Northern and Alberta communities are harnessing energy efficiency upgrades—from biomass boilers to heat-recovery systems to solar panels—that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, lower energy costs, and build local expertise in low-carbon technologies.

The projects target hard-to-decarbonize sectors, including industrial refining, agriculture, and northern housing. Some initiatives focus on replacing fossil fuels and salvaging wasted energy, while others set incremental goals, shaving off a small percentage of gas demand. Funding comes through the federal government’s $2-billion Low Carbon Economy Fund (LCEF), which launched in 2017.

Setting an Example

In Yellowknife, the Indigenous-owned Denendeh Manor apartment complex will replace diesel with wood-pellet biomass for heating, install LED lighting and energy-efficient doors and windows, better insulate and ventilate the building, and add rooftop solar water heating. The upgrades are expected to save 30,000 litres of oil, 85 tonnes of carbon dioxide, and $40,000 in heating and electricity costs per year.

The investments “are designed to empower communities to play a leading role in the transition to a low-carbon economy,” NWT Environment and Climate Change Minister Jay Macdonald said at a media event this summer in Yellowknife. Denendeh Investments Incorporated CEO Darrell Beaulieu told local journalists the benefits of the retrofits extend far beyond the building.

“Other Indigenous communities across the North are watching what we’re doing here,” Beaulieu said. “They want to know whether these technologies work in our climate, and if the savings are real and these investments would make sense.” 

Up North, when companies talk about climate change mitigation, it is difficult to put the focus on energy efficiency because costs are higher and paybacks are longer than for renewable energy projects, Mark Heyck, executive director of the Arctic Energy Alliance, told The Energy Mix. 

But even so, “we very much preach energy efficiency first,” to minimize how much power is needed in the first place.

Projects like Denendeh Manor’s build momentum community by community, generating interest in local energy efficiency, Heyck said, adding that he is keen to see what other projects follow behind.

“We’re still very dependent on diesel heating fuel,” Heyck said, “but there have been many opportunities over the years for communities up north to get off diesel.” 

‘Critical’ Capacity Building

From the same funding pool, Inuvialuit Regional Corporation will get $4.65 million to bring ground-mounted solar kits to Inuvialuit-owned cabins in six communities, and to run workshops on solar installation and maintenance.

“The critical aspect to it all is capacity-building, especially in smaller communities,” said Emily He, the Pembina Institute’s renewables in remote communities manager.

The need for operational capabilities to run and maintain the pellet boiler system at Denendeh, for instance, makes capacity-building “very consistently a need for the energy transition in remote communities, especially in the North.”

She told The Mix that while she currently sees a gap in specific energy efficiency and retrofit funding for the North, “it’s important to address the energy transition from all sides, and we can’t focus all of our funds just on renewable energy, or just on energy efficiency.”

This means not simply installing solar, wind and battery power, but ensuring the technology and operational capacity exist to run these systems in colder temperatures. This has proven successful for Beaver Creek, Yukon, for example, which got onto solar for two months this summer and more than halved its reliance on diesel, He said.

While LCEF’s investments for NWT focus on renewables and energy efficiency, funding in Alberta targets low-carbon technologies that ensure operations “stay climate competitive,” Environment and Climate Change Canada said in a release.

‘We Need More of This’

Taurus RNG’s Kasko Cattle Co. Ltd. feedlot nearby in Coaldale, Alta., will build a carbon-capture system that uses anaerobic digestion to break down manure and reduce greenhouse gases. According to Adefarati Oloruntoba, postdoctoral scholar in petroleum and chemical engineering at the University of Calgary’s Energy Technology Assessment Research Group, this project also supports rural economic resilience by giving value to waste.

But the emissions savings are a fraction of the bigger picture, in which agriculture is the fifth-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada, as per 2023 numbers. This accounts for 10% of total national emissions with 69 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent—around half of which comes from the livestock sector.

“The investments are strategic on their own, but we need more of this in order for us to arrive at the climate goals we’ve set for 2050,” Oloruntoba said.

Successful emissions reductions in difficult sectors or remote communities could attract investment from other companies to support similar projects, he added.