Retrofitting Vancouver's existing building stock

One component of the plan to achieve this goal is a reduction of GHG emissions by 33% from 2007 levels.4 Given that buildings in Vancouver account for 54% of GHG emissions,5 the success of the Greenest City initiative relies heavily on the energy efficiency of the city’s building stock. [...] With this incentive structure in place, the owner would finance an energy retrofit and reap none of the benefits unless (1) the tenant agreed to pay a higher rent in order to offset the reduction of their utility bill, or (2) the owners and tenants were to renegotiate a ‘Green Lease’ where the structure of the lease is altered to better align incentives for energy efficiency initiatives. [...] The HVAC by-law, targeted to be in place by 2012, is the closest that the Action Plan comes to a true enforcement program and could be seen as a precursor to a more comprehensive audit and retrofit program.27 3.1.2 VOLUNTARY CERTIFICATION AND BUILDING CODES Jurisdiction: Private Sector Barrier(s) Addressed: None (only effective if made mandatory) An alternative to the IECC is the use of energy or [...] In an effort to address these concerns, different financial mechanisms have been developed to find ways to either reduce upfront cash payments, improve the speed of payback or, if possible, tie the repayment to the building rather than the owner so that the time horizon of payback becomes less of a factor for an owner that may sell before the payback period is complete. [...] At this point, if the owner decides to move forward with the project, the owner and the ESCO enter into a contract where the energy savings are guaranteed by the ESCO and the payback schedule is put in place based on these savings.