Summary

The Town of Bridgewater, in the heart of Nova Scotia, has pioneered a three-pronged approach that reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while tackling energy poverty. Winner of a Sustainable Communities Award 2024, the Energize Bridgewater project combines leading-edge energy monitoring technology, an innovative client-oriented  navigation program, and comprehensive social support services that address housing insecurity and homelessness.  

Background

Home to approximately 8,790 residents, Bridgewater is the largest town in the province’s South Shore region. Bridgewater made a commitment to reducing GHG emissions when its town council  passed a Community Energy Investment Plan in 2018.

After applying for and receiving Smart Cities funding— a national innovation program to which the Town pitched its ambitious proposal to tackle energy poverty  —the town then spent several years studying and testing solutions to the barriers that prevent broad adoption of deep home-energy upgrades.

Challenge

Bridgewater set an ambitious goal of achieving an 81 percent reduction in community GHG emissions by 2050 compared to its 2011 emission levels. At the same time, the town had to address the fact that 38 percent of Bridgewater residents were struggling to afford and access heating, cooling, and other essential energy services—a prevalent issue throughout the Atlantic provinces. Bridgewater therefore committed to reduce the town’s energy poverty rate by 20 percent, but needed a multi-pronged approach that would address both climate and social challenges simultaneously.

The Energize Bridgewater project set out to address two critical and interconnected needs: reducing energy poverty and improving energy efficiency. It focuses on helping residents—particularly those struggling with high energy costs—by offering tailored support to reduce their energy consumption, lower costs of upgrades and improve their living conditions.

Throughout its implementation, there were significant changes to the available funding and incentives for home energy upgrades. While in many cases these ultimately proved advantageous, they required flexibility and the coordination of more complex deep energy upgrades. Additionally, given the relatively small size of the town, limited contractor and trades capacity resulted in slower implementation of the Home Upgrades program.  

Approach

Energize Bridgewater consists of three interconnected services, designed through a holistic approach that recognises the day-to-day challenges faced by people living in energy poverty.

“Energy poverty looks different in rural areas versus cities, and the spectrum of energy poverty is broad. That’s why we wanted to cast as wide of a net as possible within the scope of Energize Bridgewater.”

– Leon de Vreede, Senior Policy & Program Planner, Town of Bridgewater

1. Energy management information system: This unique, municipally-developed technology combines energy monitoring and indoor air quality monitoring for residents . The software then generates personalized suggestions on how to save on energy costs and improve air quality  based on their unique data.  
2. Home Upgrades Program: A navigator that guides homeowners and landlords to the best technical and financial  options for energy efficient improvements. The program also provides support in selecting the most effective upgrades for their homes. Eligible upgrades may include heat pumps, insulation, draft proofing, and more. This program is delivered in partnership with Efficiency Nova Scotia  and Clean Foundation.
3. Coordinated Access system: Recognising that energy poverty is connected to other social factors like housing insecurity and health, this program provides wrap-around community support services to Bridgewater residents experiencing energy poverty, housing insecurity, and homelessness. This central access point connects individuals and families to the programs that best meet their unique needs, ensuring they receive the right support at the right time.

Benefits and results

Environmental:  

• As energy upgrades progress, participating homes are expected to cut their GHG emissions by an average of 51%.
• 183 home energy efficiency upgrades like heat pumps and draft proofing were in progress or complete by July 31, 2024.  
• The first single-unit homes retrofitted through the Home Upgrades program have reduced their GHG emissions by 22-39% .  
• Two retrofitted multi-unit buildings are cutting GHG emissions by up to 48%.  
• Project participants are experiencing improved indoor air quality and comfort.

Economic:  

• The Energize Bridgewater program is expected to stimulate over $10M in local and regional economic activity.  
• Homes in the program are expected to save an average of 52% on their energy bills.

Social:  

• The project’s focus on energy poverty has helped bring this challenging issue into the public discourse, accelerating both media interest and political action.
• Over 600 households have received social support through the Coordinated Access system, improving their health and wellbeing.

Lessons learned

• Bridgewater can’t be a “smart city” on its own. Local and regional partnerships and service relationships are the key to a successful sustainability project.
• High-quality data can help inform home-energy efficiency solutions that create more sustainable, prosperous, and equitable communities.
• Gaining a deeper understanding of residents' unique circumstances is essential for offering the right support and implementing deep home energy upgrades.

“We’re trying to take a trauma-informed, accessible approach to meeting people where they’re at. We really aim to make the process of retrofitting and energy monitoring as human, simple and straightforward as possible.”

– Josie Rudderham, Energize Program Navigator

Next steps

Bridgewater is exploring opportunities to work with Efficiency Nova Scotia and the Province of Nova Scotia to scale its home upgrade services province-wide. The energy management information system  technology developed for Energize Bridgewater also has the potential to be applied more broadly, allowing other municipalities to gather and leverage their own energy and indoor air quality data.

Should the project ultimately be able to scale across all homes in Bridgewater, there could be a community-wide reduction of over 25 kilotonnes in GHG emissions per year.

