Energy efficient machines qualify for $200 rebates
This article was written by Marco Chown Oved and was published in the Toronto Star on November 20, 2025.
New appliances use so much less energy than old ones the province will soon pay Ontarians hundreds of dollars to upgrade in order to reduce pressure on the provincial energy grid.
This fall, cheques for $200 will start being sent out to people who upgrade their refrigerator, freezer or laundry machines to models that are energy efficient, Energy Minister Stephen Lecce announced Wednesday.
“By expanding Ontario’s energy savings programs to include energy efficient appliances, families save money and Ontario saves power — the ultimate winwin,” he said in a statement.
To meet demand for electricity that is projected to skyrocket by 75 per cent by 2050, the province has started construction on the first new nuclear reactors in more than 30 years.
But with long construction timelines the Progressive Conservatives have also brought in a suite of energy efficiency programs to slow that demand growth down.
When he was elected in 2018, Premier Doug Ford cancelled the previous government’s energy savings programs.
The province’s Home Renovation Savings Program offers homeowners thousands of dollars in rebates to upgrade windows, doors and insulation, or to install rooftop solar or a heat pump.
Administered by Enbridge Gas, the provincial program has become less attractive since the federal government cancelled its energy efficiency program, which allowed homeowners to double their rebates.
The province said its program has eliminated 226 megawatts of electricity demand during peak periods.
Ontario also has the Peak Perks program, which pays people who sign up to have their air conditioning turned down remotely when demand soars, and other industrial programs that subsidize large scale upgrades in energy efficiency for businesses. Taken together, the programs will cost $10.9 billion and aim to eliminate 3,000 megawatts of demand by 2036 — the equivalent of three million homes.
This is projected to create savings of $23.1 billion in avoided upgrades to the grid that would have otherwise been necessary, the Energy Ministry said in a release.
With the refurbishments of Bruce and Darlington nuclear plants ongoing, the costs of expanding Ontario’s grid are only starting to be added to hydro bills. Residential hydro rates went up 29 per cent on Nov. 1, though the hike was mostly hidden by a near doubling of the Ontario Electricity Rebate, which subsidizes bills with taxpayer funds.
The province now spends an estimated $8.5 billion annually to artificially lower electricity costs for residents.
Green Party leader Mike Schreiner welcomed the appliance rebates, saying he’s been calling for them for years to help people save money by saving energy, but questioned the electricity rebates, since they disproportionately go to the wealthy, who consume more power.
Ontario’s energy saving programs will cost $10.9 billion and aim to eliminate 3,000 megawatts of demand by 2036 — the equivalent of three million homes
Why would Enbridge be chosen by Doug Ford’s government to administer the Canada Greener Homes Grant program?
It’s like having the fox look after the henhouse.
This is a program to help homeowners retrofit their homes to make them more energy efficient and reduce their carbon pollution by switching gas furnaces to heat pumps. Enbridge doesn’t make their money from the gas itself but by maintaining and expanding their distribution network. If an Enbridge customer no longer uses gas and disconnects from their network, that’s one less customer paying Enbridge for their infrastructure maintenance and expansion costs.
Ditto for new customers in new housing developments currently “forced” to connect to Enbridge’s distribution network. Why not have the Independent Electricity System Operator or Ontario Power Generation administer such home retrofit programs, or municipalities such as the City of Toronto that have ambitious climate action plans they want to implement? These entities would clearly have no conflict of interest or bias.
Tell your MPP to replace Enbridge as the administrator of the current and any future home retrofit programs.
Enbridge warns homeowners of higher bills, but experts say assumptions behind data misleading
This article was written by Marco Chown Oved and was published in the Toronto Star on October 12, 2025.
When Emily Hunter decided to ditch her furnace and get a heat pump, she figured she would dramatically cut her personal carbon emissions and save money on her monthly bills.
After all, multiple studies carried out by governments, nonprofits and academics have shown that thanks to their great efficiency, heat pumps are cheaper to run than furnaces, even when electricity is more expensive than natural gas.
So when Hunter received an email this summer from the gas company saying her heat pump would cost her more than a furnace, she was confused.
The email highlighted how Prime Minister Mark Carney’s decision to cancel the federal carbon charge (FCC) in March has altered the economics of electrification. Natural gas is undoubtedly cheaper now that there isn’t a 15 cent per cubic metre carbon tax added on top. But the question remains whether that change has reduced the cost of running a furnace enough so that electric heat pumps are more expensive.
Enbridge certainly thinks so. “The Federal Carbon Charge (FCC) under the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act has been set to zero. This action has changed the cost spread between natural gas and electricity significantly. As a result, this changes the economics of electric heat pump operation,” Enbridge states on its website.
“Natural gas customers who have installed or are planning to install an electric heat pump for space heating may experience increases in their home’s total energy bills.”
Hunter was particularly irked by the email because Enbridge sent it out to thousands of Ontarians who were planning to install heat pumps and had applied for a provincial rebate, which is administered by the natural gas distribution company. “I feel like they’re seeding doubt wherever they can to the homeowner,” she said.
Hunter, who works for an environmental nonprofit, believes there’s a conflict of interest in having a gas company run a program that helps people get off natural gas and this email shows the company is not impartial.
