New research report shows including people from across the municipality is key

Halifax, NS // Their building stock responsible for about 50% of GHGs produced across Canada, “Canadian municipalities are in a unique position to impact Canada’s climate targets,” says Emma Norton, co-researcher and co-writer with Gemma Pinchin of GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR RETROFITS a new report from The Recover Initiative and QUEST Canada.

“Intended for staff of small-to-medium-sized municipalities tasked with significantly reducing energy and emissions,” explains Emma, “the research and report offers guidance drawn from advice gathered from experts in the field, to assist municipal staffers in getting deep retrofit work off the ground in their municipality.”

Produced with funding from Natural Resources Canada, The Atmospheric Fund, and the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources and Renewables, the report began with a jurisdictional scan of Canadian organisations and entities that operate in the municipal energy space, research which fed into a literature review.

“A key takeaway from the expert interviews,” Gemma points out, “is the need to include people from across the municipality. Deep retrofit projects should include everybody involved in the facility from the beginning, including a broad project team, and an integrated approach to reduce some of the traditional implementation struggles.”

The report emphasises that incorporating other community priorities into retrofit work will help get everyone’s attention and get local citizens on board. The deep retrofit space is growing, and creating jobs, which is a key avenue to reaching Canada’s net-zero targets. Municipalities can support this work by exploring alternative and new approaches to design and procurement.

Ultimately, as climate change continues to put stress on municipalities, the authors of GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR RETROFITS agree, deep retrofits offer an opportunity to “consider municipal buildings differently.” And because of municipalities’ unique position to impact Canada’s net-zero climate targets, Emma Norton and Gemma Pinchin emphasise, “their commitment to enhancing energy efficiency through the deep retrofitting of their building stock is right now, quite simply crucial.”

– 30 –

Télécharger GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR RETROFITS

Téléchargez TIREZ LE MEILLEUR PARTI DE VOS RÉNOVATIONS ÉNERGÉTIQUES

À propos de QUEST Canada

QUEST Canada is a registered Canadian charity that supports communities in Canada on their pathway to net-zero. Since 2007, we’ve been facilitating connections, empowering community champions and advising decision-makers to implement efficient and integrated energy systems that best meet community needs and maximize local opportunities. We develop tools and resources, convene stakeholders and rights holders, and advise decision-makers — all with the goal of encouraging, assisting and enabling communities to contribute to Canada’s net-zero goals.

About ReCover

ReCover is a non-profit organization governed by a small working group and guided by an Advisory Committee composed of 14 highly respected industry experts from across Canada, who have been instrumental in advising the ReCover team since 2020. Recover has been positioning itself as a deep retrofit accelerator since 2020 by forging partnerships with key retrofit market actors, building relationships and sharing knowledge with other Retrofit Accelerators, facilitating industry capacity-building activities, and completing research and feasibility studies for deep retrofits.

Visit their website: www.recoverinitiative.ca

Contact presse

Pour organiser un entretien, veuillez contacter :

Donald Wiedman
Senior Lead, Communications, QUEST Canada
t: 647-669-0461
e : [email protected]