Heat Pumps

Many countries in Europe, including France, Ireland, the Netherlands and Norway, have bans on oil and gas boiler installation in new buildings.

Heat pump adoption continues to grow across the country and particularly in the Atlantic Provinces, Quebec and British Columbia, driven in part by government incentive programs.

Montreal, Vancouver, Victoria and other Canadian cities are also driving the transition with fossil fuel bans for new buildings.

The backup that supplements the heat pump on the handful of super cold days in the winter. The heat pump runs the whole time. The electric backup starts up to help out as needed.

While some systems incorporate supplemental electric resistance heating for extremely cold days, it's not a necessity for all installations.

While standard air source heat pumps tend to lose heating capacity when temperatures dip below zero, cold climate air source heat pumps are specially designed to work in temperatures as low as -30°C.

Switching from oil, propane, or electric resistance heating results in significant annual savings on energy in virtually all scenarios.

After conducting several case studies of old homes with air-source heat pumps, public body Historic England concluded in a report last year that these “work well in a range of different historic building types and uses.”

The Fraunhofer Institute in Germany carried out extensive field testing and monitoring of hear pumps in existing buildings and concluded that they worked reliably and without problems.

Natural gas, a.k.a. fossil gas, is not clean energy. It contains methane—a very potent greenhouse gas that escapes when natural gas is pulled from the ground, processed, and piped to homes and businesses. Methane leaks make fossil gas nearly as bad as coal in terms of its contribution to climate change. And natural gas releases carbon dioxide when it is burned, a less potent but far more persistent greenhouse gas.  Methane and carbon dioxide are the two largest contributors to the extreme temperatures and severe weather events caused by climate change.

In most Provinces, net metering programs are in place so that homeowners get extra credit for producing more than they need when the sun is shining and can use that credit when they don't produce enough to cover their needs.

Residential battery solutions are also becoming increasing popular to store excess energy for a snowy day.

After breaking even, you enjoy 15–20+ years of free electricity. Homes with solar sell at a premium as well.

Solar efficiency refers to the percent of sunlight a panel converts to electricity. Efficiency of modern panels is typically in the 20-25% range. That is plenty of sunshine even in Canadian climates. Most single detached homes can fit enough solar panels to cover 100% of a household’s annual electricity needs.

In Canada and globally, innovation in solar panel recycling methods and infrastructure is ahead of the future need.

Modern solar panels are sleek, thin and lie flat against a roof and there are multiple styles to choose from.

Payback periods tend to range from 7-14 years. 25-year (life of the panels) ROIs for major Canadian cities, for example, fall within the 140-220% range.

While it's true that solar production is higher in the summer due to longer daylight hours, that doesn't mean your system stops working when temperatures drop.

Since solar panels generate electricity from sunlight, not heat, colder temperatures actually improve efficiency—helping your system produce more power than you might expect.

Productivity estimates also account for typical production in your geography, so account for typical cloud coverage.

‍

Dirt has little impact on productivity and it is rarely necessary to clean snow off panels as well. As with any equipment, it is possible that parts will need replacement but this is rare with current solar panel technology.

Critter guards are often installed to prevent wire damage from animals.

Studies estimated the energy output to be about nine times the energy invested in solar panels.

An initial roof assessment will ensure your roof is suitable for panels and will not be adversely impacted.

‍

All-electric cold climate heat pumps can heat efficiently down to -25°C or even -30°C for some models. An all-electric heat pump has built-in electric backup heating to supplement the heat pump’s output on extremely cold days. Gas backups are an option but not a requirement.

Cold climate heat pumps can heat efficiently down to -25°C or even -31°C for some models. Cold climate heat pumps alone can handle home heating ~90% of the time and run in conjunction with supplemental electric backup ~10% of the time.

‍

Most provinces in Canada have net metering programs where you can earn credits for extra solar energy created in the summer and use them up in the winter when you may not generate as much energy as you use.