BC Community Climate Funding Guide

Spurred on by a $100,000 grant from the CleanBC Building Innovation Fund, the City of Fort St. John is constructing a new net-zero-ready home for the community’s RCMP detachment. The building will use significantly less energy than the current station and bring substantial cost savings and emissions reductions to the community. It features locally sourced mass timber, a solar-ready roof, energy-efficient HVAC systems and a thermal performance-maximizing envelope.  

A fully-electric vehicle has replaced a gas-guzzling security van in the Coquitlam School District’s fleet, thanks to funding provided through the CleanBC Go Electric program. Emissions from the fleet are one of the main contributors to the School District’s carbon footprint and the van – the most-used vehicle in the fleet – was a major source of those emissions. Driven more than 200 kilometres each day and using 7,700 litres of gas each year, it produced more than 18,300 kilograms of greenhouse gases annually. The new electric vehicle runs completely on B.C.’s clean electricity, charges quickly and efficiently, and can travel 260 kilometres on a single charge.

Cortes Island cyclists and pedestrians will soon reap the benefits of the Union of BC Municipalities’ Active Transportation Planning Program. The $20,000 awarded to the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) will make it easier for islanders to leave their cars at home. The SRD plans to use the money to develop an inventory of Cortes’ walking paths, cycling routes and support facilities, such as bike parking and repair sites. They’ll also provide information on safety and road conditions to help make active transportation a worry-free option.

Through funding from CleanBC’s Community Energy Leadership Program, the District of Summerland added heat pumps to their wastewater treatment plant (their most energy-intensive major facility) and reduced their energy use by almost 800 gigajoules annually.

Through a combination of federal and provincial support, the City of Kamloops completed a $13.5 million project to upgrade the energy efficiency of its Canada Games Aquatic Centre. The project started with a need to replace the centre’s critical ageing infrastructure. But – thanks to provincial and federal funding – it turned into an opportunity to simultaneously improve the environmental performance of the building. Bolstered by more than $1.1 million from the provincial government through the CleanBC Communities Fund and $1.37 million from the federal government, the city was able to install a heat-recovery system that uses the heat that evaporates off the pool to warm the new air entering the building. This reduces the centre’s reliance on natural gas and lowers its greenhouse gas emissions – taking Kamloops one important step closer to meeting its climate goals.