Feds support Kingston home energy retrofit plan

KINGSTON, ONT.—The federal government has announced $15 million in spending to help implement a residential energy retrofit program in Kingston, Ont.

The allocation comes through the government’s Community Efficiency Financing initiative, stated a recent release.

Better Homes Kingston is a local improvement charge (LIC) financing program intended to encourage homeowners to undertake deep-energy retrofits.

In addition to the primary LIC model, the city will encourage utilities providers to offer financing and third-party lending from financial institutions as the program grows over its first few years to enable a long-term scale-up.

The program is expected to retrofit 25 to 50 per cent of Kingston’s pre-1991 single-family homes by 2040, achieving an average carbon-reduction impact of 30 per cent per home.

Better Homes Kingston will be launched in March and will be available to eligible properties across the city starting late spring of this year.

“Demonstrating leadership on climate action is a priority for the City of Kingston and our community,” stated Bryan Paterson, mayor of Kingston, in a statement. “Home improvements achieved through this program will lower community greenhouse gas emissions and bring us closer to our target of achieving carbon neutrality no later than 2040.”