Thunder Bay community efficiency financing Feasibility Study

The City of Thunder Bay plans to undertake a study to evaluate the feasibility of a property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing program and compare different program delivery models. The most significant sources of greenhouse gas emissions in Thunder Bay are residential buildings, which accounted for 39% of all city-wide emissions in 2018. The city’s housing stock is predominantly composed of older dwellings built before 1980, which are substantial energy consumers. Home heating derived from natural gas is responsible for 94% of these residential emissions. In addition to assessing the feasibility of the PACE financing model, the study will include a high-level overview of alternative financing models should the city choose to transition to another model in the future. A landscape assessment will also allow the city to collect data to identify the highest-impact retrofit measures. A considerable number of internal and external stakeholder consultations will also be conducted, to build capacity for, interest in and commitment to eventual program implementation. The study will also explore how a financing program could be structured to support households currently living in energy poverty, which is about 26% of households in the community. Some program-design elements will also be studied, including the client application process and eligibility, standardized retrofit packages, incentive stacking, and program marketing and communications. This study aligns with Thunder Bay’s EarthCare Sustainability Plan, its Climate Adaptation Strategy and the Community Energy & Emissions Plan that was presented to Council in January 2021. Program benefits: The city estimates that 250 single-family detached dwellings could be retrofitted in the initial rollout of the program, 100 of which would also install a five-kilowatt solar photovoltaic (PV) system. The city projects that this would result in annual reductions in energy-use of 818,853 GJ and 26,845 tCO2e tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions (excluding solar PV installations). Other environmental and social benefits include increased resilience to extreme weather, increased resilience to power outages, reduced waste (from longer building lifespans), improved public health from cleaner air, improved water conservation and reduced energy poverty. From an economic standpoint, a deep home energy retrofit program can also have a major impact on employment, as retrofit projects generate jobs for architects, designers, engineers and construction workers. Moreover, by prioritizing local and sustainable materials (such as wood), retrofit activities can also help stimulate local supply chains. Innovative aspect(s): · Exploring program delivery options, including the consideration of a municipal-led program versus a third-party delivery agent · Recognition of the unique needs of homeowners, as well as the high rate of energy poverty in the community and the need to design an inclusive program Replicability: As part of this study, the project team will host a regional retrofit workshop aimed at engaging the building community, homeowners and Indigenous communities throughout Northwestern Ontario, with the aim of promoting retrofits for energy efficiency, highlighting best practices and sharing success stories from within the region. The overarching goals of this workshop are to initiate the conversation around the benefits of retrofitting homes and to serve as a starting point for capacity-building within the region. (Project description from original funding application)