Linked to the email is a table on Enbridge’s website that compares the costs of running four types of heat sources: a heat pump running at 200 per cent efficiency, a heat pump at 400 per cent efficiency, an older 90 per cent efficient furnace, and a newer 98.5 per cent efficient furnace.
The table shows the cost of running both furnaces is about half the cost of running the heat pump at low efficiency, and only a few dollars more expensive than a heat pump running at high efficiency.
Experts say the table is deceiving and the assumptions behind the numbers are unrealistic.
“This chart is intentionally misleading,” said Keith Brooks, programs director at Environmental Defence. “They’ve cherrypicked some arbitrary numbers here that would lead a person to believe that a heat pump is much more expensive to run.”
In 2023, Environmental Defence filed a false advertising complaint against Enbridge for distributing a similar price comparison chart on flyers in communities that were being connected to the natural gas system.
The charts made it appear that gas was the cheapest way to heat your home. The Competition Bureau has launched a formal investigation, which is ongoing.
Enbridge Gas spokesperson Chloe Mills said the company is aware of the Competition Bureau complaint and “stand(s) by the integrity of our communications.”
The elimination of the federal carbon tax “has had a direct impact on the operating cost of home heating, and it’s important that customers understand how these changes could impact household energy costs,” she wrote in an email.
“To provide clear, accurate information regarding the possible impact, Enbridge Gas took steps to make natural gas consumers aware of the potential for higher energy costs when utilizing a heat pump, based on the current fuel cost spread.”
Bryan Purcell, vicepresident of policy and programs at The Atmospheric Fund, an organization that promotes and finances emission reductions in the GTA, said the business case for a heat pump is more challenging now that the carbon tax is gone.
“But it’s misleading to say that an airsource heat pump will always cost more,” he added.
The electricity rate used to calculate the cost of running a heat pump is also “a bit high,” he added, saying 12.4 cents per kilowatt hour is a higher average price than any of the different rate plans available to Toronto Hydro customers.
Lastly, the table leaves out the fixed customer charges added to bills.
In response to questions about the chart, Mills wrote the prices cited are “a reasonable proxy for many consumers.”
Purcell says there are many ways a homeowner can maximize their savings with a heat pump that aren’t contemplated in the comparison, including using a timer to take advantage of timeofday electricity prices, and by switching to an electric water heater and stove to also eliminate the fees on the natural gas bill.
Purcell isn’t the only one to have found heat pumps retain their cost advantage.
The provincial government’s own Pathways report, which was released after the carbon tax was cancelled, found that electrification would reduce a household’s energy bills by 47 per cent by 2050.
While their purchase price is higher than a furnace, heat pumps have been found to operate more cheaply, saving the average household $500 per year. With the carbon tax removed, experts expect that difference to be smaller, maybe even resulting in equal bills, but they do not expect furnaces to become cheaper to operate.
Jana Elbrecht, a policy adviser with Clean Energy Canada, which has produced an online calculator for the carbon and dollar savings from electrification available at mycleanbill.ca, said: “If it comes out to the same price, I think we can question Enbridge’s intentions in sending out that email dissuading people from adopting a heat pump.”
Elbrecht says she plugged Enbridge’s numbers into their calculator and found that a homeowner would pay $18 more per month to run a heat pump in Ontario. But that would be more than cancelled out by eliminating the $26.74 monthly customer charge on all Enbridge bills.
Still, this is in stark contrast to the $19 monthly savings that the calculator had previously found for a heat pump.
Cost is important, but there are other benefits that heat pumps provide that furnaces don’t, like air conditioning, and a quieter, more consistent climate control, said Michelle Hjort, an energy adviser who helps homeowners navigate the complex subsidy programs.
The federal government’s Greener Home Grants, which provided up to $5,000 for energyefficient renovations ran out last year. Ontario’s provincial rebate, which is run by Enbridge, also cut off some homeowners midrenovation until the Star highlighted the issue and the company reversed course.
The federal government continues to offer zero interest loans of up to $40,000 for green renovations. Enbridge launched a new Home Renovation Savings program in January, which offers rebates of up to $12,000.
Enbridge Gas has a monopoly on natural gas distribution in Ontario, but does not make money by marking up the price of gas. Instead, their business relies on building and maintaining the natural gas distribution network, and charging customers fees for that.
“ (The) chart is intentionally misleading. They’ve cherrypicked some arbitrary numbers here that would lead a person to believe that a heat pump is much more expensive to run.”
ENVIRONMENT DEFENCE’S KEITH BROOKS ON ENBRIDGE’S CHART THAT COMPARES COSTS OF RUNNING FOUR TYPES OF HEAT SOURCES
This article was written by Matthew McClearn and was published in the Globe & Mail on September 11, 2025.
Nova Scotia Power demonstrated “a lack of urgency” in meeting provincial standards for electricity service reliability, its regulator has found, after the electrical utility failed to achieve those standards for the eighth year in a row.
The Nova Scotia Energy Board fined the power utility $1million on Wednesday for its performance in 2024. The board expressed concern over Nova Scotia Power’s position that it doesn’t expect to meet the standards until 2029, and also its “apparent reluctance to move beyond frequent referral to weather conditions” when explaining its failures, which raised doubts about its commitment to improvement.
