Windsor's key strategy to reduce emissions 'too costly' without financial help

City staff in Windsor, Ont., say a low interest loan program homeowners could use to make their house more energy efficient is too expensive for the city to implement.

Council told staff in 2018 to create a program that would help 80 per cent of the city's homes become up to 50 per cent more energy efficient by 2041.

But a report to council now finds completing the goal of retrofitting 57,200 homes would take 100 years based on uptake in other retrofit programs.  

The program is pitched in Windsor's Community Energy Plan as the most effective way to cut energy consumption and community-wide greenhouse gas emissions.

That's because 21 percent of community-wide emissions are from heating, cooling and powering houses that are on average 20 years older than Ontario's average. 

But after years of study and design work, senior administration say the Windsor Residential Deep Energy Efficiency Retrofit (R-DEER) program is too expensive to implement and unlikely to achieve the initial target.

Windsor's Citizens Environment Alliance says not moving forward with the program would leave the city's climate-action efforts "in shambles."

How the program would work 

The R-DEER plan staff developed would let homeowners borrow between $10,000 and $40,000, depending on the value of their home, to cover energy efficient upgrades with a low interest rate.

Some examples of projects the money could be spent on include energy efficient windows and doors, better insulation, and electric vehicle charging stations.

Homes would need to be at least 20 years old with a creditworthy homeowner.

City staff previously said the average home in Windsor was built in the 1960s and uses 20 per cent more energy than the average home in Ontario. 

The proposed program would offer energy coaches that would guide people through financing and program options. 

The city could also offer a grant to pay for energy audits to help owners understand the potential benefits of upgrades while reducing upfront costs.

People could use a Local Improvement Charge to pay for the retrofits, which is a loan tied to the property and repaid through property taxes. 

How much it would cost 

In the report to council, administration lays out a 10-year funding model aimed at making 80 per cent of Windsor homes 50 per cent more energy efficient. 

The total cost would be $200-million, with $154-million over those 10 years being loans for work that the city is expected to recover. 

However, Windsor's city treasurer Janice Guthrie warns the loans would require a partnership with a financial institution and would then be considered debt.

"That would really put a stranglehold on anything else we would be wanting to do in terms of capital projects for the city," said Guthrie. 

"Some of those could be at jeopardy of not being able to move forward."

Administrating the plan would require 10 full-time equivalent jobs a few years after launching the program, according to the report to council. 

Meeting initial goal would take 100 years

Staff also write that getting the uptake required to meet the emission and energy consumption targets set by council "will be extremely challenging."

"Our findings suggest that accelerating the rate of deep retrofits in Windsor (and Canada) will require substantial investments from federal and provincial governments," wrote a consultant in a market validation study.

"Windsor is currently on track to miss the climate targets set out in its Community Energy Plan and will struggle to meet them without further investment in residential deep retrofit incentive programs like Canada Greener Homes."

Meeting Windsor's 2041 climate targets would require 80 per cent of homes in the city become more energy efficient, but the market validation study found it's likely it would only see 10 per cent of homes retrofitted using the program in that timeline. 

The study found there are enough contractors to complete the work in the launch of the program, however, also found the proposed uptake was "overly aggressive, as they overestimated participation when compared with utility and government retrofit programs."

"Even if we were to execute the program in its entirety," said commissioner of economic development Jelena Payne.

"We would still not be able to meet the targets that have been identified by upper levels of government and city council."

Citizens group, councillor want the program implemented

Derek Coronado, the executive director of Citizens Environment Alliance Southwestern Ontario, said the program should be supported by council to help people take action in a climate crisis.

He said the city has great plans but they need to be acted on to see results

"The city has not followed through on the important things of taking climate action seriously and that means implementing the stages of your plan that you need to implement," said Coronado. 

He said the program, if implemented, would create work for contractors and should be looked at as an economic development tool as well as a way to slow climate change.

"Time and time again administration reports have said the most costly aspect of climate change is deferring, delaying or not dealing with climate change up front," said Coronado.

"That's exactly what the city has been doing. It's actually kicking the cost down the road."

Staff are asking council to receive the report and not implement the program but instead ask the federal government for more money to help cover costs. 

Coun. Kieran McKenzie chaired the council committee that discussed the report on Wednesday and opposed that motion. 

He highlighted how the program has been identified by staff as "fundamental to the success" of the city's climate action plans. 

"We don't have other plans to get closer that I see to achieving our climate change goals," he said. 

"We often don't make the hard decisions, and this is a hard one."

City council is expected to review the report at an upcoming meeting.