April 28, 2022                                         Whitby, Ontario                                            Natural Resources Canada             

Helping Canadians upgrade their homes to be more energy-efficient fights climate change, creates good jobs and helps them save on their monthly bills.

Ryan Turnbull, Member of Parliament for Whitby, on behalf of the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Natural Resources, and Rory Nisan, Member of the Board of Directors of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and Councillor at the Regional Municipality of Halton, announced today a $3.4-million investment through the Community Efficiency Financing initiative to implement a home energy retrofit financing program in the Regional Municipality of Durham. The funding will go toward implementing the new Durham Greener Homes Program.

The Durham Greener Homes Program offers homeowners a home energy retrofit concierge service, which will provide access to a series of supporting services, including a home energy coach, an interactive web portal with personalized renovation roadmaps and rebates. The Program will also offer access to financing services from participating lenders, to assist homeowners with financing home energy upgrade projects.

The Durham Greener Homes Program will target single-family homes built between 1970 and 2000 (representing 46 percent of single-family homes in the Durham region) because these are understood to have high energy-saving potential. The program will support energy-efficiency upgrades such as high-efficiency heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment, thermal envelope upgrades, lighting upgrades and high-efficiency appliances. Additional eligible measures will include heat pump installation, renewable energy and energy storage systems, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, water conservation measures and indoor air quality measures. The Durham Greener Homes Program will be hosted by the Regional Municipality of Durham and administered by Windfall Ecology Centre.

The Community Efficiency Financing initiative is offered through the Green Municipal Fund (GMF) delivered by FCM and funded by the Government of Canada. CEF helps communities of all sizes implement innovative local financing programs that directly help homeowners cut their greenhouse gas emissions, make their homes more energy-efficient, comfortable and affordable, while creating local jobs and keeping the local economy moving.

This initiative is one of the ways GMF continues to build on its 20-year record of supporting transformative environmental initiatives at the community level. The Government of Canada has invested $1.65 billion in the GMF since its inception, enabling municipalities to support projects like this that leverage local resources to drive innovative solutions.