“Progress has been lagging,” the regulator concluded. “More needs to be done and with greater urgency. … It is not acceptable that non-compliance of the performance standards has become a normal occurrence for NS Power.”
The board introduced reliability requirements for Nova Scotia Power in 2017. In particular, it set targets for industrystandard reliability metrics such as System Average Interruption Frequency Index, or SAIFI, which measures the average number of outages customers experience each year; and System Average Interruption Duration Index, or SAIDI, which represents the total duration of outages experienced by the average customer during the year. Deteriorating SAIFI and SAIDI can be early indicators that a utility is underinvesting in reliability.
Last year, Nova Scotia Power’s SAIDI was 5.26, meaning, on average, its customers experienced power outages lasting a total of five hours and 16 minutes in 2024. (The target is 4.29.)
“SAIDI has generally gotten worse in recent years and failed the standard again in 2024, having not satisfied the target since 2020,” the regulator observed in its decision.
However, Nova Scotia Power met 12 of the 14 targets. For example, it achieved all customer-service targets, which include the percentage of calls answered within 30 seconds and connection times for new customers.
Advocates for Nova Scotia’s small businesses and consumers slammed the company’s performance in submissions to the regulator earlier this year. Melissa MacAdam, a lawyer with the firm Blackburn Law who represents small businesses, said the missed SAIDI target was of the greatest concern.
“Longer duration outages directly affect small businesses through the loss of revenue and inventory, equipment damage, overall productivity etc.,” she wrote.
David Roberts, a lawyer with Halifax-based firm Pink Larkin who represents the interests of consumers, called for penalties while criticizing Nova Scotia Power’s arguments for lowering the provincial standards.
“Further incentives are clearly needed,” Mr. Roberts wrote. In its own assessment of its 2024 performance, Nova Scotia Power congratulated itself on its best reliability showing since 2005, and said it beat the national average for outage duration and frequency.
“These results demonstrate that while there is more to do, the Company’s focus on removing trees from rights-of-way, storm hardening the system (i.e. equipment replacements and upgrades) and modernizing the grid is helping to prevent outages.”
The utility said it was hiring more field staff and spending more on cutting back vegetation along its rights-of-way. Newly installed poles will be larger and stronger than their predecessors, capable of withstanding gusts of 110 kilometres an hour.
Citing its strained financial position, Nova Scotia Power asked that the board not levy an administrative penalty.
This article was written by David Israelson and was published in the Globe & Mail on May 20, 2025.
40NetZero is a seven-million-square-foot industrial campus, roughly the size of 120 football fields, located in Montreal’s East End.
Sustainable property is the largest of its kind in North America
Amassive industrial development in Montreal’s East End is aiming to make its mark by becoming North America’s largest net-zero industrial campus.
The designers and builders of 40NetZero, the forthcoming seven-million-square-foot property, say they tick all the boxes when it comes to sustainability. Not only is the project powered by clean energy – it also features solar panels over carports and planted areas for rainwater management.
Developing this ambitious project comes as Canada works toward its goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and toward an interim target of cutting emissions 20 per cent from 2005 levels by next year.
In his government’s recent election platform, Prime Minister Mark Carney –a long-time climate advocate – promised to build a national net-zero, cleanenergy electricity grid by 2035. This is all happening amid uncertainty in the U.S., where President Donald Trump’s administration is rolling back a number of climate and clean-energy initiatives that affect the construction sector.
FORGING AHEAD WITH NET ZERO
Despite U.S. backlash against climate initiatives, Robert Soldera, one of 40NetZero’s owners and an owner of general contractor Loracon Construction Inc., says his team is taking a long-term view of the new industrial park.
Regardless of political changes, he says climate risks are still a reality and that the project offers a unique competitive advantage by allowing companies to lease space that helps them reach their own emissions-reduction targets.
“We did the research and there’s nothing else of its type on the continent,” Mr. Soldera says. “We started assembling the property in 2015, with the aim of building a site that won’t just be a simple industrial park.”
The property, a remediated site that was once occupied by chemical manufacturer and material sciences company Dow Chemical Co., was decontaminated prior to its redevelopment and is roughly the size of 48 Costco stores– or 120 football fields.
Once complete, it will feature solar-powered lighting, green space between buildings, windows designed to minimize bird strikes and a shipping area canopy that shelters loading and unloading from inclement weather.
“We didn’t want it to just be a simple industrial park. We wanted to build a campus based on sustainability,” says Julie Larocque, 40NetZero’s project director. “Every aspect has been planned to meet not only the current demands of businesses, but to anticipate and fulfill their future sustainability needs.”
While the project’s first phase of construction was finished in January, it will take another seven to 10 years to fully complete. However, the developers have already secured their first major tenant, pharmaceutical distributor McKesson Canada, which is leasing 400,000 square feet.
THE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE OF BUILDING SUSTAINABLY
Although building to net-zero standards costs 12 per cent to 18 per cent more than conventional methods, Ms. Larocque says the project’s energy and operating costs are 36 per cent lower than comparable buildings using less efficient insulation and fossilfuel-powered energy systems.