Summary  

Facing an affordable housing crisis and rising to the challenge of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, Waterloo Region Housing (WRH) has undertaken its first net-zero community housing build. Winning a 2024 Sustainable Communities Award, the project features a variety of energy-efficient design elements as well as tenant amenity spaces to foster a sense of community.

Background

Located in Southern Ontario, the Waterloo Region contains the cities of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo along with townships of North Dumfries, Wellesley, Wilmot and Woolwich. It is a rapidly growing region, with a current population of more than 630,000 people.

There is a long waitlist for affordable housing in Waterloo Region, with approximately 9,000 low-income households currently awaiting community housing. Recognizing the urgency of this situation, Waterloo’s Regional Council approved the WRH Revitalization Plan in 2019. It maps out a 20-year timeline to create at least 600 new community housing units.

Waterloo Region also crafted a community-developed strategy, called the Transform WR Action Strategy, to reduce local GHG emissions by 80 percent by 2050. The strategy states that, “By 2050, businesses and homes no longer use fossil fuels for space heating and cooling, and hot water heating.” Moving forward, all new community housing builds will aim for Canada’s Green Building Council’s Zero Carbon Building - Design Standard certification.

The challenge

As the Region prepared to break ground on its newest community housing development at 420 Kingscourt Drive, they had no previous experience constructing new net-zero buildings. There were concerns regarding how best to attract the right contractors, with fears that the ambitious energy efficiency plans might scare some away. 

Additionally, households with lower incomes may struggle to afford energy costs and often face barriers to accessing more sustainable energy technologies like geothermal heating and cooling, solar power, or smart thermostats. Waterloo Region was committed to ensuring these households were not left behind in the transition away from fossil fuels.

“Everyone deserves a place to call home. We are working hard not just to build homes across the Region of Waterloo, but also to be responsible stewards of the environment as we grow. 420 Kingscourt is a proud example of the care Region staff have put into creating homes that serve this community. These energy-efficient projects help us build what we need for today and tomorrow.”

- Regional Chair Karen Redman, Region of Waterloo

Approach

WRH’s 420 Kingscourt Drive blends affordability with thoughtful design, offering a mix of income-geared rent, below average market rent and low-end market rent. Situated on the same site as WRH’s existing 416 Kingscourt Drive building, WRH made sure to utilize existing regional land and prioritize engagement with the existing tenants throughout the development process, ensuring their voices were heard and their needs addressed. This was done primarily through virtual meetings led by both regional staff and City councillors.  

The building has 73 units, ranging in size from one to five bedrooms, with 19 units designed with enhanced accessibility. In addition to comfortable living spaces, the project brings people together with three inviting resident amenity spaces, including a spacious 2,125-square-foot seniors services programming area.

Environmental considerations were critical throughout the design process, incorporating energy-efficient building technologies and practices that will reduce energy consumption, enhance indoor environment quality and lower energy costs for the tenants. Key features include:

• ground-source heat pumps connected to an open-loop geothermal system with integrated Energy Recovery Ventilators
• triple glazed high performance vinyl windows
• low-flow Domestic Hot Water fixtures
• LED lighting systems
• solar PV panels
• meter to track water and energy consumption of individual units and the building as a whole

This project is also piloting a Community Benefits Program to help recruit, engage and retain a diverse construction labour force. The program creates opportunities for individuals from groups traditionally underrepresented in the industry.

Benefits and results

The 420 Kingscourt project is expected to be completed in summer 2025. Anticipated outcomes are as follows.

Environmental:

• The building’s GHG emissions are 47.1% below the 2015 National Energy Code for Buildings (NECB) standards.  
• The project’s roof-mounted solar panels are estimated to generate 111.9MWh of green electricity per year, enough to power 10 average households.
• The design of this building will result in a net annual total energy use intensity (TEUI) of 77.4 kWh/m2, versus the Canadian residential building average of 181 kWh/m2 per year.  
• Waterloo region is now pursuing Zero Carbon Building V2–Design Standard certification by the Canada Green Building Council, recognizing their efforts to help combat climate change by designing a building with low carbon emissions.

Economic:

• Housing expenses for those living in rent-geared-to-income units (1/3 of all units) will remain at an affordable 30% of tenants’ income for the long term.  
• Approximately $54,000 in energy costs will be saved annually through energy-efficient design.  
• Tenants will also benefit from reduced energy costs as a result of the building’s efficiency, paying a flat fee for both water and electricity.  

Social:  

• 73 households with various levels of income will have a comfortable, energy-efficient home near public transportation corridors.
• Two people have been trained in construction through the Community Benefits Program. One has now entered a unionized skilled trade.

Lessons learned

• Tenants are the experts of their communities and know what works and what can be improved. Feedback from this project resulted in the development of Tenant Liaison Committees for subsequent WRH builds, where tenant volunteers will be part of the early design process.  
• Ensuring there is a clear vision for the design before opening bidding to contractors will help attract the right talent.  
• Consulting with the people who will be running the building early on is crucial to ensuring both its longevity and end-user comfort.
• Building a net-zero affordable housing project is not only possible, but less challenging than anticipated despite an initial lack of experience.

Next steps  

This was the first of six affordable housing redevelopment projects for the region. Project data will be used to inform the direction of future builds, with a focus on early tenant engagement.