Improving energy efficiency in our communities is an important part of our toolkit to fight climate change. It will help us exceed our climate goals, lower emissions where people live and work, and provide opportunities for Canadians to be part of building a clean and prosperous future that leaves no one behind.
The Honourable Mona Fortier, Minister of Middle Class Prosperity, Associate Minister of Finance and Member of Parliament for Ottawa—Vanier, on behalf of the Honourable Seamus O’Regan Jr., Minister of Natural Resources, today announced a $547,500 investment to the Ottawa Community Housing Corporation (OCHC) to retrofit affordable housing. The corporation is matching federal funding, for a project total over $1 million.
The pilot project is the first of its kind in Canada. It aims to retrofit a four-unit townhome in Ottawa into net-zero homes – meaning they will produce as much energy as they consume in a year – while extending the building’s life-cycle and maintaining access to affordable housing in the City.
The retrofits include a new roof, windows, prefabricated exterior panels and an array of solar panels to increase energy efficiency and reduce the building’s carbon footprint. These renovations are performed without needing to relocate tenants. The project is expected to cut the building’s energy use by 55 percent.
Federal funding is provided through Natural Resources Canada’s Green Infrastructure – Energy Efficient Buildings Program. This program supports the development and implementation of building codes for existing buildings and new net-zero energy-ready buildings through research, development and demonstration projects. CanmetENERGY-Ottawa is also collaborating with OCHC to monitor the performance of the retrofit, as well as providing ongoing research on Prefabricated Exterior Energy Retrofits (PEER).
The government supports green infrastructure projects that will create good, middle-class jobs, advance Canada’s low-carbon future and help achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
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