However, reaching net-zero milestones can be complicated and time-consuming. They require developers to build energyefficient properties using sustainable materials and for buildings to have reasonable operating costs, says Fernando Lozano, chief executive and managing principal of GKC Architecture and Design, the firm that designed 40NetZero.
“We’ve used recycled construction materials that have low embodied emissions when they’re created but high levels of insulation when they’re installed in the roofs and walls,” Mr. Lozano says.
While sustainable building materials are important, Marie-Anne Legault, GKC Architecture and Design’s associate and project director, says they should also be durable. “You want building materials that are going to last for at least 30 years, which is typically two long-term lease periods,” she says.
The entire 40NetZero project is heated through Quebec’s hydroelectric power and renewable energy sources, rather than by carbon-emitting natural gas.
“The insulation and clean energy heating is added value in Montreal, which is one of the coldest cities in North America,” Ms. Larocque explains.
TACKLING ESG BACKLASH
Aiming for net-zero buildings can be an uphill battle amid corporate and political backlash against environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives, says Tonya Lagrasta, Colliers Canada’s global head of sustainability.
In the U.S., President Trump has signed a number of executive orders to kill ESG policies, and his administration is pressing global organizations such as the International Energy Agency to abandon their work on net zero.
Environmental advocates fear a spillover into Canada and other countries, though Mr. Carney has a strong record of supporting climate initiatives in his previous roles as a central banker, executive and United Nations climate official.
“The reality is that with the pushback, we’re not going to make as much progress decarbonizing as many of us hoped for,” Ms. Lagrasta says. “The other reality is that physical climate risk is going up. When you have once-in-100-year floods occurring several times in one year, they’re not 100-year floods any more.”
Climate change can put new net-zero projects such as 40NetZero at an advantage, Ms. Lagrasta says. It can be more complicated to retrofit older, existing sites than to start from scratch, and many companies are interested in leasing net-zero buildings to help them meet their corporate climate targets.
As property designers are more attuned to net-zero needs, it is also becoming easier for builders to access materials such as lowercarbon concrete, Ms. Lagrasta says.
OVERCOMING OBSTACLES
Despite 40NetZero’s massive size, Ms. Lagrasta does not believe there’s added risk in relation to the property’s scale. “In fact, you can probably negotiate some competitive pricing for construction materials,” she says.
Ironically, one of the biggest obstacles to getting new net-zero industrial projects off the ground is not regulatory backlash, but bureaucracy and red tape, Mr. Soldera says.
“We see this at all levels of government across Canada,” he explains. “It’s not necessarily the officials’ fault – they’re understaffed. But it creates problems when a developer is ready to put forward the resources to build a large sustainable project, and the approval process takes so long that the market shifts.”
40NetZero’s creators aim to overcome this by thinking about their project’s viability as Canada moves toward its net-zero goal.
“The environment is in trouble and that’s not a faraway thing,” Ms. Lagrasta says.
Program to cover up to 30% of energysaving renovations starting Jan. 28
This article was written by Kristin Rushowy and was published in the Toronto Star on January 8, 2025.
The province is promising dollars for doors, windows, smart thermostats and other energysaving upgrades as part of a new home renovation rebate program.
Energy Minister Stephen Lecce — who announced the initiative Tuesday alongside wellknown contractor and TV host Mike Holmes at a Scarborough building supplies store — said the program will cover up to 30 per cent of costs for consumers starting Jan. 28.
Energy efficient appliances such as refrigerators and freezers will be added to the program later this year, he added.
“What sets this program apart is its simplicity and its scope because, unlike programs of the past, this rebate will be available to all homeowners, regardless of how they heat their homes,” Lecce said, meaning those using propane or oil will be included.
“And families will receive a service commitment that all rebates must be paid on time, within 60 days after a complete program application is approved — and the savings can be significant,” he said.
The Ontario Home Renovation Savings Program could mean rebates of up to $8,900 for insulation, as much as $5,000 for rooftop solar panels, $600 for a home energy assessment and $100 for each new window or door.
“For years I’ve been telling everyone out there, you need to work from the outside in if you want to renovate your home, not the inside out,” said Holmes, who is president and founder of Holmes Group.
“I think we’re stepping in the right direction of helping homeowners do it right the first time.”
Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said the Ford government cancelled energy efficiency programs after taking office and “it’s unfortunate that people have had to wait six long years for this government to act, because home retrofits like heat pumps, solar panels or even just new windows and doors help Ontarians save money every single day.”
Schreiner said the $7 billion the government spends annually on subsidizing Ontarians’ electricity bills should instead be targeted to lower and middleincome earners for home upgrades.
Lecce also announced an expansion of a program that will give small businesses additional funds for taking part in Peak Perks, a program that temporarily adjusts thermostats during high demand periods during hot summer days
Tuesday’s announcement was part of a $10.9billion spending commitment over the next 12 years to help with energy efficiency.
Lecce said government energy efficiency programs are expected to save the equivalent of taking three million homes off the grid over the next decade.
Ford government cancelled previous energy rebate program in 2018
This article was written by Allison Jones of the Canadian Press and was published by CBC News on January 7, 2025.
