Quebec bans oil heating in new homes, and bans new or replacement heating systems powered by fossil fuels by 2023

[Ashok]

Posting this in Urban Tech because it does have a lot to do with innovation.  Electrification, especially for a region like Quebec that is heavily reliant on electric infrastructure that is relatively low-carbon makes a lot of sense. You can start replacing fossil fuels with either heat pumps, or centralized systems like Variant Refrigerant flows. I know some people jump when we say Heat Pump and Quebec, but modern heat pumps efficiencies are pretty good even in cold weather.

 

I am not familiar with the landscape in Quebec, but I hope this is followed with some incentives for electrification. Also, they should certainly push for solar and storage, it will improve the resilience of the electric grid - especially during peak loads, or massive failure like the ice storm - solar + storage will make a huge difference.

 

I get that innovation in Quebec regarding more low-carbon homes and building is slow partially because of how cheap energy is in the province, but there is a major opportunity to become a sustainability power-house for Quebec (Which it is already doing by providing clean energy to NY State and other parts of US.)

 

Great move by Quebec, and hopefully other provinces will follow! Let's start de carbonizing our cities.  😃

 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-bans-oil-heating-1.6252420

Modifié 2 janvier 2022 par Ashok

[Né entre les rapides]

Le 2022-01-02 à 11:35, Ashok a dit :

Posting this in Urban Tech because it does have a lot to do with innovation.  Electrification, especially for a region like Quebec that is heavily reliant on electric infrastructure that is relatively low-carbon makes a lot of sense. You can start replacing fossil fuels with either heat pumps, or centralized systems like Variant Refrigerant flows. I know some people jump when we say Heat Pump and Quebec, but modern heat pumps efficiencies are pretty good even in cold weather.

 

I am not familiar with the landscape in Quebec, but I hope this is followed with some incentives for electrification. Also, they should certainly push for solar and storage, it will improve the resilience of the electric grid - especially during peak loads, or massive failure like the ice storm - solar + storage will make a huge difference.

 

I get that innovation in Quebec regarding more low-carbon homes and building is slow partially because of how cheap energy is in the province, but there is a major opportunity to become a sustainability power-house for Quebec (Which it is already doing by providing clean energy to NY State and other parts of US.)

 

Great move by Quebec, and hopefully other provinces will follow! Let's start de carbonizing our cities.  😃

 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-bans-oil-heating-1.6252420

Ça faisait déjà longtemps que le Québec offrait des incitations visant la conversion totale ou partielle (Programme Biénergie d'Hydro-Québec) du mode de chauffage, de l'huile à l'électricité.  Aussi, depuis cet hiver, les clients disposant d'un compteur "intelligent" peuvent bénéficier de tarifs réduits sur une portion de leur consommation d'électricité en période de pointe, à condition de réduire leur consommation durant ces périodes (un avis est fourni à l'avance).  L'interdiction du chauffage à l'huile constitue une suite logique à ces efforts.

C'est évidemment plus facile pour le Québec de faire une transition vers le tout électrique, que pour d'autres provinces moins bien dotées en sources d'énergie propre comme l'hydro-électricité.  En Ontario, le chauffage au gaz naturel est dominant, ce qui est déjà mieux que le recours au charbon ou à l'huile.  Je dois aussi saluer l'important effort de la province, qui a fermé en 2013 sa gigantesque centrale électrique alimentée au charbon à Nanticoke, sur les rives du lac Erié.    

[Ashok]

Yup - you are right. Thanks for the feedback.Its easy for me to read French, but excuse me for replying in English (will take me 3 times longer to write in French.)

 

I do not have a lot of experience within the Quebec industry per se. During Grad School, I was creating standards for improved delivery of net-zero homes for remote sub-arctic regions in Canada (specifically, Northern Quebec,) and I did study this standard which is quite progressive - https://transitionenergetique.gouv.qc.ca/en/residential/programs/novoclimat

 

And I am also aware of incentives within Quebec.

Generally speaking, what I see in Quebec is more grassroots push for energy efficiency - yes, there are def demonstrative projects pushed by the government. My theory is the cost of energy is so cheap in Quebec, that it often does not make a lot of economic sense to electrify. So, despite grassroots push and structural push for these standards via the government, I believe its failure to scale has to with the economic models of these systems - though, there are additional factors to consider here.

 

Let take NYC, we have pretty strong framework that not only offer incentives for electrification, but there are also stringent carbon tax law (one of the most progressive, and large scale application of carbon tax laws on buildings)  - and it is still difficult to convince clients - even when the economic works. Usually, we find clients are a bit scared of using technology that they feel are new to them. Note, technologies like HP, Heat Recovery systems are pretty well understood and there are enough application in life to assess their success. 

 

Where we are seeing a huge impact in NYC is the introduction of the carbon tax laws - directly aligned with UN Climate Goals. And the taxes are significant - enough that it is forcing large building owners to retrofit. It is in this context that I feel this news from Quebec is quite Positive!

 

By the way, speaking of Large scale retrofits - here is a presentation I made to NYC architectural communities on emerging technologies that we are trying to push to help scale-up deep-energy retrofit solutions. Notably, the integration of the MEP directly the facade systems. These are new technologies that we understood for years, but we are working with NY State and industry partners to push these ideas onto the market. Mind you - this goes beyond just reducing operational carbon, but also considers the carbon required to retrofit.

 

In the next 30 years - 90% of the building we see around us need to come towards net-zero for us to tackle climate change. 40% of the world carbon emission is through the building sector, in large urban areas - it is perhaps closer to 60 to 70%. So, it is just a matter of years for Montreal to come out and ask buildings to be radically retrofit (And electrification is a key part of that strategy.) We are seeing framework for these regulations - across Canada, but there will soon be a jump where these framework will become regulations and laws (such as banning of the oil.)

 

 

Modifié 5 janvier 2022 par Ashok