Learn how to stay warm and save on energy costs. See if you qualify for home-energy improvement grants
The York Region network of businesses and organizations leading the way in taking action on climate change
A friendly York Region competition and opportunity to show-off your building's improved energy efficiency
Windfall's Benchmarking Help Centre provides expert help to building owners with their EWRB reporting
Modern solutions to a rising problem. Learn what you can do to protect your property from flooding
Our latest dashboards provide new insights into 16 years of EnerGuide's home energy evaluation data
The good news is that Canada’s climate policies are beginning to work. A new report published on Wednesday, July 3, 'All Together Now: A provincial scorecard on shared responsibility to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Canada' assesses the performance of Canada’s federal and provincial governments against a set of 23 energy and climate policy indicators.
Canada’s 2023 wildfires caused billions of dollars in property damage, displacing thousands of people from their homes, and spewing air pollution that traveled as far as Europe and China.
On Friday, June 21, the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, welcomed the Royal Assent of Bill C-226 – An Act Respecting the Development of a National Strategy to Assess, Prevent and Address Environmental Racism and to Advance Environmental Justice, which was introduced by Elizabeth May, Member of Parliament for Saanich—Gulf Islands, British Columbia.
Canada is embracing the opportunities of a low-carbon future by passing the Sustainable Jobs Act, Bill C-50. Thanks to this bill, workers and communities impacted by the energy transition will be given the tools they need to succeed in the green economy.
New figures show Ontario's greenhouse gas emissions jumped for a second straight year, following a pandemic-induced plunge, and have risen back to the level they were before Premier Doug Ford's government came to power.
The federal budget will include a multi-billion-dollar plan to “solve the housing crisis” by delivering 3.87 million new homes by 2031, but reduce total funding for energy retrofits compared to the former Canada Greener Homes grant program.
On Friday, March 15, 2024, the Windfall Centre team had the pleasure of having Member of Parliament, Aurora — Oak Ridges — Richmond Hill, Ontario, Leah Taylor Roy, Member of Parliament for Newmarket — Aurora, Tony Van Bynen, and the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment & Climate Change, Adam van Koeverden at the Windfall Centre office. During the visit, environmental policies and green retrofits were discussed.
Today, March 14, 2024, the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, on behalf of the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, and Scott Pearce, President of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), announced an investment of $9.5 million through the Green Municipal Fund to expand the Clean Foundation's Clean Energy Financing program in Nova Scotia.
With Canada’s home retrofit industry in chaos, consumers abandoning ship, and emissions in housing still falling far too slowly, two separate sign-on letters are urging Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson to restore funding for the popular Canada Greener Homes grant program.
On January, 24, 2024, the Regional Municipality of Durham, in partnership with Windfall Ecology Centre, launched the Durham Greener Buildings Program, a benchmarking and disclosure program that will support building owners participating in the provincial Energy and Water Reporting Benchmarking (EWRB) program by helping them to measure, report and take action on efficiency and conservation opportunities.
Big Oil Oil & gas companies want $billions for carbon capture & hydrogen – two false solutions to the climate crisis that won’t do much to reduce emissions but will allow the industry to continue to pump out polluting fossil fuels.
In 2022, Green Communities Canada (GCC) worked with its 22 member organizations which includes Windfall Centre, to establish key metrics that could be collectively shared for the purpose of delivering equitable climate solutions that address the vulnerabilities and opportunities in their communities.
Energy-conscious homeowners are constantly looking for cost-effective ways to reduce their energy bills and get the most out of their home retrofit upgrades. If you're one of them, there are several reasons why you should consider a heat pump.
Durham Region is partnering with the Canadian Home Builders’ Association (CHBA) to launch the Towards Net Zero Renovations Project. The project is seeking 10 to 15 participants in Durham who want to upgrade their home to Net Zero Energy or Net Zero Energy Ready. Net Zero Energy homes are known for their improved comfort, indoor air quality as well as noise reductions and durability, while reducing energy loads/costs and associated greenhouse gas emissions. Participant benefits include:
1. Expert guidance from a CHBA Qualified Net Zero Energy Advisor, who will work with your renovator to optimize your retrofit project for performance and cost. This represents up to a $4,000 value over the course of the project. This is in addition to the Deep Retrofit Rebates available under the Durham Greener Homes Program.
2. Renovators, trades and other key retrofit stakeholders get access to industry leading building science training and both the CHBA Net Zero Builder and Renovator Training courses at no cost ,valued at approximately $2,500.
Learn more and register at chba.ca/nztraining
In Ontario the Canada Greener Homes rebates and the provincial rebates have been combined into the Enbridge Home Efficiency Rebate Plus (HER+)
This means Ontario residents will no longer sign-up for the Canada Greener Homes rebates through the federal government's web-portal, but rather with Enbridge Gas through the NRCan Registered Energy Advisor you choose to do the required EnerGuide Home Energy Evaluation of your home.
This new rebate structure streamlines the process by combining both the federal Greener Homes incentives with the Ontario incentives. Through the combined incentives, you can get up to $10,000 in cash-back rebates, plus an additional rebate of up to $600 for the required EnerGuide Home Energy Evaluations.
Read Press Release.
