Published in the Weekly January 14, 2024
The committee has been focused on applying for a Canada Greener Affordable Housing (CGAH) grant from CMHC. We have submitted our application for the Pre-retrofit fund. This fund will provide the co-op with funding to complete studies that will be needed to apply for the subsequent Retrofit fund. Our application request includes an updated Building Condition Assessment (BCA), an Energy Audit, an Energy Modelling study, an updated Environmental Site Assessment, a Substance and Hazardous Material Survey, conceptual/schematic designs, and a Cost Estimate Report.
Our ultimate goal, and the focus of the CGAH grant, is to reduce our energy usage and our carbon emissions. To achieve this, some of the things we will be looking at include using heat pumps (for both heating and cooling), using solar energy, and improving our insulation and weather proofing.
CMHC has been very helpful in the preparation of our application and we are also being supported by The Atmospheric Fund (through their Retrofit Accelerator program) and the City of Toronto (through their Better Buildings Partnership program). We are working with CMS Building Consultants as a coordinator on the application, with various other companies being consulted for specific studies.
The CGAH program has high standards to meet and is highly competitive, but being a large co-op in downtown Toronto is an advantage for us, so fingers crossed!
We will know by the end of February if our application has been accepted. If we get the grant we will commence the studies immediately and they should be completed by the end of May. The committee would be able to present the proposed plan to the membership in early summer, and then apply for the Retrofit Funding from CMHC. If we are unsuccessful, we will immediately start working with The Atmospheric Fund and the Better Buildings Partnership to look for other sources of funding.
The Green Energy committee can be contacted at greenenergy@woodsworthcoop.ca