• Position retrofits as essential public infrastructure and translate mandates and standards into actionable capital plans.
• Navigate delivery challenges in occupied, aging buildings while balancing cost, speed, and safety.
• Align stakeholders—designers, contractors, financiers, and technology providers—for efficient, scalable project execution.
• Share lessons from public building portfolios that can be applied across cities, institutions, and large owners.

• Mapping the retrofit finance ecosystem: grants, rebates, tax credits, green banks, loan guarantees, and private capital.
• Designing layered capital stacks that improve project feasibility and investor confidence.
• Practical navigation of eligibility rules, compliance requirements, and application processes.
• Understanding recent federal policy and funding shifts, regulatory uncertainty, and how to future-proof financing strategies.
• Introducing the Zero Over Time (ZOT) approach to structure capital for long-term retrofit success.

HVACs for new and retrofitted buildings are an expensive pain in the neck.  But they can be cheaper, easier, and better through new technology. 

• Most energy efficient buildings are under-ventilated because ventilation wastes energy for heating and cooling. The result is ventilation which is inadequate for resident health. But demand controlled ventilation (DMC) can achieve healthful buildings by increasing ventilation rates when needed, but without losing energy efficiency. It can meet Passive House standards. 

• The separation of the heat pump from the ventilation system, and putting the pumps on the roof, causes high installation and maintenance costs. By putting both in the same machine, these costs can be significantly reduced.  

• We are installing and testing new equipment which seem to achieve all these goals. The future, which includes energy efficiency, building health, and lowered cost, may have arrived.

Scaling Impact: Retrofitting a Building Portfolio

• Establishing portfolio-wide retrofit priorities through baseline performance assessments. 
• Balancing standardized solutions with tailored strategies for diverse asset types. 
• Leveraging financing and procurement models to drive efficient portfolio-scale upgrades. 
• Measuring and communicating performance outcomes across multiple assets. 
• Extracting lessons for replicable and scalable retrofit strategies. 

Retrofits in Southern Ontario: Evolution, Financial Hurdles, and Solutions

The presentation will provide a high-level evolution of the large building retrofit practice in Ontario from 2000 to the present day coupled with the ongoing financial challenges facing public and private owners. Based on the past and current landscape an outline of possible solutions to accelerate retrofits and likely technical solutions will al1o be illustrated. 

From Oversized to Optimized: The Retrofit Opportunity

• Optimising systems – Brief History and Present Estimation methods 

• Retrofit: Rightsizing 

• The Winning Combination 

• Case Study 

• Overview of core compliance requirements for retrofit projects: energy, carbon, safety, and social performance..
• Who sets the rules: the role of federal, state, local, and international bodies, and how priorities are shaped.
• Anticipating future technical standards driven by electrification, embodied carbon, and digital performance tracking.
• Managing compliance risk across multi-jurisdictional retrofit portfolios.
• Effective strategies for industry engagement with policymakers and regulators to shape practical, scalable standards.

Participants can join the round table of their choice. Each roundtable leader will spend the first 10 minutes on a case study, lessons learned, or industry update. This will be followed by a 40-minute open discussion with all participants, moderated by the leader. The final 10 minutes will be used to identify 3-5 industry recommendations resulting from the group discussion. Key recommendations will be shared with the entire audience, and all roundtable recommendations will be included in the post-event report.

Section 1: Complying & Financing

1. Total Building Performance Certificate of Knowledge 
   Andrew Winslow, Northeastern Energy Efficiency Partnership 
2. Energy-as-a-Service (EaaS): Exploring off-balance-sheet financing models to fund deep energy retrofits without upfront CapEx. 
   Erin Camp, PowerOptions

Section 2: Planning & Delivery

1. Bridging Theory and Practice: Framework to Strengthen Retrofit Project Delivery 
   Brett Webster, RMI

• Assessing why solar control matters in commercial buildings 
• Product Overview: 3M™ All Season Window Film and 3M™ Prestige Window Film 
• Understanding the key benefits, including energy savings, comfort, and glare reduction 
• Regional Focus: Performance advantages for northeastern climates 
• Looking at real life case studies and practical examples applied to offices, retail, healthcare, education 
• How 3M™ Building Window Films support year‑round building performance. 

Deep retrofits require more than technical solutions. They demand adaptability as projects move from concept to construction. This session draws on experience from completed deep retrofit projects to explore how real-world conditions shape outcomes in ways early assumptions rarely anticipate. Using examples from the field, they highlight why certain strategies perform better than expected, where projects most commonly lose momentum, and how teams adjust to move work forward.

 • What we have learned on the ground through the completion of multiple deep retrofits, including the detours, pivots, and breakthroughs that shaped success.

• Why some strategies outperform or underperform expectations.

• Where projects get stuck and how they get back on track, using coordination and construction examples from the field.

• Structuring cross-functional teams across owners, designers, contractors, financiers, utilities, and regulators. 

• Practical trust-building strategies for multi-party retrofit projects. 

• Communication models that prevent misalignment, delays, and conflict. 

• Using data transparency, shared metrics, and third-party verification to build confidence. 

• Maintaining long-term relationships beyond a single project or funding cycle. 

