What is a nation-building project? It’s more than a big price tag or an impressive structure. True nation-building projects capture the country’s imagination and deliver benefits that ripple across generations. Read More
Opinion: Closing the gap to B.C.’s economic, affordability and climate targets will require continued support for consumers and businesses.
Opinion: Closing the gap to B.C.’s economic, affordability and climate targets will require continued support for consumers and businesses.
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What is a nation-building project? It’s more than a big price tag or an impressive structure. True nation-building projects capture the country’s imagination and deliver benefits that ripple across generations.
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In the past, that meant highways, hydro dams, or the postwar housing boom that reshaped Canada’s communities.
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Today, those same buildings are aging and in urgent need of renewal as their systems wear out and the climate warms.
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Unlike yesterday’s projects, today’s challenges — housing affordability and climate change — are unlikely to be solved in one place. They demand solutions that are distributed, scalable and capable of improving millions of lives at once.
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Informed Opinion
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One such project is already within reach: the mass adoption of electric heat pumps in multi-family buildings.
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Picture an apartment or condo-dweller struggling inside their home through B.C.’s hot and increasingly smoky season, now stretching into spring and fall. Electric heat pumps provide a shovel-ready solution. They deliver affordable, zero-emissions heating and cooling at up to three times the efficiency of a gas furnace.
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In B.C., condos and apartments are popular, in Metro Vancouver, they’re the dominant form of housing stock. Some estimates ballpark the count at 12,000 such buildings across the province. Many are in poor condition and the majority are vulnerable to overheating. In a warming B.C., frequently under wildfire-smoke alerts, cooling is no longer a frill but an essential feature.
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Conditions are already in place for mass-adoption of heat pumps in multi-family buildings:
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First, the evolution of electric heat pumps over the last two decades has been nothing short of exceptional. Modern models are quiet, efficient, durable and built to provide heat throughout Canadian winters — on top of providing cooling.
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That’s partly why electric heat pumps have gone mainstream, like EVs and batteries.
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Second, industry acceptance and workforce capacity are here. Contractors continue to build their know-how, and supply chains are continuously expanding, with new models arriving in B.C. every month. We’re even seeing companies like Small Planet Supply establish assembly plants in Vancouver, providing heat pumps that produce hot water.
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Third, government and institutional policy is increasingly supportive. Local governments, academic and health institutions, and even health authorities, are all aligned behind the benefits that heat pumps provide.
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