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Fanshawe, Indwell, Enwave earn NRCan funding for energy efficiency projects

July 27, 2022  By  Anthony Capkun



July 27, 2022 – Through the Green Infrastructure – Energy-Efficient Buildings Program, Natural Resources Canada is supporting three Ontario organizations with their energy efficiency projects. The projects include:

Fanshawe College of Applied Arts and Technology (London) is receiving over $1.3 million to retrofit the 25-year-old Kestrel Court Student Residence into a net zero energy facility. Fanshawe contributed $1.25 million, bringing the combined project cost to more than $2.5 million.

The retrofit of the Kestrel Court townhouses will upgrade the building components and the exterior aesthetic. It will also serve as a research study focused on retrofitting residential buildings to reach Net Zero Energy Ready (NZER) performance—reducing energy use by a minimum of 70%, explains the college.

Faculty and students are working together with industry partners on the retrofit, Fanshawe adds.

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“The Kestrel Court project offers a unique opportunity to provide a transformative model to reduce carbon emissions from existing low-rise housing throughout Canada,” said Alison Ewart, Ph.D., Dean of Fanshawe’s Centre for Research and Innovation.

“The results of this research will have the potential to influence policy on a national level through the Canadian Home Builders’ Association’s Net Zero Council,” added Tom Davis, principal investigator and faculty with Fanshawe’s Donald J. Smith School of Building Technology.

Indwell Community Homes (Woodstock) is receiving $365,000 to support the construction of Blossom Park Apartments: a new, 34-unit, high-performing multi-unit residential building using the BuildSMART prefab envelope technology (to help inform local and national net zero energy codes). The Canada Green Building Council, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., Oxford County and Passive House Canada are also funding the project, bringing the total cost to more than $7.3 million.

The charitable organization is thankful for the support, says its director of Projects and Development, Graham Cubitt, “because it allowed us to fully embrace the learning curve of adopting high-efficiency energy performance standards”.

“This funding helped cover energy monitoring and performance-related technologies, track the results of design decisions, and figure out where real-world results match up—or don’t—with the modelled assumptions,” Cubitt continued. “Not only have we lowered our tenants’ energy bills, we’ve also been able to permanently reduce our GHG emissions while creating beautiful places where people live and thrive.”

Open image in new tab/window to view full size. Photo: Mattamy Homes.

Enwave Energy Corp. (Markham) is the recipient of $350,000 to support the development of the Enwave Geothermal Community Energy System, which will supply low-carbon geothermal heating and cooling to 300 residential homes. The project also received financial support from the City of Markham, Mattamy Homes and The Atmospheric Fund for a total project cost of $818,367.

“A development of this scale required partners who have the aspiration to do something different, and our partners […] all brought their support and expertise to this project,” said Carlyle Coutinho, Enwave CEO.

NRCan’s Green Infrastructure – Energy Efficient Buildings Program supports improvements to the design, renovation and construction of homes and buildings.


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