By Mary James

The 2021 heat wave that hit Western Canada killed nearly 700 people and triggered emergency health visits for so many more. Hospital admissions for heatstroke, which rose by more than 16,000%, cost the Canadian health system on average $10,300 per patient, according to a study by Dale Beugin et al. Of the 619 people that died in British Columbia, 98% of those deaths happened at home—a sad testament to the inability of those homes to provide a healthy and resilient environment for those occupants. Valuing Deep Retrofits, a Pembina Institute report, presents a convincing case that investing in retrofits reaps a wide spectrum of benefits. 

While energy cost savings are an important part of a deep retrofit’s subsequent benefits, that’s certainly not a complete picture. Retrofitted buildings can help occupants minimize exposure not just to extreme heat, but also to cold, wildfire smoke, and air pollution generally—all of which adds up to better health outcomes both immediately and in the long term. Although many residents of Passive House buildings have completed occupant surveys testifying to their advantages, actual data on deep retrofits’ health outcomes have been harder to come by. This report does a notable job of compiling research from around the world—New Zealand, Australia, Wales, England, and even the United States—that examines the health-related impacts of retrofits.

As just one example, in New Zealand a cost-benefit analysis was conducted of its Warm Up New Zealand program that provided funding and grants for insulation and heat pumps or biomass burners. Researchers compared retrofitted to non-retrofitted homes, tracking such health outcomes as hospitalization rates, prescription drug costs, and mortality. The program delivered a net return of four dollars in benefits for every dollar spent.

Not all of the research comes to such a clear-cut conclusion. However, this report contributes to a growing recognition of the multi-layered benefits that deep retrofits bring. Ireland in 2022, recognizing the widespread performance and comfort issues in so many of its homes, went all in on making it easier for homeowners to undertake energy upgrades, setting up an 8-billion-euro fund to support such retrofits. The republic has set a goal of achieving 500,000 home energy retrofits that meet its B2 Building Energy Rating by 2030. The funding allows for grants of up to 50% of the cost of a deep energy retrofit, among other measures. (For more information on Irish retrofits, listen to the upcoming podcast episode with Dr. Barry McCarron, which will be available starting July 8.)

Alberta, Canada has a population of 4.9 million, coincidentally very close to that of Ireland at 5.3 million. Alberta’s housing supply also has serious deficits, with an estimated 42% of the 598,000 Alberta homes built before 1980 needing repairs and upgrades, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s Housing Market Information Portal. As of 2021, an alarming 63% of homes in the province lacked air conditioning.

As summer starts and heat waves and smoke events impact Albertans, the need to address poor housing conditions is becoming increasingly urgent. Indeed, Valuing Deep Retrofits ends with three recommendations aimed at increasing the understanding of the non-energy financial benefits that can flow from retrofits. The first advocates for better tracking of current building conditions—such as indoor air quality and home temperatures—in affordable housing and the occupants’ overall health outcomes. Inaugurating such pilot studies could help develop a fuller retrofit business case. The second recommendation urges existing retrofit programs to incorporate targeted studies or simple surveys of health-related indicators after the work has been completed. The final recommendation asks the provincial government to provide for funding to invest in retrofits that improve health outcomes, particularly for low-income households. It could be time to take a deeper dive into Ireland’s program.

Top image courtesy of the Pembina Institute.