Home Retrofits

About Home Retrofits

If you own a home – and even more so if you own an older home – one of the most important things you can do to take climate action is to move closer towards a net-zero home – by getting a home retrofit.

Whether you are able to make many changes to reduce your home’s carbon footprint or just one, and whether you do them quickly or over a number of years, your efforts will have a big impact. The key is to get going, get support, get a good plan in place, and do as much as you can.

The thought of doing a green home retrofit can be daunting for many of us – but never fear, the Pocket Change Project has your back! Whether you are preparing to replace a furnace, air conditioner or gas appliance; are planning a renovation and would like to reduce your emissions and increase your comfort as well; or you would like to make your house net-zero or even net-negative, we can help.

Be a Changemaker!

Changemakers are Pocket homeowners undertaking retrofits using our retrofit support service, called the Changemakers program. Together, our Changemakers are helping to transform the Pocket into a cleaner, greener community for everyone, and getting us closer to a net-zero neighbourhood. This is so important because in the City of Toronto, fossil fuel use in residential buildings is the single largest contributor (58%) to our city’s greenhouse gas emissions, and of those, 56% are from the residential sector, the majority of them from single family homes. In other words, our homes are major greenhouse gas emitters. This also means our homes can be used to take very meaningful climate action. The power to make an significant contribution to climate action is in our hands!

Our retrofit coordination service ensure you have a concrete plan for your retrofit (called a Retrofit Roadmap) and personalized, expert advice to help guide you through the process and move ahead with confidence. It also provides the support of a neighbourhood Retrofit Coordinator, who will stay in touch, help you address any issues, and convene regular opportunities to meet other Changemakers. The Retrofit Roadmap and community-based support model are key to why our retrofit coordination service has been so successful and attracted so much attention to date.

We can't say enough about the Retrofit Roadmap, which flattens your learning curve, reduces a lot of uncertainty and guesswork, gives you a solid, step-by-step plan to follow, and ensures you have the most greenhouse gas-reducing and cost-effective retrofit strategy for your money, among other benefits.

To get started with our retrofit coordination service or learn more about it, email [email protected].

Let's hear it for our Changemakers! Here is some of what they have accomplished so far.

Pocket Changemakers: Progress as of April 2024

34

total Changemakers - at various stages of retrofits

30

retrofit plans (roadmaps) done

18

electric heat pumps installed for home heating and cooling, the most significant step towards reducing a home's emissions

15

homes with significant improvements to their building envelopes, with new widow and insulation upgrades

7

homes with solar panels installed, producing clean electricity

10

Gas water heaters removed & replaced with air-source heat pump or electric water heaters

13

Gas stoves and dryers replaced with electric induction or electric

5

homes 100% electric! (no longer emitting fossil gas)

 

Note: A handful of Changemakers began their retrofits before September 2021; the rest began since then.

Get More Support

There are lots of ways you can get helpful information and support from us with your home retrofit projects, including our:

You can also look at the other information we have in this section of our website about Funding and Financing, Air Source Heat Pumps, and Rooftop Solar. Other helpful resources:

 

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