$8.6 Million Invested Into Home Energy Efficiency Program For Affordable Heating In Peterborough

In an effort to fight climate change and reduce costs to homeowners, the Government of Canada and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) are investing $8.6 million to launch the City of Peterborough’s Home Energy Efficiency Program.

(From left to right) Michael Papadacos, City of Peterborough Commissioner of Infrastructure, Planning and Growth Management; Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Canada; Jeff Leal, Mayor of Peterborough; Tegan Moss, GreenUp executive director; Rowena Santos, Federation of Canadian Municipalities and Brampton Councillor; Bonnie Clark, Peterborough County Warden; Kevin Duguay, Peterborough City Councillor and Michelle Ferreri, Peterborough-Kawartha MP. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The announcement was made with several dignitaries attending in front of an East City residence Thursday afternoon. Notables included Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Canada; Councillor Rowena Santos of Brampton; Bonnie Clark, Peterborough County Warden; Michelle Ferrari, Peterborough-Kawartha MP and Councillor Kevin Duguay.

The money is through a $2.87 million grant and a $5.75 million loan from the Green Municipal Fund’s Community Efficiency Financing program.

“This particular program will roll out right away,” said Leal. “This is a unique opportunity to take advantage of this Government of Canada administered through FCM to get your applications in, get your changes made and make things more energy-efficient.”

The offers homeowners and renters two loan choices: one tied to the property via a Local Improvement Charge and the other an unsecured loan provided directly from a partnering financial institution.

The loans are capped at $125,000 or 10 per cent of the current property value. They can finance home energy efficiency improvements that lower emissions, reduce energy costs, and enhance comfort by upgrading windows, doors, air sealing and insulation and installing low-emission heating such as heat pumps and alternative energy sources like solar panels according to a press release.

The program aims to help approximately 600 households retrofit their homes. This results in total reductions in emissions of 825 tonnes of CO2 per year, saving over 28,000 gigajoules of energy.

While this applies to homeowners, the federal government seeks solutions for those renting, especially those paying utilities.

“This is obviously for people who already are homeowners that these programs are being offered,” said Guilbeault. “We are looking what can be done also with people who rent, whether they're not owners of the building in terms of how can we help them and perhaps these owners to increase the energy efficiency of those units as well.”

In 2019, under former mayor Diane Therrien, the City of Peterborough declared a climate emergency. It updated its goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Roughly 23 per cent of emissions in the city come from the 34,660 residential dwellings as stated in a press release.

“We are, in fact, working with municipalities, provincial governments and organizations across the country to increase the rate of new building homes being built in Canada,” said Guilbeault. “Through the first-ever Canada's housing strategy, we're deploying billions of dollars and we are starting to see more and more buildings being built all across the country.”

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