Studying the feasibility of a neighbourhood approach to home energy retrofit financing in the City of Vernon

The study is supported by city council and the initiative aligns with the City of Vernon’s Climate Action Plan (2021), which calls for the creation of a building retrofit program and sets the goal to become a net zero emissions community by 2050.

The feasibility study will be led by HomeZERO Collective with support from the City of Vernon and a variety of external engineering, financial, legal, market research, and regional non-profit consultants. The primary aims of the study are as follows:

· Determine whether participating homes can achieve net zero emissions with cost-neutral retrofit packages: A team of technical consultants will complete modelling and on-site work on 20 representative homes in the pilot neighbourhood. This work will include home energy assessments; analyses of energy upgrade options such as air- and ground-source heat pumps, geoexchange and solar photovoltaic; cost estimates for labour, supplies and high-volume equipment purchases; a neighbourhood grid impact assessment; and the development of a catalogue of offerings suited to more than 70% of the city’s eligible housing stock.

· Solicit homeowner feedback on the envisioned program: A market research consultant will undertake in-depth homeowner surveys.

· Identify the most suitable financing model: Consultants will engage key stakeholders (the province, utilities, financial institutions) and undertake an options analysis of PACE (property assessed clean energy), utility on-bill and third-party financing.

It is estimated that the Neighbourhood Factory Model will reach 500–800 single family homes per neighbourhood, and that approximately 2,600 homes will participate over four years. This would result in energy savings and greenhouse gas emissions reductions of approximately 142,565 GJ per year and 2,298 tCO2e per year, respectively. It is also expected that by retrofitting a significant percentage of a neighbourhood together, project costs can be reduced by 30–40% through equipment costs savings and optimized installation work. Additional economic and social benefits include energy cost savings and a hedge against carbon taxes and increasing utility costs; improved home comfort and resiliency to climate change; and ongoing seminars held in participating neighbourhoods to educate residents on the impacts of climate change and the benefits, installation and management of home energy upgrades.

Innovative aspect(s):

This is a grassroots initiative with limited direct involvement of the municipality. Moreover, this study will demonstrate a unique technical approach to designing ambitious, cost-neutral and locally tailored retrofit bundles that can achieve net zero home emissions. If successful, this would be the first use of a neighbourhood approach to home energy retrofits in Canada.

Replicability:

If the Neighbourhood Factory Model can produce the expected economies-of-scale benefits that significantly reduce costs and increase participation, this initiative would provide valuable lessons learned and the model could be replicated by other communities with similar types of neighbourhoods. Additionally, the program’s atypical design means it will likely have to overcome distinct implementation challenges that would be of interest to other non-profits seeking to run a similar program on their own, without municipal or utility leadership. HomeZERO collective intends to share learnings with other interior B.C. communities and will seek to participate in FCM-led peer learning events.

(Project description from original funding application)