Authors:

Kareman Yassin | Assistant Professor, Hitotsubashi University Maya Papineau | Associate Professor of Economics, Carleton University Nicholas Rivers | Canada Research Chair in Climate and Energy Policy, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa

Excerpt:

Canada has set an ambitious goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45 to 50 per cent below 2005 levels. This puts pressure on the residential and commercial building sector, which is responsible for about 18 per cent of national greenhouse gas emissions, to help meet this target.

Since most of Canada’s 16 million homes are expected to still be in use by 2050, the path to net-zero requires upgrading existing homes, not just constructing new net-zero ones.

To address this, retrofit programs that improve home energy efficiency have become one of Canada’s main strategies to cut emissions in the housing sector. These programs focus on upgrades like air sealing, enhanced insulation, upgrading heating and cooling systems and installing energy-efficient windows and doors.

But do these programs deliver on their promises of lower bills and reduced carbon emissions? Our recent study, forthcoming in Energy Economics, examined the outcomes of the federal ecoENERGY home retrofit program, a predecessor to the Greener Homes Initiative.

Our findings shed light on where the program succeeded, where it fell short and what this all means for Canadian families and policymakers moving forward.