Windsor Council has approved a long-term Community Energy Plan spanning out to 2041.
The plan includes a long 'to do' list, with the first being public education and retrofitting older homes.
The city's supervisor of environmental sustainability and climate change, Karina Richters, says Windsor has one of the oldest housing stocks in Ontario with half of its homes being built before 1955.
Richters says the older homes make a big impact on energy use.
"We use 35% more energy than the average in Ontario," says Richters. "When we looked at the breakdown of our homes, half were built before 1955 so there is a huge impact because of the older homes and how do we get those to be more energy efficient."
Richters says council needs to show leadership and change the philosophy about energy use:
"They approved moving forward with applying for grant funding to get some of the quick hits. But in the long term it's going to be reviewing the plan and bring it into other plans and policies and how do we use and look at energy in the decisions we make."
By 2041, it's estimated energy costs will increase by between 120% and 280% in Windsor with costs jumping from $842-million per year to as high as $3.1-billion.
— with files from AM800's Zander Broeckel —