Climate-Friendly Home Upgrades

Making your home more energy efficient will lower the emissions that contribute to climate change

A climate-friendly home is one that has been built or retrofitted to maximize energy efficiency and reduce energy demand, resulting in lower carbon emissions. There are several things you can do—from adding insulation and draft-proofing windows and doors, to upgrading heating/cooling systems and installing heat pumps, to switching to low-carbon sources of energy. These actions will increase efficiency and keep your home comfortable in the summer and cozy in the winter. And, making upgrades to your home can save you money—now and in the future.

Rebates and various supports are available to make your upgrades more affordable. Read on to learn how you can make a difference and save on your monthly heating and cooling bills.

BC Home Energy Planner

The BC Home Energy Planner is a free service that helps you understand and improve the energy efficiency of your home. The Planner estimates your home energy use and recommends ways to make your home more comfortable.

Energy Coach services

A free Energy Coach service is available through the CleanBC Better Homes program. Energy Coaches can provide advice on rebate programs and home upgrades. They also provide the services in Cantonese, Mandarin, Punjabi and Farsi.
For information on the hours and contact information about the Energy Coach services, please visit Energy Coach service.

Available rebates and loans

CleanBC Better Homes and Home Renovation Rebate Program offers eligible residents up to $14,000 for improving home energy efficiency through selected upgrades. Rebate amounts vary depending on the type of upgrades. For more information on the rebate, contact an Energy Coach.
CleanBC Energy Saving Program offers enhanced rebates to eligible residents, making energy-saving home upgrades more affordable. For more information on program eligibility, please contact an Energy Saving Program Energy Coach by email at [email protected] or by phone at 1-833-856-0333.
Canada Greener Home Initiative offers a variety of programs, including interest-free financing, to help Canadians enhance home energy efficiency. The loan amount is based on the scale and the value of the proposed upgrades. For more information about the loan, visit Canada Greener Homes Loan.

The Strata Energy Advisor (SEA) Program offers free, one-on-one support and a customized retrofit plan to help you:

Compare your building’s retrofit options
Align upgrades with climate and comfort goals
Move forward with confidence

Talk to an advisor and take the first step—Visit Strata Energy Advisor.

Is your strata looking into both electric vehicle (EV) charging and heat pumps, but not sure if there’s enough electrical demand? Check out this resource on electrical planning reports.

BOMA BC has introduced a 3-year program assisting building owners and managers in identifying and reducing GHG emissions and improving overall building efficiency. The program offers a suite of services including:

A dedicated Decarb Program Manager/Engineer
A decarbonization roadmap
Building operator training and other support resources

Learn more about the program at boma.bc.ca.

The Landlord BC Rental Apartment Retrofit Accelerator (RARA) program is offering free comprehensive retrofit supports to rental apartment building owners. The program is a one-stop-shop experience that provides:

Coaching support
Energy studies
Implementation support

Retrofit-Support-and-Incentive-Programs-for-Market-Rental-Buildings.pdf

Learn more about the program at landlordbc.ca/rara.

BC Non-Profit Housing Association (BCNPHA) is participating in the BC Retrofit Accelerator Program and provides a number of retrofit resources to support low-carbon and energy efficiency upgrades, including:

Financing
Retrofit coaching
Retrofit programs

Learn more about these services and programs at bcnpha.ca.

What are climate-friendly home upgrades?

There are many ways to make your home more comfortable and climate friendly, ranging from simple behaviour changes to more significant upgrades, replacements and retrofits.

Behaviour changes—programming thermostats, turning down the heat at night or when you are out.
Minor upgrades—replacing or adding insulation, draft-proofing leaky doors and windows, switching to energy-efficient lighting, buying energy-efficient appliances.
Major upgrades—replacing doors and windows, updating inefficient heating and cooling systems, installing a heat pump.
Deep retrofits—reconfiguring interior and mechanical systems.

Making energy-efficiency retrofits not only lowers emissions, it has other health and economic benefits as well. For example:

Comfort—Creating an airtight, insulated building envelope and installing an energy-efficient cooling and heating system will keep your home comfortable all year round.
Health—Improving insulation and draft-proofing, and installing an energy-efficient ventilation system can help improve indoor air quality.
Energy efficiency—Upgrading and optimizing energy systems ensures they are properly sized to reduce system redundancy or overload.
Business and job opportunities—retrofitting helps support the local economy and create job opportunities.
Cost savings—Energy-efficiency upgrades can reduce home heating and cooling costs in the long term. Fuel switching from fossil fuel to electricity can save on carbon tax.

Simple behaviour changes can have an immediate payback. Turning off lights and turning down the thermostat when you’re sleeping or away from home can reduce your energy costs. Other upgrades, such as draft-proofing your home or installing a heat pump, will require you to spend money initially, but the payback will come over time in the form of lower energy bills. You may also be able to reduce the up-front costs of your energy-efficiency upgrades through provincial rebate and federal loan programs.

Switching your home heating from a gas furnace to an electric heat pump will eliminate the carbon tax charged on your home-heating fuels.

Heat pumps are currently one of the most energy-efficient systems available for space heating and cooling. Heat pumps use electricity to move heat from one place to another. In the winter, a heat pump transfers heat from the outside air to the indoors through a cycle of compression and expansion of a refrigerant. In the summer, it operates in reverse and transfers heat from inside your home to the outdoors, like an air conditioner. Many heat pumps have the added benefit of also dehumidifying, providing healthy air flow and filtering the air, which makes regulating indoor air quality more manageable during wildfire events.

Check out this video to learn about how a heat pump works.

Watch video: BCIT—Zero Energy Buildings for a Complex World

To learn more about installing a heat pump in your home, this Air-Source Heat Pump Retrofit bulletin provides guidance to homeowners and contractors on the City’s requirements.

Upgrading the energy efficiency of your home can be a complex process to navigate. The energy coaching services is a free service catering to homeowners, commercial building owners/managers. Energy Coaches are trained experts in energy efficiency and can help you understand how to make your home or building more energy efficient. They are there to answer your questions at every step of your upgrade process.

Did you know?

Emissions from buildings make up 39% of Burnaby’s total GHG emissions—the largest single source of emissions in the city.
Most of the energy consumed in our homes is used to power space and water heating systems. These systems account for 85% of all energy used and 77% of carbon emissions from buildings.
The majority of buildings in Burnaby are between 10 and 70 years old, and most were not originally constructed with energy efficiency in mind.