A turn-key home energy efficiency financing program for Yellowknife

The City of Yellowknife will complete a study to evaluate the feasibility of a turn-key residential energy-efficiency financing program. Although Yellowknife has some of the strictest building codes in Canada, much of its housing stock pre-dates those codes. The city was recently able to lobby for changes to the Northwest Territories’ Cities, Towns and Villages Act, which will allow it to finance residential energy efficiency retrofits with a Local Improvement Charge (LIC). The study seeks to address various existing barriers, including high upfront costs for energy improvements and a lack of quantitative real-time data on energy usage. Benefits of a successful program would include reduced energy consumption from residential buildings (target: 100 homes for a four-year program), increased accessibility of retrofit financing, and job creation for the region. The study will consult with key internal stakeholders including the departments of Public Works, Economic Development, Sustainability, Finance and Building Inspection. The municipality will then select a qualified external consultant to assist internal stakeholders in identifying project goals and their roles within key tasks. Key milestones of the study will include a landscape assessment, stakeholder engagement, determining a program approach, and implementation planning. The study is in line with the city’s Corporate and Community Energy Action Plan, 2015–2025, the territory’s 2030 Energy Strategy, and various federal climate policies and frameworks. Innovative aspect: If successful, this residential energy-efficiency financing program would be the first of its kind in the northern territories. Replicability: · As one of the largest municipalities in Canada’s north, Yellowknife’s energy plan is often used as a point of reference for other municipalities in the region · Yellowknife is currently working with QUEST Canada on its Smart Energy Community pilot program, and results of the study will be shared with the rest of the network through its program dashboard (Project description from original funding application)