Toronto launches competition to fund emissions-reductions retrofits
The City of Toronto has launched a competition to help fund building-renovation projects that will curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Through its Deep Retrofit Challenge, the city will provide funding to support deeper-than-planned energy retrofits in as many as 16 privately-owned buildings. The goal of the project is to accelerate emissions reductions and identify pathways to net zero that can be replicated in other buildings.
The challenge is being funded through a $5-million investment from Natural Resources Canada’s Green Infrastructure – Energy Efficient Buildings Program.
“Our city has a goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2040,” said Toronto Mayor John Tory. “In order to do that, we must accelerate and introduce programs and initiatives that aim to help reduce our carbon footprint and work to make Toronto cleaner and greener. We know buildings omit some of the highest emissions and we need to work together along with the other governments and the private sector to address this issue. The retrofits funded through this challenge will go a long way to proving that we can reduce building emissions using existing technologies.”
Projects will be selected through a competition-style process. A design charrette organized by the city will bring together a variety of building specialists to identify energy and environmental improvements that may be achieved, and opportunities to advance the design to maximize emissions reductions.
Selected projects will receive a grant equal to 25 percent of their total project costs up to $500,000 to offset the incremental design and construction costs required to achieve maximum emissions reductions.
Eligible buildings include certain types of multi-unit residential and residential condominium buildings, commercial office buildings, mixed-use buildings, and residential-over-commercial buildings.
Projects must involve a deep retrofit of an existing, occupied building, reduce GHG emissions and energy costs by at least 50 percent, meet a 20-year payback period or better, be operational by January 1, 2025, and use an approach that can be replicated across similar types across the country.
The Challenge will spur early, voluntary compliance with the City’s Net Zero Existing Buildings Strategy, advance the goals and targets of the TransformTO Net Zero Climate Action Strategy, and support the City’s net zero by 2040 emissions reduction target.
Buildings are the largest source of GHG emissions in Toronto, generating approximately 57 percent of total community-wide emissions. To achieve the emissions reduction trajectory needed to reach net zero emissions by 2040, community-wide GHG emissions from all sources must be cut in half in the next eight years. The city controls only about five percent of community-wide GHG emissions directly, through its own buildings and operations.
The retrofits funded through the challenge are expected to result in approximately 1,750 tCO2e (tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent) per year in emissions reductions starting in 2025, and will demonstrate deep retrofit pathways that building owners across Toronto can undertake to reduce emissions from their buildings.
Information from the projects, including designs, budgets and performance data will be open-sourced to drive case studies, technical reports and academic research that will help facilitate further uptake.