How Ontario’s new home renovation savings program will work
The Ford government is set to offer rebates for home renovations and new appliances to improve energy efficiency in Ontario homes. As CBC’s Lane Harrison explains, this is part of a new home renovation savings program.
Ontario is introducing two new energy efficiency programs, including one offering rebates for certain home improvements.
The Home Renovation Savings Program, launching Jan. 28, will rebate homeowners up to 30 per cent of the cost of energy efficiency renovations and improvements, such as new windows, doors, insulation, air sealing, smart thermostats, heat pumps, and rooftop solar panels and battery storage systems.
The province is also expanding the residential Peak Perks program to small businesses, giving them a $75 virtual prepaid credit card for each eligible smart thermostat connected to a central air conditioning system or heat pump unit, and another $20 for each additional year in the program.
Energy Minister Stephen Lecce said the home renovation program will mean both upfront and long-term savings for Ontarians.
“A family … looking to keep themselves warm over the winter by upgrading their insulation, their windows and doors, they’d receive a rebate of up to $8,900 for insulation, and $100 for every door, for every window that they will replace,” he said at a news conference.
“Take for example a homeowner that invests $15,000 in a new heat pump. They could see a $4,500 rebate up front, while benefiting from an ongoing savings of up to 50 per cent on their heating portion of the electricity bill.”
The home renovation program is similar to one the Progressive Conservative government cancelled in 2018, though Lecce says it is different because more homeowners will qualify and the new program has a longer commitment.
Ontario Energy Minister, pictured in the middle, says: ‘A family … looking to keep themselves warm over the winter by upgrading their insulation, their windows and doors, they’d receive a rebate of up to $8,900 for insulation, and $100 for every door, for every window that they will replace.’ (John Sandeman/CBC)
The government says that under the new energy efficiency plan involving the two new and 12 continuing programs, spending will be about $900 million per year on average over 12 years, compared to an annual budget of $342 million on average over the past 13 years.
The new home renovation program and the new Peak Perks for small business program will cost about $60 million and $18 million per year, respectively, for the first few years, the government said.
Programs are ‘crucial investment’: Lecce
In response to projections from the Independent Electricity System Operator showing electricity demand sharply rising over the next few decades, the province is looking to build new power generation, but Lecce also touted an electricity sector maxim that the cheapest source of generation is conservation — generation that doesn’t need to get built at all.
“Not only are these programs going to help put more money in your pockets, it is also a crucial investment in the future of our grid,” he said.
“With greater pressure being placed on the province’s grid, energy efficiency programs are an opportunity to mitigate demand without compromising affordability.”
Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said energy efficiency programs like the ones announced Tuesday are great, and they would have been even better if they hadn’t been cancelled six years ago.
“It’s unfortunate that people have had to wait six long years for this government to act because home retrofits like heat pumps, solar panels or even just new windows and doors help Ontarians save money every single day,” Schreiner wrote in a statement.
Clean Energy Canada said the new home renovation program is a “monumental step in the right direction.”
“Rebates … can substantially reduce their upfront price for households, making cost-saving technology more affordable and accessible than ever,” clean economy program manager Ollie Sheldrick-Moyle wrote in a statement.
“We also applaud the fact that a number of major upgrades listed, including cold-climate heat pumps, can receive a rebate without homeowners having to undertake an energy assessment, simplifying a process that has seen too much red tape elsewhere, saving Ontarians both time and money.”
What you need to know if you want to use the program:
The program is set to launch on Jan. 28, 2025.
Homeowners can sign up to get more details on this website, according to the province.
This article was written by David Israelson and was published in the Globe & Mail on December 24, 2024.
The first phase of Montreal’s $7-billion, mixed-use Royalmount project is an 824,000-square-foot shopping mall that’s located steps away from the Metro subway in a highly trafficked part of the city.
Project is energy efficient and surrounded by parks, green roofs and vegetation
As part of a new mixed-use project aiming to be fully carbon neutral, a snazzy new shopping and dining complex – dubbed Royalmount – has opened in Montreal on a site formerly dominated by industrial property.
The first phase of the $7-billion, privately financed project is an 824,000-square-foot shopping mall that currently has more than 50 stores, with more slated to open by this spring. Its developer, Montreal-based Immobilier Carbonleo Inc. (Carbonleo), expects there to eventually be as many as 170 stores, including 60 restaurants and cafés, as well as an aquarium. Carbonleo’s chief executive officer, Andrew Lutfy, has said there are also plans to add a luxury hotel and five Class A office towers to the site.
If all the project’s stages – including its residential housing component, which is pending approval – are built, the mall would be Canada’s second largest, surpassed only by the West Edmonton Mall in Alberta.
FROM HIGH TRAFFIC TO PEDESTRIAN FRIENDLY
Despite Royalmount’s aspirations to become a hip and upscale destination, the project’s location has attracted controversy in Montreal since it’s in a trafficchoked edge of the city. While it’s served by a pedestrian footbridge leading to Montreal’s Metro subway, it’s about 15 kilometres from the downtown centre in an area called Décarie Circle, where three heavily travelled expressways and two major streets all meet.
