Photo courtesy of © Can Stock Photo / tombaky.Photo courtesy of © Can Stock Photo / tombaky.
Windsor

Major effort needed to retrofit Windsor homes and meet climate targets

One-quarter of total greenhouse emissions in Windsor comes from our homes.

Supervisor of Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change, Karina Richters admitted addressing that will not be easy. Still, if the city is serious about meeting its climate change targets, home retrofits need a long look.

City council has agreed to cut yearly emissions by 760,000 tonnes. If 80 per cent of homes in Windsor underwent a retrofit by 2041, the city would see a reduction of 235,000 tonnes annually.

© Can Stock Photo / Elenathewise © Can Stock Photo / Elenathewise

Part of the problem is the average home here is much older than elsewhere in the province.

"The average age of the homes in Windsor is 1955 compared to the provincial average of 1974," explained Richters. "A lot of the homes that are here were built basically, before building code required energy efficiencies like insulation and certain standards for windows and doors."

Green energy retrofits are nothing new, but when asked why more homeowners have not undergone them, Richters said two answers stood out.

"One was they didn't have the capital to do the improvements, or they didn't know if they were going to live in the home long enough to see the payback," she said.

One answer is to apply the cost of a renovation to a homeowner's property taxes. However, a new entity, similar to a utility, would be needed to manage the program.

A future report to the council will look at risks and the benefits of setting up a new corporation to oversee residential deep energy efficiency retrofits.

Richters estimates if 80 per cent of homeowners signed up, the costs of the work per home could be cut by a third.

A report to a city standing committee said the Windsor community spent $842 million on energy in 2014, and without a concerted effort, those costs will go up to between $1.8 billion and $3.1 billion a year by 2041.

Read More Local Stories