Natural Elements, NRCan's Monthly Newsletter

ecoENERGY Retrofit Incentives Expanded to Include Larger Buildings

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There’s good news for businesses and public institutions that own, manage or lease buildings with 10,000–20,000 square metres of floor space. They can now join homeowners and industry in applying for federal funding to invest in energy-saving upgrades, such as installing efficient lighting, building automation control systems or upgrading heating, ventilation and cooling systems.

A wide range of commercial and institutional buildings are eligible —hotels, motels, churches, hospitals and recreational complexes all qualify, as do elementary, secondary and post-secondary schools, just to name a few. Multiple buildings, such as those on a university campus, can also be included in a single project.

The ecoENERGY Retrofit incentive is based on the lesser of $10 per gigajoule (GJ) of estimated annual energy savings or 25 percent of eligible project costs. The maximum incentive is $50,000 per project and $250,000 per recipient over the duration of the program.

For a retrofit project to qualify for an incentive, the building must be at least five years old and have been occupied for the last three years. Also, a pre-project energy audit must be completed for each building by a qualified energy-efficiency evaluator, typically an experienced Professional Engineer or a Certified Engineering Technologist. Once a project proposal is accepted by the Government of Canada, it must be completed within the following 12 months or, for buildings in the Yukon, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, 18 months.

The ecoENERGY Retrofit Incentive – Small and Medium Organizations program, begun in April 2007 and administered by Natural Resources Canada’s Office of Energy Efficiency, is the first program of its type to address this sector of the economy. In its first year, the program had 94 applications, with an average of two buildings per application and an average floor space of 5,000 square metres.

The program is certain to attract even wider interest in its second year. “We are anticipating bigger projects. This year’s goal is 230 projects”, says Jim Comtois, Chief of Program Delivery for Building Retrofits.

The results of this ecoENERGY Retrofit program will be substantial. By March 31, 2011, it is expected to have helped reduce 1.4 million GJ of energy and/or 0.133 mega tonnes of greenhouse gases in buildings across Canada.

The program is scheduled to run until March 31, 2011. The current application period runs until February 27, 2009, with additional application periods to follow immediately afterward. For more information and to find out how you can apply, visit the ecoENERGY Retrofit Incentive – Small and Medium Organizations Web site at or contact a representative at 1-877-360-5500.

Similar incentives for homeowners and industry are available through the ecoENERGY Retrofit – Homes and the ecoENERGY Retrofit Incentive for Industry programs.