Retrofit Canada, a leader in deep retrofits, has secured a significant $775,897 contribution from Natural Resources Canada (NRCAN)’s Greener Neighbourhoods Pilot Program (GNPP). Retrofit Canada will use this contribution to create the Retrofit Repository, a comprehensive national library of deep retrofit case studies. This investment will be instrumental in accelerating the building sector’s capacity to conduct deep…

The six newest case studies in our library come courtesy of the ReCover Initiative (ReCover), a Nova Scotia-based non-profit focused on revolutionizing Canada’s buildings to combat climate change. ReCover recently explored the feasibility of using panelized deep retrofits on six different municipal buildings. Retrofit Canada is helping them share their findings by hosting these in our…

Jasmine King of Global Edmonton dropped by the Brookside Retrofit to learn how Butterwick Projects used an EnergieSprong-inspired panelized retrofit to make this home 70 to 80 per cent more efficient. During the interview, homeowners Melanie and Sean Hoffman shared their experience with the retrofit, while Jesse Tufts, who helped manage the project, highlighted Edmonton as a…

How much does a deep retrofit that makes a home net-zero ready cost? That’s the number one question we get from consumers. So what’s the answer?  If you want to make an old house net-zero with a one-shot, all-in deep retrofit, you could be looking at costs of $100,000 to $200,000, but it depends on a…

Are you a homeowner interested in making your home net-zero ready? Want to learn how to reduce your utility bills to zero? Curious about heat pumps and whether they actually work in a cold climate? Need some inspiration and encouragement when it comes to climate action and personal choices that can make a difference? Well,…

Last year, Jim Sandercock and Melanie Harmsma’s house got a panelized deep retrofit. Learn what they have to say about living in the home after the retrofit. But first, a panelized deep whatzit? The Sandercock-Harmsma panelized deep retrofit was inspired by a Netherlands approach to deep retrofits known as EnergieSprong. The builder who did the…

Friend of Retrofit Canada, and perennial champion of all things energy efficient, net-zero, solar powered and built green, David Dodge of Green Energy Futures interviewed Jim Sandercock about the retrofit of his family’s 1951 home. This project is the first EnergieSprong-inspired deep retrofit of a single-family home in North America, and one of three our partner, Butterwick Projects,…

Retrofit Canada co-founder and board member Peter Amerongen and his son, Max, submitted this story to Canadian Architect about the Sundance Housing Co-op energiesprong-inspired panelized deep retrofit, a project led by Butterwick, a green builder in Edmonton, Alberta. Max, an Edmonton writer and designer, wrote the story explaining what a panelized deep retrofit is and why Canada…

When the gas company came to remove the Hoffmans’ gas meter, the technician was very confused, asking the couple, “Is this correct? Are you sure you want your meter removed?” The Hoffmans, whose house is getting the second panelized deep retrofit of a single-family home in Canada, were sure – the gas meter needed to go. And they’d been sure…

Butterwick Projects has made huge progress on this retrofit, the first of its type in North America, since the panel fly-in earlier this summer. In case you missed it, here is a short video of the Butterwick crew working with a crane operator to install pre-built walls on the existing home. ‍ Even though we aren’t done, the…

From the outside in: a new way to renovate.  That’s the title of this article penned by Laura Severs of the Edmonton Journal that tells the Sandercock-Harmsma family story about their journey to net-zero. Given that we often describe a panelized deep retrofit as being like a wrapping a building in a warm sweater, Retrofit…

Sustainable Biz Canada interviewed Retrofit Canada’s Peter Amerongen and homeowner Jim Sandercock about the energiesprong-inspired deep retrofit of Jim’s home Butterwick Projects is leading, the first retrofit of its kind in North America. These are just a couple of the great quotes in the piece. “There are eight million single-family houses in Canada and they have…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Edmonton, Alberta (June 28, 2022) Edmonton-based construction company, Butterwick Projects Ltd., has started the first panelized deep retrofit of a single-family home in North America. Butterwick’s ground-breaking approach uses 3D digital imaging to pre-build wall panels that are then attached to the house’s exterior using a crane.  “About a third of greenhouse gases…

Is your home too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter? Do extreme temperatures put your furnace and air conditioner into overdrive? Is your home’s repairs and maintenance to-do list so long and daunting that you’ve “accidentally” lost it under the fridge? Is your asthma worse in the basement? Do you have…