Royalmount’s pedestrian walkway is intended to make the project more environmentally friendly by reducing vehicle congestion and encouraging subway ridership. However, the 210metre, $50-million pedestrian bridge was challenging to build, Claude Marcotte, Carbonleo’s executive vice-president and partner, says in an e-mail interview. “It involved co-ordinating design, approval and implementation with Quebec, municipal and community officials and utilities,” he says, adding the bridge weighs more than 12,000 tonnes and is made of steel, concrete and glass.
A CARBON- NEUTRAL SHOPPING CENTRE
To reduce its carbon footprint and promote environmental stewardship, Mr. Marcotte says Royalmount is also energy efficient and has 520,000 square feet of parks, green roofs and native Quebec vegetation. “We’re also supporting biodiversity through 18,577 plantings and 20,000 rooftop bees,” he says.
To achieve energy efficiency, the shopping centre incorporates a heat-exchanging energy-loop system that will allow for a 93per-cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, according to Pomerleau, Royalmount’s construction manager. The project’s developers are also installing electric-vehicle chargers and 566 bicycle parking spaces. More than 80 per cent of the materials and waste generated during construction were recycled, and the developers are seeking LEED Gold Certification.
“Our water management systems reduce indoor water consumption by 38 per cent and decrease rainwater runoff into municipal sewers by 83 per cent, conserving the equivalent of 5.7 Olympic-sized swimming pools annually,” Mr. Marcotte says. “All captured water is reused for irrigation of the site’s green spaces.”
In addition to its water conservation efforts, Royalmount is the first development in Quebec to track all its contaminated soil. “That way we know where the contaminated soil that was removed from the site went,” Martin Jacques, Pomerleau’s chief operating officer, buildings, says in a short video.
THE DEMOGRAPHIC APPEAL
Eighty-seven per cent of localmillionaire households live within a 20 minutes’ drive to Royalmount, with the area having five times more university-educated residents than the local average, according to Carbonleo’s Mr. Lutfy. For those consumers, a building’s green credentials may matter, says Elspeth Murray, an associate professor and director of Queen’s University’s Centre for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Social Impact.
“There are challenges to build sustainably,” she says. “For example, the upfront costs of building green can be higher, and it can be time-consuming for developers to assess different construction materials and processes to make sure they are actually building sustainably.”
Ms. Murray says developers need the courage and capital to be able to “dig deep” and respond to new market forces, as well as the needs and wants of locals. “It’s a matter of tapping into the genuine desire among many citizens – particularly Gen Z and millennials – to vote with their cash and spend in places that are trying not only to make money, but to do better for the world in which we live,” she says. “This requires long-term thinking and a real commitment to doing things differently and more sustainably.”
BEYOND SUSTAINABLE BUILDING
While building sustainably is part of the transition to a net-zero economy, Benjamin Shinewald, president and chief executive officer of Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) Canada, says it’s only a start for eco-minded developers.
“The big challenge that building sustainably has is that often the planning and/or construction does not actually lead to sustainable operations,” Mr. Shinewald says. “You can’t just focus on design and construction – we must also look at how existing buildings are performing and maintained.”
For retail developments, working toward sustainability goals can help contribute to good marketing, says Avis Devine, an associate professor of real estate finance and sustainability at York University’s Schulich School of Business. She notes that existing malls should question whether they should become more sustainable as more projects like Royalmount are developed.
“A mall is more than a collection of stores – it’s experiences,” Ms. Devine concludes.
This article was written by Sean Silcoff and Jeffrey Jones, and was published in the Globe & Mail on November 14, 2024.
Stephen Lake, co-founder of heat-pump installer Jetson, was also co-founder of Thalmic Labs (later renamed North Inc.), once Waterloo’s most hyped and heavily funded company behind BlackBerry Ltd.
Much-lauded tech entrepreneur pivots to climate sector
Stephen Lake was pegged for greatness early on. In 2011, the self-assured Scarborough, Ont., native was named one of the Next 36 – a group of entrepreneurial undergraduates selected by Next Canada for their potential to build big companies – while he was studying mechatronics engineering at the University of Waterloo. The wearable technology startup he and two classmates founded, Thalmic Labs (later renamed North Inc.) was Waterloo’s most hyped and heavily funded company after BlackBerry Ltd.
But North hit a funding crunch during the pandemic and sold to Google parent Alphabet Inc. in 2020 before its smart glasses reached commercial viability. Alphabet redirected North’s efforts to its augmented reality (A/R) unit and cut staff.
Four years on, smart eyewear is still a technology of the future, but it isn’t Mr. Lake’s future. The 34-year-old and North co-founders Aaron Grant and Matthew Bailey have regrouped to build something very different: A business that installs home heat pumps. Yes, heat pumps.
Their startup is called Jetson Home Inc., and as the name suggests, it is not a typical local heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) business. It’s a future-looking climate change play with ambitions to grow big by making heat pumps easier and cheaper to obtain.
“This is a dramatically different business from North – less deep tech R&D and way more operations – but just as rewarding to be working on something with the opportunity to make a big dent in climate change,” Mr. Lake posted on LinkedIn in September.
Heat pumps are considered a key technology for improving energy efficiency in buildings and transitioning to a low-carbon economy. An alternative to natural gas, oil and other less efficient electric heating options that is more cost effective over the long term, they work by compressing heat from outside air or ground sources and transferring it into a building. They also provide cooling in the summer by removing thermal energy to the exterior. The International Energy Agency, the West’s energy-security watchdog, estimates heat pumps could reduce global CO2 emissions by up to 500 million tonnes a year by 2050.
