Energy Efficient Buildings RD&D
NOTICE: This program is no longer accepting applications. Thank you to all that applied. Eight projects from across Canada were selected for funding through a rigorous review by an expert panel. Check out the list of selected projects below.
Program Background
Our government is investing $182 million to increase energy efficiency and address climate change by improving how our homes and buildings are designed, renovated, and constructed. $48.4 million is going to support the development and implementation of building codes for existing buildings and new net-zero energy-ready buildings through RD&D initiatives that:
- Accelerate development and adoption of technologies, design and construction.
- Provide more cost-effective solutions.
- Validate locally with real-world demonstrations.
- Build confidence for adoption of updated codes.
These funds will be disbursed under the Energy Efficient Buildings Program (‘EEB Program’) through a series of Calls for Proposals or Expressions of Interest. Funding under the EEB Program were accessible since 2018 and has now been fully allocated.
EEB RD&D 3rd Call Finalists
The Energy Efficient Buildings RD&D Program closed their 3rd call for project proposals in March 2021 after receiving 98 expressions of interest, which then underwent in-depth expert reviews. Seventeen companies were invited to submit full project proposals. After a stringent review process, eight projects have been selected, successfully completed the due diligence process, and entered into funding agreements.
Project Lead | Project Title | Location |
---|---|---|
Canadian Home Builders' Association |
Towards cost- effective net-zero energy ready residential renovations |
National (10 municipalities) |
City of Toronto |
Deep Retrofit Challenge |
Ontario |
Government of Manitoba |
School Deep Energy Retrofit |
Manitoba |
Morguard Corporation |
Deep Energy Retrofit of JET Building |
Ontario |
QuadReal Property Group LP |
Demonstrating a Scalable, Low- carbon Deep Retrofit for High- Rise MURBs |
British Columbia |
Greater Victoria Housing Society |
Sitkum Lodge Seniors Apartment Deep Retrofit |
British Columbia |
RSI Projects Inc. |
ReCover Initiative: Panelized Deep Energy Retrofits of Municipal Buildings |
Nova Scotia, Ontario, Saskatchewan |
Toronto Community Housing Corporation |
Deep Energy Retrofit of a 1940’s-Era MURB |
Ontario |
Program Results So Far
Calls 1 and 2 of the EEB Program closed in September 2017 and February 2018 respectively, with 292 Expressions of Interest (‘EOI’) received and evaluated across 6 Scope Priority Areas. EOIs were received from every region of Canada, from a wide range of applicant organizations, requesting a total of approximately $485M in Contribution funding – 26x more than the funding available for these calls!
After evaluating and scoring all EOIs, the EEB Program invited 41 Applicants to submit full project proposals. Project locations and Applicant types were distributed as follows:

Map of Canada shows number of EOIs and proposals from each province and territory, and charts showing number of EOIs and proposals received from different applicant organization types
Text version
Map of Canada showing the distribution of EOIs and RFPs received:
EOIs: YK – 2, NT – 1, NU – 5, BC – 68, AB – 54, SK – 6, MB – 7, ON – 106, QC – 26, NB – 3, PE – 1, NS – 12, NL – 1.
RFPs: NU – 3, BC – 3, AB – 5, SK – 1, MB – 3, ON – 15, QC – 4, NS – 2.
Pie chart 1 shows that the Program received a total of 292 expressions of interest, with the following distribution in applicant organization type: industry – 170, academia – 43, municipal government – 30, associations – 19, first nations – 16, provincial government – 14.
Pie chart 2 shows that the Program received a total of 41 RFPs, with the following distribution in applicant organization type: industry – 17, academia – 10, municipal government – 3, associations – 3, first nations – 2, provincial government – 6.
Final project selection was completed in summer 2018 and 12 projects were selected, which are anticipated to result in:
- 16 new buildings constructed, providing Net-Zero Energy Ready business cases.
- 4 deep-energy retrofits conducted.
- Demonstration projects resulting in up to 65% reduction in building energy consumption.
- 540 new residential units built.
- 40,000 m2 of commercial/institutional floor space developed.
- 3 nationally-applicable software tools implemented.
- All Canadian climate zones covered by the selected projects.
Expected outcomes of the selected projects include:
- Demonstration of a cost-effective deep energy retrofit solution for Nunavut, targeting 50% reduction in energy consumption.
- 3 demonstrations of new Net-Zero Ready buildings, supporting codes development and building market confidence.
- Demonstration of an innovative, cost-effective retrofit approach for social housing.
- BC-led demonstration program showcasing building performance at the highest level of the BC Energy Step Code.
- FEED study identifying the best approach to a zero carbon community energy system.
- Software tools to investigate pathways to achieving Net-Zero Energy Ready building designs, and to provide actionable information to reduce building energy consumption.
Resources

Projects already supported by the Buildings Program can be found on our Current Investments page by selecting ‘Energy Efficient Buildings and Communities’ under the ‘Technology Area’ pull down menu.
Contact Us
Email the Energy Efficient Buildings Program nrcan.eeb-be.rncan@canada.ca
Stay connected
Join our electronic mailing list for up-to-date information on our funding calls, and follow us on social media and join the conversation using #NetZero
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