CAC Webinar: Municipal Building Benchmarking Opportunities
Sep 29, 2023 10:00 AM
Buildings are the top greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters by sector, but also, they provide a greater opportunity for municipalities to reduce their emissions. Benchmarking allows for the identification of opportunities for change to improve the efficiency or effectiveness of municipal services. Additionally, tracking the building's energy saves money.
Broader Public Sector (BPS) buildings in Ontario, which include municipally owned buildings, schools, hospitals and more, are required to report energy use and GHG emissions annually. In this webinar, Windfall centre's Director of Operations, Kyle Mennie will present their BPS Building Comparison Map and share more about the ClimateWise Building Challenge – Targeting to benchmark over 1300 commercial and institutional buildings in York and Durham over the next 3 years.
Home Energy Saving Tips for Fall🍁
Fall officially began on Saturday, September 23 at 2:50 a.m. EDT, and we've highlighted some home energy saving tips to help you enjoy an energy-efficient home this season.
To enjoy an even more energy-efficient home, book an expert home energy evaluation
NEWS RELEASE
Over 8,000 Deep Energy Retrofits in 3 Years Raises Hope About Achieving GHG targets, but Federal Incentives Must Grow: Report
Peterborough, On, 8 November 2023: Green Communities Canada has completed an in-depth review of federal data on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Canada’s low-rise housing sector and makes recommendations for improving the effectiveness of the Canada Greener Home Grant incentive program.
A new report published by Green Communities Canada analyzed data from over 188,000 building retrofits documented with the EnerGuide rating system across Canada in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
“The data shows the number of home retrofit projects has increased nearly fourfold since the launch of the Canada Greener Home Grant, but the average energy savings are modest at just 21 per cent." says Kai Millyard, Green Communities Canada’s EnerGuide service organization manager who led the data analysis. "This will result in the need to spend billions more on rapid electrical utility expansion to meet our climate goals as electricity replaces fossil fuels.”
Retrofitting Canada's Homes: Progress Report #1 recommends accelerating deep energy retrofits — renovations that result in over 50 per cent energy savings — as the key to achieving the country’s GHG emission goals while minimizing the societal costs associated with the energy transition.
"Over 8,000 homeowners have shown that much deeper savings are possible in all parts of the country," says Millyard, "but these are just one in 16 retrofits now — the incentives are too small for widespread deep retrofitting."
“The retrofit industry describes a three-step strategy to retrofit and decarbonize housing." says Jared Kolb, Green Communities Canada Executive Director. “The first step in any home retrofit project should be to improve the thermal efficiency of houses to reduce energy consumption, followed by the electrification of equipment, including introducing heat pumps and electric water heaters. As the last step, houses can add renewable energy systems like solar panels to create local energy generation capacity.”
The report makes recommendations for Natural Resources Canada and others to accelerate deep energy retrofits and help Canada meet its GHG emission goals.
Fast facts from the report:
About Green Communities Canada
Green Communities Canada is a national non-profit that has been leading community-based climate action since 1995. The organization shares resources and co-creates programming with over 50 member and partner organizations across the country to ensure transformative and equitable climate action. Green Communities Canada has been designing and delivering home energy retrofit programs for over 25 years, including piloting the Government of Canada’s EnerGuide auditing program and designing the Province of Ontario’s first low income retrofit programs – both among the most successful energy demand management programs in our country’s history.
Contact Green Communities Canada
Jose Joy
Communications Lead
437-228-9259
Kai Millyard
Report Author
416-651-7141
Ottawa's green grants program for homeowners is running out of money faster than expected
Brent Kopperson, executive director of Durham's Windfall Ecology Centre, who spoke to CBC News on the implication of the program's current reality said one of his staff members attended a meeting in November with NRCAN officials and was warned the program could wind down soon.
Kopperson said the program's current plight feels like déjà vu. He pointed out that the previous federal government pulled the plug on a similarly popular ecoEnergy home retrofit program in 2012.
Kopperson said that retrofit program led to the emergence of new firms specializing in decarbonizing homes. History could repeat itself, he warned.
"We are in a climate emergency and we can't be putting our feet on the brakes. We need to really be accelerating the program," he said. "So to end this program prematurely without an immediate replacement would cause significant havoc in the sector."
On September 24 at Sheppard's Bush in Aurora, in celebration of Canada's and Ontario's 150th birthday, Windfall Ecology Centre hosted the Windfall Harvest Festival... A Celebration of Diversity: Food, Land and People. The festival featured First Nations dance and drumming, pioneer life reenactments, celebrity chefs, food sampling, nature walks, kids Nature Play and many more family activities.
Windfall Ecology Centre is located on the traditional territories of the Wendat, Haudeno-saunee, and the Anishinaabe peoples and the treaty land of the Williams Treaties First Nations and other Indigenous peoples whose presence here continues to this day. We thank them for sharing this land with us.
We acknowledge the contributions and historic importance of Indigenous people to this place and our collective commitment to make the promise and the challenge of Truth and Reconciliation real in our community.
As a non-profit organization we are supported by people just like you. If you would like to get involved in working towards sustainable communities and creating new opportunities for our youth... Consider joining us as a volunteer or making a donation to ensure we can continue and expand our programs focused on sustainability and climate change mitigation.