Governments at all levels are enticing homeowners to install heat pumps with rebates. But, said Kate Harland, mitigation research team lead with the Canadian Climate Institute, “they tend to cost more up front even if you save on your bills over the years.” That, she said, still acts as a barrier to adoption.
Mr. Lake’s goal is to shrink that “green premium.” He and his co-founders explored whether they could do that by making cheaper heat pumps, cutting installation costs or creating software to automate back-office tasks for service providers. “It became clear there was no clear one thing that would move the needle in a big enough way to make a dent on adoption,” Mr. Lake said in an interview. Instead, they decided “to solve all these problems at once.”
Heat pump giants like Carrier or Trane typically outsource production and send machines to regional distributors who sell them to HVAC installers. Jetson aims to do most of that itself.
It is working directly with unidentified Asian outsourcers to procure pumps directly, cutting out middlemen. And it is collaborating with them to make pumps easier to install, by asking the manufacturers to add connected fittings between pipes that join the indoor and outdoor parts of the system so they can be snapped together, rather than welded. That reduces labour costs, fire risk and insurance needs.
Jetson is building WiFi-connected electronics control boards for manufacturers to put in the pump units so they can be monitored after installation on a mobile app the company is creating.
It is also launching an installation business, starting with three crews in Vancouver and Denver, Colo., where Jetson bought a service provider this year that had built software to calculate heat loads in customer homes. Jetson is creating software to automate back-office operations and save costs. For example, its online platform will enable Jetson to generate estimates remotely by getting customers to upload information and pictures of their buildings. The software will also automate applications for permits and rebates.
Meanwhile, Jetson has hired veteran installers and is developing a standardized process so crews can do jobs in one day. The idea, Mr. Lake said, is to charge well below the typical cost charged by other HVAC installers, which can run upward of $20,000. Jetson’s rate for a detached Vancouver-area home is $12,000 plus GST, which could net out to a cost of under $2,000 to homeowners after rebates, depending on the jurisdiction.
The idea for Jetson dates to Mr.
Lake’s time as an adviser to the Creative Destruction Lab accelerator’s climate technology stream in Vancouver, which he joined two years ago after moving west with his family. (Mr. Lake’s wife, Lauren Lake, another Next 36 alumna, co-leads construction software company Bridgit Inc.).
North had been an early breakout star at CDL in Toronto, raising US$200-million from investors, including Intel, Amazon, Fidelity Investments and Salesforce.com Inc. founder Marc Benioff. Fellow CDL mentor Mike Winterfield, managing partner of Vancouver financier Active Impact Investments, was intrigued by Mr. Lake’s experience and encouraged him to turn his talents to climate change.
Mr. Lake, meanwhile, was growing frustrated with the slow pace at Alphabet, where he worked in its A/R division after the sale. In a company dominated by search and video, “all these other things including A/R were so far removed from the core that the organizational muscle to actually be effective and forced to ship things and work through hard problems wasn’t there.” He concluded Google lacked “the conviction and drive to ship a product that will be relevant in this space” and began thinking about cleantech opportunities.
He concluded many climate issues didn’t need “another 10 years of deep research and technical breakthroughs” but instead simply required overcoming obstacles that kept proven emissions-lowering technologies from wider deployment.
With his engineer’s mind, he worked backward from solutions that could have the biggest impact on emissions, zeroing in on replacing gas furnaces. He and his North co-founders bandied around ideas, settling on their plan and incorporating Jetson in January.
The idea to build a vertically integrated heat pump business initially met with some puzzlement. “My immediate reaction was, ‘Uh, okay, it’s awesome you’re doing something in the climate space, but I really don’t like this idea,’ ” said Mr. Winterfield. He explained that his fund shies away from consumer-facing businesses, and that many venture capitalists dislike hardware and services plays. “Each one is hard to get right, and Jetson was doing all three.”
Chris Efstathiou Jr., a veteran supply chain executive who had worked at North and BlackBerry – as well as Amazon Robotics and Dell before that – said he expected the trio to develop another technology product for their next venture. He says when he learned they were doing “basically old school HVAC stuff, it made no sense to me.”
But the trio convinced these skeptics that if they got everything right Jetson could shake up an established sector and dramatically expand the market. Well-funded European companies were pursuing similar opportunities, including 1KOMMA5° GmbH, Octopus Energy Ltd. and Aira Group AB. Mr. Winterfield’s fund eventually invested US$2-million as part of a US$5-million seed financing by Jetson.
Others needed less convincing to invest. “Stephen is a unique and exceptional founder and extraordinarily determined,” said ex-North director and investor Dan Debow. “I wanted to back him, this is what he’s passionate about, it was a pretty easy ‘Yes.’ ” Mr. Efstathiou agreed to advise Jetson on its supply chain, while former North chief financial officer Mike Galbraith left a senior job at Damon Motorcycles to join the startup in March.
Jetson has now installed dozens of its product but faces many challenges to deliver on its lofty ambition to convert tens of millions of North American homes to heat pumps.
