Heat pump installation done by Phyxter Home Services.

Image Credit: FLICKR/Phyxter.ai

The City of Kelowna is working on its ‘Climate Resilient Kelowna Strategy’ for early 2024, which promises to offer solutions for the city's heavy fossil fuel consumption.

Kelowna uses an enormous amount of natural gas each year. The most recent provincial data shows that in 2020, Kelowna residential buildings used 2.9 million gigajoules of natural gas, most of which was consumed during the winter heating season.

According to FortisBC, just one gigajoule of natural gas is equivalent to around 27 litres of fuel oil, 39 litres of propane, 26 litres of gasoline or 277 kilowatt hours of electricity.

During the winter, most of that natural gas goes towards space heating peoples homes and heating water. 

The City's new strategy will focus on reducing the community's greenhouse gas emissions. It will also include preparations for local climate hazards such as extreme heat, flooding, and wildfires, according to Chris Ray. He works for the City of Kelowna and carries a job title of: Champion of the Environment.

However, in order to mitigate the City's fossil fuel consumption, residents will need to be provided with accessible, renewable alternatives. 

As part of the new strategy, the City will be launching a “Home Energy Coordinator” pilot program for residents. The program will provide approximately 50 homeowners with tailored home energy upgrade plans and will support them through home energy upgrades, Ray said.

For now, residents looking for renewable options to heat their homes this winter, are advised to improve their energy efficiency.

“There are countless ways to do this, ranging from small to large actions, with varying levels of complexity and investment,” Ray said.

From turning off unused devices, turning down the thermostat when possible and switching to LED lightbulbs all the way to sealing air leaks and adding insulation or completing energy efficient renovations, there are numerous ways to reduce reliance on natural gas, Ray said. 

There are also multiple rebates available through CleanBC, FortisBC, and various federal programs.

“Currently, residents of Kelowna can take advantage of over $20,000 in available combined energy efficiency rebates, greatly improving cost-effectiveness of these upgrades,” Ray said.

The City is also pushing heat pumps as a climate-friendly heating solution and currently offers $2,000 top up rebates for switching primary heating to a heat pump as well as $1,000 top up rebates for switching to an electric hot water heat pump.

The city is less keen on woodstoves as an alternative to gas heating. Ray said these are not part of the City’s strategy to reduce carbon emissions from buildings.

In the City of Kelowna, wood stoves can still be installed, however, provided they are emission-certified solid-fuel burning appliances.

More information on the City of Kelowna's Climate Resilient Kelowna Strategy can be found on the website here.

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