Achieving Rapid Decarbonisation of Canada’s Residential Sector Requires a Strategic Approach
Decarbonisation of Canada’s residential sector in line with our Paris Agreement will be challenging. Conventional decarbonisation strategies involve deep energy efficiency upgrades to the building envelope and adoption of low carbon heating systems such as electric heat pumps. However, past retrofit programs have failed to achieve either the rate of upgrades, or the size of energy savings required for this approach.
This study used a database of 38,607 home energy audits from the Waterloo Region to model the energy and emissions impacts of deep energy efficiency upgrades by date of home construction. Modeling demonstrated the greatest potential energy efficiency gains for homes built before 1940. Building envelope upgrades had diminishing returns for homes built between 1940 and 1980, with the lowest energy efficiency improvement potential found in homes built after 1980.
Furthermore, directly electrifying a home with heat pumps for space and water heating is the single most impactful measure examined for reducing emissions. Policies and programs should support direct electrification of all homes and target programs for building envelope upgrades to homes built before 1980 and especially before 1940. Such policies can accelerate decarbonisation efforts and maximize the energy, emissions and energy poverty impacts of limited retrofit resources.
This study used a database of 38,607 home energy audits from the Waterloo Region to model the energy and emissions impacts of deep energy efficiency upgrades by date of home construction. Modeling demonstrated the greatest potential energy efficiency gains for homes built before 1940. Building envelope upgrades had diminishing returns for homes built between 1940 and 1980, with the lowest energy efficiency improvement potential found in homes built after 1980.
Furthermore, directly electrifying a home with heat pumps for space and water heating is the single most impactful measure examined for reducing emissions. Policies and programs should support direct electrification of all homes and target programs for building envelope upgrades to homes built before 1980 and especially before 1940. Such policies can accelerate decarbonisation efforts and maximize the energy, emissions and energy poverty impacts of limited retrofit resources.