We don’t often get a chance to talk for OVER AN HOUR about deep retrofits, so when the Alberta Enterprise Group offered us that chance, we jumped on it. ‍ Peter Amerongen did the interview wearing all three of his ReNü Engineering, Butterwick Projects and Retrofit Canada hats. ‍ “Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are little like a water…

A Deep Retrofit can make a building 70 per cent more efficient and reduce CO2 emissions up to 400 tonnes a year. Retrofit Canada is starting a deep retrofit movement to make existing homes net-zero. There are three different approaches to making your home energy efficient. And in our humble opinion net-zero ready has to be the goal. Net-zero…

Energy efficiency and energy generation have been occupying Jim Sandercock’s mind for more than a decade. As chair of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology’s Alternative Energy program, this is no surprise. But Jim’s interest is more than just academic. “From a climate perspective, my family and I really want to reduce our carbon footprint,”…

If you want to do an energiesprong-type panelized deep energy retrofit to make your home energy efficient and net-zero ready, you need to get accurate measurements of the outside of the building. Photogrammetry – using pictures of a building to “model” its dimensions – is one way to do this. 3D Software Developer and friend…

There’s no path to a stable climate without industrial scale deep energy retrofits to existing building.” With that opener, Peter Amerongen launched Retrofit Canada’s first webinar ever. The free workshop had almost 100 attendees from across Canada and the U.S., a remarkable number that shows just how much interest there is in the deep energy retrofit…

What happens when you mix expertise in green building design and construction, drones, hard work and a commitment to addressing climate change? You get the makings for a Deep Retrofit that can make an existing building airtight, way more comfortable and net-zero. A panelized retrofit is one approach. It uses cutting-edge imaging technology to design…

In October 2021, Retrofit Canada’s Peter Amerongen presented information about Butterwick Project’s approach to Deep Energy Retrofits to the Edmonton Section of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering. Following the presentation, section members had the opportunity to tour the Sundance project. The presentation had some great questions about how realistic is it to scale up…

Sundance Housing Cooperative has been a leader in affordable housing, community living and environmental responsibility for more than 40 years. Now, Sundance is leading the largest panelised Deep Energy Retrofit ever undertaken in Canada. Inspired by a Dutch technique known as Energiesprong, this approach to a Deep Energy Retrofit uses cutting-edge imaging technology to design prefabricated panels.…

About one-third of greenhouse gases come from the buildings we use right now. 70 percent will still be standing in 2050. We can’t address climate change just by building new net-zero homes. We need solutions that make the homes we live in right now net-zero to preserve a liveable climate. Deep Retrofits are the solution. We…

CBC: Edmonton launches retrofit loan pilot in bid to reduce emissions “Peter Amerongen, a member of the city’s Energy Transition Climate Resilience Committee, welcomes the program as a good start to a burgeoning industry.  Buildings are a big contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, Amerongen noted.   Deep energy retrofits at industrialized scale are absolutely essential for…

Edify, Edmonton’s favourite lifestyle magazine did a nice spread on the Sundance Housing Co-op’s Deep Energy Retrofit of its 59 original units. ‍ The story references both Butterwick Project’s and Sundance’s committment to making the project open source so others can learn how to do panelized Deep Energy Retrofits. Quotables: “There’s an excitement and pride that our co-op is…

Butterwick Projects and Climate Action Edmonton, two of Retrofit Canada’s partners, received funding from the Smart Sustainable Resilient Infrastructure Association (SSRIA) for three single-family-home Deep Energy Retrofits. The funding will allow the partners to test panelized Deep Energy Retrofits on single-family-homes and demonstrate how those solutions can be successfully implemented at a larger scale. It will also support…

The St. Alberta Gazette’s Kevin Ma profiled the Sundance Housing Co-op Deep Energy Retrofit and our very own Peter Amergonen’s contributions to net-zero building and deep energy retrofits in the Edmonton Region. Besides talking up the benefits of an energiesprong approach to retrofits that uses pre-fabricated walls installed right on the outside of an existing…

Canada Invests in Better Energy Efficiency for Edmonton Housing NEWS PROVIDED BY Natural Resources Canada May 24, 2019, 11:51 ET ‍Edmonton, May 24, 2019 /CNW/ – Energy efficiency in buildings lowers costs, creates jobs and helps the environment. Promoting energy-efficient practices is key to Canada’s approach to a clean energy economy. The Honourable Amarjeet Sohi,…