ReCover: Retrofit Acceleration

The ReCover Initiative is a Halifax-based non-profit start-up, dedicated to reducing energy consumption and improving the wellbeing of Canadians by developing deep retrofit solutions that respond to the climate crisis at speed and scale. Deep retrofits are an essential part of the effort to meet Canada’s Net Zero commitments by 2050. Between 2020 and 2023, ReCover conducted 8 feasibility studies examining the technical potential for prefabricated panelized deep retrofits to buildings in Canada. Throughout this time, the ReCover team communicated with stakeholders across the country about the motivations for deep retrofits and the barriers to completing them. 

Through their research and engagement with building owners and industry, ReCover came to understand that the technical barriers to deep retrofits are not the biggest challenge in implementing them. To address the myriad barriers to implementing deep retrofits, ReCover, in collaboration with project partners including the Building to Zero Exchange (BTZx), the Halifax Climate Investment, Innovation and Impact (HCi3) Fund and the Union of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq (UNSM), and many others, have established the Atlantic Canada Deep Retrofit Accelerator (ACDRA).  This fall, ReCover is launching programs and services to support property owners in deep retrofit implementation and to grow building industry capacity for this important work and is engaging in new research to create a retrofit acceleration plan to help meet Atlantic Canadas decarbonization goals.

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