Smart Buildings | Electro Federation Canada

Building efficiency and heat electrification is crucial to smart energy consumption and reducing greenhouse gas reliance. Investment in energy efficient buildings that employ efficient lighting and smart technologies that minimize energy waste will help to lessen the impacts of climate change.

Key Highlights

The bulk of Canada’s housing infrastructure is more than 30 years old. Our current retrofit rate is at less than 1% each year, which does not include the volume of deep retrofits needed to meet future capacity demand.
At this pace it will take us well beyond 2050 to retrofit all residential, commercial and public buildings. The Pembina Institute estimates that Canada needs to ramp up deep retrofits and fuel-switching to 4.5% of the existing building stock each year, or 600,000 homes and 750 million m2 commercial space, from now until 2040.
Policy Recommendations
Funding
Increase government funding by 10-20 times for deep retrofits and electrification
Tie incentive and subsidy programs to net-zero emissions target to discourage standalone energy efficiency measures and exclude like-for-like replacement of fossil fuel burning equipment
Codes and Regulations
Align model building and retrofit codes with net-zero emissions goals
Utilize industry standards to facilitate rapid adoption of net-zero aligned innovations
Develop a comprehensive national deep retrofit market development strategy
Demand side management regulations need to be refined to align with climate targets and energy plans
Utilize energy efficiency law to drive fuel switching to low carbon systems such as heat pumps and resistance heating
The promotion of resistance heating as a critical technology to meet climate, application and cost considerations