Deep Retrofit Accelerators are Missing the Most Critical Step
The Government of Canada has committed hundreds of millions to deep retrofit accelerator programs nationwide. The rationale is clear: retrofitting buildings is one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce CO₂ emissions.
But after 35 years working in building energy upgrades, I can tell you the biggest barrier isn’t accelerating projects. It’s starting them.
You can’t accelerate a car without turning the key. And that’s where today’s retrofit market falls short.
The system is built for projects that already exist.
There is much good support once a project is underway:
Incentives for feasibility studies
Rebates for equipment and installation
Access to low-cost financing
But none of that matters if the building owner never takes the first crucial steps to get their project off the ground.
Building owners don’t wake up thinking: “I should commission a feasibility study today.”
They need confidence first. They need to know:
Is there a real opportunity here?
Will it save money?
Is it worth my time?
That early-stage insight requires technical, financial, and energy expertise.
This is the market gap.
Larger organizations may have energy expertise on staff. Most do not. Public programs try to bridge this with:
Embedded energy managers (for large facilities/organizations)
Sector-level energy advisors (for smaller ones)
In reality, sector-wide resources are too stretched to guide projects from idea to execution at scale. And most buildings are simply too small to warrant dedicated support.
So who actually gets projects started in these smaller buildings?
In most cases:
Contractors
Equipment vendors
Consultants
But they’re often working on speculation, absorbing the cost of chasing opportunities that may never materialize.
We have a strong focus on acceleration, but overlooked initiation.
“Deep retrofit accelerator” is a powerful concept—but it assumes a pipeline of ready-to-go projects. The reality? That pipeline is thin.
If we want more retrofits, we need to invest in finding them, and guiding building owners through the earliest, most uncertain stage of the journey.
What needs to change?
We need to re-balance our approach:
Although accelerating action is important, policymakers and funding bodies need to place greater emphasis on supporting the front end of project development:
Support on-the-ground identification and qualification of opportunities. Not just those that fit specific rebate programs, but all viable retrofit opportunities.
Acknowledge real-world conversion rates and the effort required to generate viable projects.
In short: We need more people knocking on doors, assessing buildings, and turning ideas into actionable projects, before they ever reach an “accelerator”.
If we want to scale deep retrofits, we can’t just push harder on the gas. We need to start more engines.
2-Minute Payback is GRCL’s blog of energy-saving tips and tools for busy building managers. This post was written by Chuck Faulkner.
