Selwyn will be considering a home retrofit loan program as part of their 2025 Capital budget.
During the Tuesday afternoon council meeting, Selwyn councilors received an update from Gaby Kalapos, the executive director at Clean Air Partnership (CAP) about a study that was done earlier in the year on home energy use in the township.
According to a report to council by Parys Carr, acting sustainability coordinator, the township partnered with the CAP and Grey County to apply to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) Community Efficiency Financing Program. They were successful and CAP commenced the study earlier this year.
CAP presented the findings of the study at council on Tuesday with updates highlighting the energy efficiency, greenhouse gas reduction, job creation and local economic development opportunity in Selwyn Township.
Kalapos said that one of the reasons so many municipalities are adopting these retrofit programs as part of their climate action plans is because of the economic development and job creation they make.
“Municipalities have recognized that there’s enormous job creation and economic development opportunities associated with retrofit programs that’s because these jobs and advancing these retrofits is often labour intensive and they provide a range of different jobs. So, some people in the lower skill sets can be brought into the market to build their kind of capacity over time while also providing really good quality jobs in terms of engineering and energy advisor as well.”
She went on to say that many of these jobs have to be sourced locally and the materials need to be bought locally as well.
The retrofit would be to move over home heating and cooling elements from oil, gas, or propane to electrification.
According to Carr, advancing a Selwyn Home Retrofit Program is beneficial to the Township because buildings contribute 30-50 per cent of total greenhouse gas emissions, and retrofitting can significantly reduce this impact.
As energy costs are likely to rise, improving home energy efficiency will help homeowners save in the long run. Her report also said that current energy efficiency programs in Ontario primarily target non-residential sectors, leaving homeowners underserved and facing complex navigation challenges.
Kalapos went into details outlining the different types of homes (by year build) and how much each housing archetype would spend on heating costs and the estimated heating emissions they produce.
She explained that many people hesitate to transition to electric heating due to concerns about high operational costs, often based on out-dated baseboard heating systems.
However, heat pumps are a cost-effective solution to electrifying building heating.
Kalapos explains the municipal retrofit programs are aimed at those most in need and most likely to benefit from retrofits. They offer more flexible financing to address upfront costs issues and bridge financing.
The program would also offer energy concierge supports to help residents navigate complex retrofit offerings in market.
Coun. John Boyko asked for clarification on what a concierge job would do.
Kalapos explained that it would be similar to a hotel concierge who has all the inside information on what to do in a certain area.
She said “What that concierge does is it really helps the homeowner navigate for their type of home and what they want to do, are the types of incentives available, how might they want to reach out to contractors? What’s the kind of General processes associated with it?... really helping to kind of navigate and help homeowners figure one what are the right questions to ask. If they don’t yet know what the right questions to ask us are and if they have questions just answering the questions to the best extent possible to help the homeowners navigate this.”
According to Carr’s report, FCM has funding to support the implementation of a Home Energy Loan Program using the Study as a basis for program development.
Carr recommended that a home retrofit program be considered as part of the 2025 Capital budget.
The recommendation was moved by Deputy Mayor Ron Black and seconded by Coun. Boyko. The motion was carried.