• Understand why precise measurement and reporting are essential for tracking the success of retrofitting projects and influencing compliance improvements.
• Learn best practices for collecting and managing data related to energy usage, emissions reductions, and financial performance to benefit your projects.
• Using accurate, transparent data to verify outcomes through independent audits and third-party evaluations that will inform future projects.
• Discover how digital tools and technologies, such as smart meters and energy monitoring systems, can improve data collection and reporting efforts.
• Learn about how data can be used to evaluate actual building energy performance, enable ongoing commissioning of building systems, and ensure retrofits deliver the expected energy and GHG savings. 

Join us for drinks and hors d'oeuvres following the conclusion of day one's conference sessions. Relax and network with new connections on behalf of our sponsor, RDH Building Science.  

• Sharing firsthand lessons from owners navigating retrofit projects under evolving Building Performance Standards. 

• Examining practical challenges and opportunities that emerge during deep retrofit planning and execution. 

• Highlighting strategies for aligning capital plans, tenant needs, and operational goals with compliance pathways. 

• Evaluating technologies, data tools, and performance tracking methods that support long‑term BPS alignment. 

• Capturing insights on financing, timelines, and organizational coordination that shape successful retrofit outcomes. 

• Project constraints and risks  

• Planning and coordination strategies  

• Stakeholder communication approach  

• Results achieved despite limitations  

• Best practices for constrained projects 

• Identifying labor and skills gaps critical to large-scale retrofit initiatives.
• Building strategic partnerships to expand and diversify the workforce pipeline.
• Implementing training and certification programs to elevate workforce capabilities.
• Tracking employment and retention outcomes across retrofit projects.
• Capturing long-term benefits of a skilled, resilient workforce.

• CEP’s retrofit delivery model: how we combine energy efficiency, electrification, and essential home improvements to meet the needs of low-income households.
• A community-centered approach: coordinating contractors, supporting clients through the process, and tailoring scopes of work to each home.
• Impact of 170+ completed projects: significant energy savings, bill reductions, electrification transitions, and measurable carbon reductions.
• Case study walk-through: a real CEP home demonstrating how we scope work, address common issues, and align multiple funding sources to complete a whole-home retrofit.
• Practical funding alignment: how CEP blends local and state resources to sustain a scalable, people-first retrofit model.

Retrofitting History: Sustainable Renovations of Two 19th-Century Cambridge Residences 

• Balancing preservation with decarbonization 
• From pilot, to portfolio, and beyond Harvard: a replicable approach for historic buildings 
• Real challenges, practical solutions, and team dynamics 

• Understanding Grid Impacts: How heating electrification through retrofit upgrades affects peak demand, grid utilization, and energy affordability across different regions. 

• Enabling Scalable Electrification: Practical strategies—like efficiency improvements, advanced heat pumps, and load‑management—to reduce grid strain and support wider electrification without major infrastructure upgrades. 

• Coordinating for System Value: Why aligning retrofit initiatives with utility planning and rate design is essential for reliability, cost‑effectiveness, and equitable decarbonization. 

Leveraging partnerships to expand access and boost participation in building decarbonization retrofits 

Normalizing decarb with simple, straightforward, compelling communications 

Centering energy affordability as the onramp to electrification 

Embracing accessibility and equity as strategic imperatives to reduce emissions from smaller buildings 

Participants can join the round table of their choice. Each roundtable leader will spend the first 10 minutes on a case study, lessons learned, or industry update. This will be followed by a 40-minute open discussion with all participants, moderated by the leader. The final 10 minutes will be used to identify 3-5 industry recommendations resulting from the group discussion. Key recommendations will be shared with the entire audience, and all roundtable recommendations will be included in the post-event report.

Section 3: Planning & Operational Strategies

1. Buildings as Economic Drivers - Eva Rosenbloom, RMI 
2. Electrification in Practice: Real-world challenges of swapping gas-fired boilers for heat pumps in high-rise and cold-climate applications.
3. Boston Energy Savers Program - Brooks Winner, City of Boston
4. Case Study: Partnering with Owners from Pre-planning through Construction: The Value of Technical Assistance 

   • This presentation will leverage learnings and experience from technical assistance programs in NYS, MA, and DC. 

   • Explore effective strategies for assisting all properties, particularly owners who have limited capacity and experience, in moving through pre-construction processes and requirements to ensure projects are successful 

   • Share approaches for assembling a financial package 

   • Integrate stakeholder perspectives to build assistance into larger retrofit fundings programs at the design stage 
     Sarabeth Erdman VEIC

• Leveraging sensors, IoT, and digital twins to plan, monitor, and verify retrofit projects at scale.
• Using real-time analytics to optimize energy, carbon, and operational performance.
• Integrating building data into portfolio-wide decision-making and capital planning.
• Exploring emerging technologies that enable predictive maintenance, occupant engagement, and continuous improvement.
• Lessons from early adopters and practical guidance for long-term technology adoption.

• Synthesizing key insights and lessons from multi-asset retrofit strategies.
• Exploring emerging technologies, policies, and financing models shaping the next decade.
• Identifying opportunities for scaling impact and advancing energy equity nationwide.
• Discussing workforce evolution and long-term skill-building for the retrofit sector.
• Charting actionable steps for stakeholders to accelerate sustainable, resilient building portfolios.