BC Community Climate Funding Guide

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.

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.

The original fleet of electric SkyTrain cars is still running smoothly, thanks in large part to the Canada Community-Building Fund. Through one of the fund’s three streams – the Greater Vancouver Regional Fund – TransLink has received almost $2 billion to date for everything from new buses to constructing the new Marpole electric-bus transit centre. Most recently, funding allowed for the refurbishment of 144 Mark 1 SkyTrain cars dating from the 1980s and 90s, each of which has run, on average, more than 3.2 million kilometres to date. Now, with funding from the Canada Community-Building Fund, they’ll be a part of the region’s clean transportation future for years to come.

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.

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.