The Ontario provincial government is planning to spend more than $7 billion over four years on a comprehensive climate change initiative that will include incentives for energy efficiency building retrofits, according to a report in the Globe and Mail.
The plan, aimed at reducing Ontario’s carbon footprint, will also include:
- Phasing out natural gas for heating
- Rebates to drivers who buy electric vehicles
- Requirements that gasoline sold in the province contain less carbon
- Building code changes to require all new homes to be heated with electricity or geothermal systems by 2030
- A target for 12% of all new vehicle sales to be electric by 2025
Some $3.8 billion will be available for new grants, rebates, and other subsidies to retrofit buildings, and to move heating from natural gas to geothermal, solar power, or other forms of electric heat. Many of these programs will be administered by a new Green Bank, modeled on a similar agency in New York State.
The plan may still be fine-tuned, and will be officially released to the public in June, the Globe and Mail reported.
Related Stories
Resiliency | Sep 30, 2022
Designing buildings for wildfire defensibility
Wold Architects and Engineers' Senior Planner Ryan Downs, AIA, talks about how to make structures and communities more fire-resistant.
| Sep 30, 2022
Lab-grown bricks offer potential low-carbon building material
A team of students at the University of Waterloo in Canada have developed a process to grow bricks using bacteria.
| Sep 27, 2022
New Buildings Institute released the Existing Building Decarbonization Code
New Buildings Institute (NBI) has released the Existing Building Decarbonization Code.
| Sep 22, 2022
Gainesville, Fla., ordinance requires Home Energy Score during rental inspections
The city of Gainesville, Florida was recently recognized by the U.S. Dept. of Energy for an adopted ordinance that requires rental housing to receive a Home Energy Score during rental inspections.
| Sep 19, 2022
New York City construction site inspections, enforcement found ‘inadequate’
A new report by the New York State Comptroller found that New York City construction site inspections and regulation enforcement need improvement.
| Sep 16, 2022
Fairfax County, Va., considers impactful code change to reduce flood risk
Fairfax County, Va., in the Washington, D.C., metro region is considering a major code change to reduce the risk from floods.
| Sep 13, 2022
California building codes now allow high-rise mass-timber buildings
California recently enacted new building codes that allow for high-rise mass-timber buildings to be constructed in the state.
| Sep 8, 2022
U.S. construction costs expected to rise 14% year over year by close of 2022
Coldwell Banker Richard Ellis (CBRE) is forecasting a 14.1% year-on-year increase in U.S. construction costs by the close of 2022.
| Aug 29, 2022
Montana becomes first U.S. state to approve 3D printing in construction
Montana is the first U.S. state to give broad regulatory approval for 3D printing in building construction.
| Aug 25, 2022
New York City’s congestion pricing aims to reduce traffic, cut carbon
Officials recently released an environmental assessment that analyzes seven different possible pricing schemes for New York City’s congestion pricing program.
