The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) has released $3.2 million in Community Buildings Retrofit funding for 16 energy upgrade projects. The largest share — $2 million — will go toward a targeted 44 per cent reduction in energy use at the aging Arthur J. Leblanc arena in Dieppe, New Brunswick. The remainder will underwrite preparatory studies and one smaller capital project in municipalities in Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan.
The Community Buildings Retrofit initiative, announced in the spring of 2021, promises $167 million over six years to support energy monitoring, recommissioning/retro-commissioning and capital projects that result in energy savings and reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Most Canadian municipalities, excluding seven large cities covered in a separate initiative, are eligible for different streams of grants ranging from a maximum of $25,000 to implement energy monitoring to a maximum of $1.25 million for major retrofits. The latter can be combined with low-interest loans, allowing municipalities to obtain up to $5 million from the fund.
“Pursuing energy efficiency upgrades in community buildings across the country will help us achieve our climate targets while also saving municipalities money on energy bills,” maintains Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources.
Work at the Arthur J. Leblanc arena is in the fund’s GHG pathway stream for projects that take a step toward ultimately achieving net-zero emissions. New energy efficiency measures will result in a projected 307-tonne reduction in GHG emissions, while project proponents aim to demonstrate innovative design approaches and building materials that could be replicated elsewhere.
“Dieppe’s vision is to be a welcoming, dynamic and ecologically responsible city, and this funding will take us one step closer to achieving the environmental part of that vision,” says Yvon Lapierre, the mayor or Dieppe. “The Arthur-.J.-LeBlanc Centre has been an integral part of the active life of our community for many years, and we are proud to be able to make a number of energy efficient improvements to it.”
