Heat pumps are an important technology for reducing residential building emissions, however their adoption rate in North America is far below what is needed to meet emission reduction targets. This paper uses a representative web-based survey of Canadian homeowners (n = 3,804) to identify and describe characteristic and attitudinal trends of three market segments of Canadian homeowners: Pioneers (heat pump owners), Potential Early Mainstream buyers (homeowners currently willing to purchase a heat pump), and Late Mainstream buyers (homeowners currently unwilling to purchase a heat pump). We find that personal capability, contextual and attitudinal factors are significant determinants of market segments. For example, being younger, more educated and wealthier is positively associated with market segmentation in Canada. A novel finding is that voting and living in rural areas is strongly associated with willingness to install a heat pump. The Atlantic Provinces, Quebec and British Columbia are all more likely than Ontario and Alberta to adopt heat pumps while the Prairies are less likely. This is true even after controlling for personal capability, contextual and attitudinal variables. We find an important role for contextual variables in explaining the geographical distribution of heat pump market segments.

Public support for home decarbonization policy is required to ensure long-lasting emissions reductions in the buildings sector. While many governments have implemented or announced policies to reduce building GHG emissions, it remains unclear whether these polices receive widespread public support and why. Using survey data from Canadian homeowners (n = 3,804), we explore (1) levels of homeowner support for specific types of home decarbonization policy in Canada and by Canadian region, (2) individual characteristics associated with support for specific policy types, and (3) heterogeneity across respondents based on patterns of policy support. Results indicate that the majority of homeowners (64-82%) support voluntary policies such as subsidies and loan programs for low-carbon heating technology, while compulsory policies (e.g., carbon taxes, renewable natural gas mandates) receive less support (38-49%). Characteristics associated with consistent support for most home decarbonization policies fall into five categories: altruistic values, climate concern, trust in scientists, positive perceptions of heat pumps, and higher education. Other characteristics are associated with specific policy types. Cluster analysis suggests that respondents fall into three groups: those supportive of all home decarbonization policies (43%), those supportive of voluntary policies only (37%), and those opposed to all home decarbonization policies (20%). Policy implications are discussed.

Heat pumps are a key technology for decarbonising residential buildings, yet their current market share in Canada remains very low at approximately 5 %. To promote heat pump adoption, governments in Canada have introduced supportive policies such as purchase subsidies, and it is often assumed that increasing consumer awareness of such policies increases heat pump adoption. Using a survey of Canadian homeowners who do not own heat pumps (n = 3138), we assess: (1) levels of willingness to adopt air source and ground source heat pumps across Canada, (2) the effect of information provision on willingness to adopt heat pumps, (3) levels of heat pump policy awareness across Canada, (4) whether perceived technical characteristics of heat pumps can be categorized as functional or symbolic, and as private or societal, and (5) the role of policy awareness and other drivers in explaining willingness to adopt heat pumps. We find that a third of Canadian homeowners express willingness to adopt heat pumps. These homeowners are found predominantly within the Atlantic region and show higher levels of adoption willingness for air source rather than ground source heat pumps. Awareness of existing heat pump supportive policy is low, with only 5 % of respondents able to name any policies from memory. Awareness tends to be higher in British Columbia, and for heat pump subsidies and carbon taxes. Policy awareness without cues (i.e., being able to freely recall policies) is a positive predictor of willingness to adopt air source heat pumps only. Policy awareness with cues (i.e., when respondents were provided with a list of policies that served as a memory prompt) is not associated with willingness to adopt either type of heat pump. Other significant predictors include perceptions of heat pumps' functionality and their environmental benefits, having a technology-oriented lifestyle, having higher support for policies, and the financial and inconvenience costs during installation. Based on findings, insights into targeted policy designs to accelerate residential building decarbonisation are provided.

