Home, Property and Environment

Energy and Buildings

A key part of the City of Burlington's Climate Action Plan is the goal of becoming a net carbon neutral community by 2050 by improving our buildings' energy efficiency. Many buildings use fossil fuels for heating, cooling and lighting, which produces harmful greenhouse gas emissions. We can reduce the impacts of fossil fuels by using more energy efficient technology in our buildings.

Home energy efficiency retrofits

Improving the energy efficiency of existing buildings is a key goal in our Climate Action Plan. Improving the energy efficiency of your home can save money, improve comfort and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Find a contractor

The following links can help you find contractors to retrofit your home:

Home retrofit incentives

If you are a customer of Enbridge Gas, you could be eligible for rebates under their Home Efficiency Rebate Program by retrofitting your home.

Greener Homes Canada is a program offered by Natural Resources Canada with grants up to $5,000 to help homeowners make energy efficient retrofits to their homes and complete energy audits of their homes.

Financing

We don't currently have a home energy efficiency loan program, but we are exploring options. Please contact your local bank or credit union to discuss financing options. Some financial institutions have specific programs to improve the energy efficiency of homes.

Retrofitting resources

Check out some informative resources to learn different ways you can retrofit your home to be more energy efficient.

BurlingtonGreen offers home energy saving tips and home retrofitting information
SaveOnEnergy offers home energy saving advice for individuals and retrofitting programs and energy efficiency incentives for businesses
Natural Resources Canada offers home retrofitting programs, energy efficiency resources and the Canada Greener Homes Grant
BetterHomesTO offers home retrofitting information, although Burlington residents don't qualify for their home energy loan program

City reports

View our reports about home retrofitting from our Environment, Infrastructure and Community Services Committee Meetings.

Options for a Residential Deep Energy Retrofit Program (item 4.2)
Residential Deep Energy Retrofit Pilot Program (item 4.2)

Burlington home energy retrofit program

We are working with the Centre for Climate Change Management at Mohawk College to develop a home energy retrofit program for residents. This will include:

Developing a business plan for a delivery centre
Assessing financing options for homeowners
Providing information sessions for homeowners

We will provide more information as the project progresses. This project is supported with funding from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' Community Efficiency Financing Initiative and The Atmospheric Fund.

New buildings

Increasing the energy efficiency of new buildings is more cost effective than trying to retrofit a building after construction. Our Sustainable Building and Development Guidelines include actions to achieve new low carbon buildings. A recent city report provides an update on the guidelines.

Green building resources

To learn more about how energy efficient buildings are constructed, check out:

City facilities

Learn how we are improving the energy efficiency of our buildings and fleet vehicles.

Renewable energy

We are exploring sustainable energy options to produce electricity in Burlington, such as solar PV and geothermal heating and cooling. We are also looking at options for energy harvesting and sharing between facilities. To learn more about renewable energy sources, check out:

Provincial energy reporting requirements

The Ontario Energy and Water Reporting and Benchmarking (EWRB) program requires owners of large commercial, industrial and multi-unit residential buildings to report their building's energy and water consumption data to the Ministry of Energy, Northern Development and Mines. This lets you compare your building's energy and water consumption usage against industry trends. You can then identify energy and water efficiency opportunities and save money by tracking usage.