THUNDER BAY — The city’s climate action specialist Danielle Thom said that the city's home energy improvement loan program is going to shape the way buildings will look and how much financing homeowners can access to retrofit their homes.
The program is still in the planning phase, once implemented it will offer lower-interest, easily accessible loans for residents to upgrade their homes with energy-efficient retrofits.
Thom said homeowners would be able to save money on a wide range of energy-efficient retrofits like new windows, electric or ground source heat pumps, and even an electric furnace.
“All of these things are rather expensive and we're looking to make it more affordable for folks,” said Thom.
At the moment, the city is undergoing a design study for the program which Thom needs as much feedback as possible to understand the need and ensure that everyone can easily access the program.
A survey has been launched on Thunder Bay’s Get Involved page.
On Sat. Jan, 18 Thom will be conducting a public engagement session at Intercity Mall to provide the public with more information and a paper copy of the survey.
Thom said the survey involves honing in on “what kind of financing mechanisms that people will be comfortable with accessing and what sort of things that they would like available through this loan program.”
Although the design study has yet to be completed, Thom stated that the loan program is going to “emulate” the Canada greener home loan program which allows homeowners to borrow` up to $40,000.
“The measures we're looking at are not cheap by any means, so we're looking at some sort of happy medium where it's not an ostentatious amount of money that we're allowing you to take out as a loan but it is a number that's gonna actually make a difference and help,” Thom said.
Council approved a net-zero strategy back in June 2021. The net-zero strategy set a target to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050.
A memorandum to implement a green development standard in Thunder Bay was presented to the city's EarthCare advisory committee on Wednesday.
The green development standard seeks to ensure that all new residential, commercial, and institutional buildings adhere “to a set of criteria that requires developers to design and construct buildings to higher standards than the minimums required by other legal imperatives such as the Ontario Building Code,” according to the memorandum.
If approved, Thom said the green development standard by-law would also ensure that homeowners won’t have to worry about retrofitting their buildings 20 years from now.
“The net zero strategy outlines that some sort of mechanism, like the loan that I'm putting together and possibly green development standards, should be put in as soon as possible because that 2050 goal is creeping up on us and hitting these incremental steps is really important, especially when you're looking at something as long-lasting as housing and infrastructure,” Thom said.