Recruiting experienced installers is trickier than hiring software developers, who are easily found on LinkedIn. HVAC installers are typically busy, fully employed and not necessarily engaged enough in the climate change mission to move. Recruiting involves parking trucks at local distributors and throwing barbecues, Mr. Lake said. Jetson will have to do that market by market as it starts expanding eastward in the coming months.
Another snag could come in the form of trade policy. U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has pledged stiff tariffs on all imports, with Asia, and specifically China, being a prime target. Canada may follow suit as it has with electric vehicles. Mr. Trump’s election also raises questions about the future of green incentives that have driven some of the U.S. consumer interest in replacing HVAC systems that run on fossil fuels.
Jetson is also still figuring the best way to get the word out: Direct mail has worked so far, but most markets don’t lack for HVAC installers. The company hasn’t created warranty, service and financing offerings yet and will likely have to work to convince some homeowners to trust its Jetson-branded machines over established names.
Plans to generate recurring revenue lie ahead. “Several of those pieces will eventually be part of the puzzle; they are not today,” Mr. Lake said. “We still have a long way to go to prove this out.”
But after 10 years building their first startup, the trio have learned “what is noise and what is signal,” he said. “We’ve been much more focused and heads down on executing since we hit go.”
The Save on Energy program limits eligibility to homes already using electric heating, excluding gas-heated households dependent on Enbridge. Critics argue this initiative prioritizes limiting electricity demand, rather than promoting sustainable alternatives — and reflects the Ford government’s tendency to rely on fossil fuels and reluctance to support a genuine energy transition.
Keith Brooks, programs director at Environmental Defence, said offering incentives for people to switch from inefficient baseboard heaters to heat pumps is a sensible way to get people more affordable heating and cooling.
But since the incentives do not apply to people with gas heating, the contribution to lowering planet-heating carbon emissions is limited. “And that’s really the most critical thing,” Brooks said. “We need to ensure that every home currently burning fossil fuels for heating transitions to heat pumps when it’s time or when they are close to replacing their furnace.”
Mary Bernard, supervisor of residential program performance at the Ontario Independent Electricity System Operator, said the program, which gives some Ontarians from $5,000 to $10,000 toward replacing old-style electric heating with more efficient heat pumps, aims to ease pressure on the electricity grid in areas facing urbanization and population growth. By targeting regions with high demand, the program will lower electricity consumption and defer the need for costly new transmission lines. Transitioning from electrically heated baseboards to heat pumps can significantly reduce grid demand.
According to the Ontario Ministry of Energy and Electrification, the province invested $8.2 million in a separate program called the Clean Home Heating Initiative (CHHI) through Enbridge, benefiting 1,500 customers in the eight municipalities of London, St. Catharines, Peterborough, Sault Ste. Marie, Pickering, Ajax, Whitby and Barrie. This initiative allows homeowners to install air source heat pumps alongside their existing gas furnaces, reducing carbon emissions and utility costs. The government says the Clean Home Heating Initiative is spread between a few northern and southern communities to test the hybrid heating system in different climates.
Brooks said the two-tiered incentive programs are not surprising coming from a government that is not fully committed to moving away from fossil fuels. Photo submitted.
The CHHI program, which was announced in 2022, offers incentives ranging from $3,000 to $4,500 for gas-heated homes to transition to various types of heat pumps.
Advocates, however, believe more incentives are needed. Jack Gibbons, chair of the Ontario Clean Air Alliance, urged the Ontario Energy Board to require Enbridge to increase rebates for cold climate air source heat pumps to at least $5,000, citing the high costs of these systems, which range from $15,000 for air source to $30,000 for ground source heat pumps.
Critics argue this initiative prioritizes limiting electricity demand, rather than promoting sustainable alternatives — and reflects the Ford government’s tendency to rely on fossil fuels and reluctance to support a genuine energy transition.
Brooks said the two-tiered incentive programs are not surprising coming from a government that is not fully committed to moving away from fossil fuels. He pointed to legislation introduced earlier this year — the Keeping Energy Costs Down Act — which overrode decisions by the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) that would have limited Enbridge’s funding for gas expansions. The legislation allows the provincial government to reverse OEB decisions that block Enbridge’s funding for gas expansions through increased customer rates, diminishing the regulator’s independence.
This move, Brooks argued, prioritizes the interests of Enbridge over meaningful clean energy progress.
“This government is helping Enbridge — in fact, legislating and contributing financial resources to ensure that more and more homes are connected to gas, instead of incentivizing people to switch to heat pumps.”
Brooks said the provincial government should offer more substantial support, similar to programs in other provinces like British Columbia. He noted that Ontario could collaborate with the federal government to deliver a more impactful heat pump program.
Heat pumps are significantly more efficient than baseboard heaters, and despite the upfront costs, homeowners would save money over time due to their efficiency, Brooks said. He suggested offering homeowners interest-free loans to help reduce the financial burden on homeowners willing to make the switch, knowing they will offset their costs over time.
The Independent Electricity System Operator’s Pathways to Decarbonization Report predicts that Ontario might need to spend $400 billion to more than double its electricity generation capacity — from 42,000 megawatts today to 88,000 megawatts by 2050.
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