Deep retrofits: A lifeline for old buildings

Non-profit wants to retrofit Atlantic buildings With help from the federal government a non-profit is launching a $17.5 million accelerator to retrofit buildings in the Atlantic provinces.

Home improvement is an ever-expanding industry, but a new model called “deep retrofit” is proving to be life-changing for old buildings.

Funded in part by Natural Resources Canada, ReCover helps businesses across four Atlantic provinces reduce their carbon footprint by improving a building’s energy efficiency through upgrading technology or old appliances with energy-efficient models.

ReCover held a press conference in Charlottetown on Friday, where executive director and co-founder Emma Norton said they are aiming to work with building owners in the province that own commercial or institutional buildings.

“That includes multi-family buildings four stories or higher, and helping them create a plan to reduce their energy consumption by 50 per cent or more,” said Norton.

Norton says deep retrofits are sustainable over time, but homeowners will still eventually need to replace components that have a life span, like heat pumps.

“You’re going to need to replace it eventually, but what we would do is create a total cost of building ownership analysis and tell you when those things are going to happen over the next 60 years and how much that is going to cost you.”

In fact, there could even be consequences to not retrofitting an older home. UPEI professor Kuljeet Grewal says not retrofitting a home is equivalent to “pouring water into a bowl with holes in it.”

“Energy poverty is when your energy cost is too high and you are not able to afford that energy cost,” said Grewal. “So if you have a poorly insulated home, if you have a poorly insulated building, then you are spending more in your utility bills.”

Norton says there are challenges with meeting net zero in a short period of time, especially with such ambitious goals for the country.

“In Canada, we have a goal to be net zero by 2050, and in P.E.I. there's a goal to be net zero by 2040. P.E.I. has extremely ambitious goals and that means dozens of retrofits a day, and that's a huge, huge leap from where we are,” she said.

“It can be really hard to imagine."

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