Electric air source heat pumps (ASHPs) appear to be a key technology for decarbonizing space heating in existing residential buildings, yet their current market share in much of North America remains low. To explore how the potential future ASHP market may differ from the present one, we use a subset of data from the Canadian Home Heating Survey (n = 461) to provide a comprehensive characterization of three market segments of British Columbian homeowners: Pioneers (heat pump owners), Potential Early Mainstream buyers (homeowners currently willing to purchase an ASHP), and Late Mainstream buyers (homeowners currently unwilling to purchase an ASHP). We assess variable associations with market segments according to the Attitude-Behavior-Context theory, which posits that pro-environmental behavior is shaped by attitudinal, contextual, and socio-demographic factors. We also compare how market segmentation changes before and after respondents receive technical information on different home heating systems. Relative to Pioneers and the Potential Early Mainstream (PEM), we find that the Late Mainstream (LM) are generally lower income, lower educated, less environmentally- and technologically-oriented in their lifestyles, less open to change, less familiar with heat pumps and home energy efficiency, more negative in their perceptions about heat pumps, and less aware and supportive of policies aimed at reducing residential emissions. We also find that after respondents read technical information about home heating systems, approximately 10% of heat pump non-owners shift from the LM to the PEM; however, within the PEM, there is little growth in high willingness to adopt.

politique, la législation, les documents de planification existants relatifs à l'énergie et au changement climatique d'une juridiction donnée. Nous discutons de la méthode utilisée pour construire le passage pour piétons et partageons les points de vue des praticiens de l'énergie communautaire de la municipalité régionale de Halifax et de la ville d'Oakville qui l'ont utilisée au profit de leurs processus de planification énergétique communautaire. Abstract Community Energy Planning is a still-maturing practice that has great potential to help achieve climate goals, stimulate economic development, and realize health and social benefits. Community Energy Plans (CEPs) in Canada often encounter barriers to implementation that can be mitigated through use of enhanced collaboration and decision support tools. Planning and collaboration tools are needed to help municipal staff improve the quality and quantity of stakeholder engagement during the CEP process, set priorities, and increase inter-departmental collaboration on climate and energy goals. In this paper, we present the “CEP Crosswalk,” a tool designed to support the Community Energy Planning process by identifying points of contact between the principles governing the development of the CEP, and the guiding policy documents, regulations, and existing energy- and climate change-related planning resources of a given jurisdiction. We discuss the method used to construct the CEP Crosswalk and share insights from Community Energy practitioners at the Halifax Regional Municipality and the Town of Oakville who used it to benefit their Community Energy Planning processes.

A proliferation of energy models has been developed across disciplines to explore energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions-reduction strategies in cities. Hybrid models are especially useful because they incorporate more dynamics to simulate realistic results informed by relevant high-level policy decisions and building-level factors. Spatial and aspatial energy models, however, are not often linked, which overlooks the spatial impact of energy and emissions policies in urban environments. A new method is presented that links these types of models to understand how building stocks change over time in response to policies. This approach integrates outputs from an aspatial economic model, CIMS, with buildings in a spatially explicit urban building energy model (UBEM), UMI. The energy–economy model is parameterised against the UBEM using identified baseline condition and proposed future policy interventions. Building stock replacement and retrofit change are downscaled and disaggregated to individual buildings based on existing stock age and a probability-based Markov chain model (MCM). This integration enables simulations of cross-scale policy interventions that are sensitive to both economically and mechanically driven factors. An application of this approach shows how it can be used to evaluate how different policies interact with and influence building energy demand and GHG emissions. 'Practice relevance' The results are integrated as a series spatially explicit energy modeling procedure (UMI) at the neighborhood scale. This process enables local assessments of efficacy of the proposed city scale and even regional policies in municipalities with various energy and GHG emission agendas. In the presented case study (of the Sunset neighborhood of Vancouver, BC, Canada) this method can quantify the elasticity of emission reductions from various urban form changes ('e.g.' infill, transportation-oriented development, 'etc.'), new building code ('i.e.' BC Energy Step Code), active transportation and retrofit strategies from 2020 to 2050.

In community energy planning, a persistent disconnect has been observed between the targets and plans announced by local governments and the application of effective policy to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We use two methods to explore this implementation gap. First, we apply energy-economy modelling tools at the urban level to evaluate the effectiveness of various policy options available to local governments. Our case study for these exercises is the leading jurisdiction of Vancouver, British Columbia. Second, we report and analyze the results of a survey we administered to community energy practitioners in Canada. The modelling results point to jurisdictional reach as an important contributor to the implementation gap. We find that, while Vancouver can make significant progress by implementing policies that are clearly within its jurisdiction, the city is unlikely to meet its ambitious renewable energy and GHG emissions targets without the support of higher levels of government. The survey responses suggest that capacity limitations of local government also have a role in perpetuating the implementation gap.