ottawa’s Energy Efficiency Plans Will Hinge on ‘Nitty-Gritty Details of Implementation’

April 26, 2021
Reading time: 3 minutes

Jeremy Levine/Flickr

Jeremy Levine/Flickr

 

While last week’s federal budget cemented a significant increase in government support for energy efficiency, the “nitty-gritty details of implementation” have yet to be filled in and more funding will be needed to deliver the scale of building retrofit activity the country needs, Efficiency Canada Policy Director Brendan Haley argues in a follow-up analysis.

“As we focus on implementation details, we also need to recognize that reaching net-zero emissions will require public and private investments in the hundreds of billions,” Haley writes on the Efficiency Canada blog. “We need a never-before-seen acceleration of energy efficiency performance and ensuring high-performance becomes the norm at every opportunity.”

And “now that the federal government has introduced some of the standard policy tools—such as grants, loans, and training—we need to turn our minds quickly to transform how we deliver large-scale building retrofits and other efficiency programs,” he adds. “This will need to bring more of an innovation policy lens to areas such as building retrofits: considering how to reshape markets, create new professional designations, and introduce new business models.”

Haley runs through the energy efficiency gains in the budget tabled last Monday by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland: C$4.4 billion in building retrofits over the next five years, and $40,000 interest-free loans for homeowners and landowners, on top of $5,000 homeowner tax credits the government had previously announced. The program includes a dedicated funding stream for low-income households, and the budget also lays out $2.4 billion for work force development, $2.5 billion to build new affordable housing that exceeds building code requirements for energy efficiency, and a $5-billion green bond issue.

And Haley leads off his post by acknowledging the centrepiece of Freeland’s plan: “The signature item is national child care, a policy that should enable more women, who shoulder the majority of child care burdens in Canada, to enter or re-enter the energy efficiency work force.” Last May, Efficiency Canada drew attention to the small proportion of energy efficiency jobs held by women and argued that energy efficiency skills training could help combat women’s job losses in the COVID-19 “she-cession”.

But with those funding commitments in place, Haley says the next step is to get the details right. Launching the retrofits quickly—by summer 2021, the budget says—raises flags about the time available to design the program and consult with partners, particularly after the problems the UK ran into when it tried to fast-track its own building retrofit program.

While the budget promised “a dedicated stream of funding to support low-income homeowners and rental properties serving low-income renters, including cooperatives and not-for-profit owned housing,” Haley adds, the understanding so far is that the funds will still be made available as loans. That approach would create severe barriers for households in greatest need of retrofits, in contrast to programs in Canadian provinces and territories and the United States that get upgrades done at no cost to participants.

A loan program “is likely to remain inaccessible to a large number of low-income Canadians who are unwilling or unable to take on debt (even at zero interest),” Haley warns. “Zero-interest financing could play a role in supporting multi-unit residential retrofits, coupled with affordable housing strategies. Some moderate-income Canadians might find value in the loan. But a loan-based low-income program is likely to create a significant gap for those most in need and most vulnerable to energy price increases.”

The approach also falls short of the federal climate plan, which directs the government to “continue working with and building on successful provincial and territorial low-income retrofit programs, to increase the number of low-income households that benefit from energy retrofits,” he notes.

Haley also suggests some important complements to the government’s investment in skills, training and trades. Some of the key energy efficiency jobs, like residential building performance specialists and certified heat pump installers, will need new professional designations, he says. And the government’s work force development plan “can be complemented with energy efficiency-specific occupation roadmaps, and ensuring all programs to create market demand are closely linked with training and work force strategies.”



in Buildings, Canada, Climate & Society, Community Climate Finance, Demand & Distribution, Demand & Efficiency, Ending Emissions, Energy Access & Equity, Jobs & Training, Jurisdictions, Renewable Energy

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

Bernard Spragg/flickr
Energy Politics

$12.3B in Profit over 3 Months as Big Fossils Reject Federal Emissions Cap

August 11, 2022
208
Σ64/Wikimedia Commons
Hydrogen

Global Push for Hydrogen Sidesteps Knowledge Gaps on Climate Impacts

August 11, 2022
234
Protect The Planet
Pipelines / Rail Transport

Trans Mountain Work Site Blocks Early Salmon Run on Coquihalla River, Local Observers Say

August 11, 2022
332

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

Bernard Spragg/flickr

$12.3B in Profit over 3 Months as Big Fossils Reject Federal Emissions Cap

August 11, 2022
208
Σ64/Wikimedia Commons

Global Push for Hydrogen Sidesteps Knowledge Gaps on Climate Impacts

August 11, 2022
234
Protect The Planet

Trans Mountain Work Site Blocks Early Salmon Run on Coquihalla River, Local Observers Say

August 11, 2022
332
François GOGLINS/wikimedia commons

Corrosion Problem Shutters Half of France’s Nuclear Reactors

August 2, 2022
1.5k
Joseph Brent/Flickr

Green Hydrogen Will Cost Less than Fossil-Fuelled ‘Blue’, Shell CEO Admits

August 7, 2022
746
Early stages of construction on the Flamanville 3 nuclear reactor in France

Failing French Nuclear Plants Drive Up Electricity Costs as Heat Waves Cut Production

August 8, 2022
451

Recent Posts

Focus Blame for Climate Change on Fossils and Governments, Ecoanalytics Advises

August 11, 2022
108
TheKurgan/Wikipedia

Ontario Pension Giant May Be Getting the Memo on Fossil Divestment, Members Say

August 11, 2022
33
@stan_sdcollins/Twitter

Stranded Communities Hope for Emergency Food Supplies as Newfoundland Wildfires Rage

August 11, 2022
14
Maurizio Pesce/Wikimedia Commons

Tesla Lobbying Points to Ontario as Possible EV Manufacturing Site

August 11, 2022
34
MENA/Flickr

Ontario Gains from U.S. EV Tax Credit, But Plans No Incentives for Local Drivers

August 11, 2022
37
Twitter

Shelling of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Plant Raises Fears for Nuclear Safety

August 11, 2022
32
Next Post
byrev/pixabay

Canada Joins U.S., Qatar, Saudi Arabia in Net-Zero Producers’ Forum

The Energy Mix

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}