electric-baseboards / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

Electric Heaters - is heating with electric an eco-friendly option?
Heating with electricity

Heating with electricity

Is Electric Heating Eco-friendly? Determining whether or not electricity is an efficient and ecologically responsible means to heat a home should include the initial electricity production as well. Burning fossil fuels to fire electric power generation is only around 30-60% efficient. There is also significant loss fro...

Hydronic heating system
Delivery: radiant, forced-air and decentralized

Hydronic heating

Similar to electric baseboards, hydronic heating systems facilitate zone heating as you can keep different rooms at different temperatures. Though different from electric resistance heating, hydronic systems are ultimately still using electricity to generate heat, so all the same environmental realities apply. Heating ...

How to fix noisy baseboard heaters
Heating and cooling

Fixing noisy baseboard heaters, How to stop that clicking easily !

Noisy baseboard heaters -yeah, it's a thing... Over the years we’ve had many questions about ticking, humming, popping or even banging or clicking noises coming from electric baseboard heaters or hot water heated baseboard heaters. The main complaint is that they are loud enough to wake people up – or subtle enough to ...

Do you need a backup heat source with central heat pumps in a power outage?
Heating and cooling

Do heat pumps need a backup heat source?

Having a backup heat source that can operate without electricity should be an important consideration for many homeowners in colder climate zones, especially those who rely on a heat pump or electricity as their primary source of heat. In this guide, we will explore the various factors that can influence the need for a...

How to choose the best home EV charger or EVSE?
Lifestyle, location and commuting

EV home charging stations & How to decide which is the best EVSE for you

Which is the best home EV charger? That depends... Here's a suprising fact for many new EV owners - the charger for a shiny new Electric Vehicle is actually inside it! The charger is not the box on the wall, but is the equipment installed inside the car that takes the AC Alternating Courant electric sourced from your r...

Electric scooter for commuting
Commuting

The Scrooser: Electric e-bike / scooter for urban commuting

Enter the Scrooser. The Scrooser is a German engineered electric scooter / e-bike with a top speed of 24 km (15 mph) and a range of 35.5 km (22 miles). It works with an Impulse Drive that is literally kickstarted by it's rider as the engine engages when the scooter reaches speeds over 3 km per hour.  The Scrooser no...

The Best Electric Car - Discover which EV is best for You
Lifestyle, location and commuting

The Best Electric Car - Discover which EV is best for You

Buying an electric car (or EV) is on the increase For a lot of people though there's a nagging question in the back of everyone’s mind - When is the right time to make the switch to an Electric Vehicle - & which is the best EV? Over decades, and even more so over the last few years, the purchase prices of EV's cont...

The birthplace of Passive House solar home design The Saskatchewan Conservation
Passive solar home design

Saskatchewan: The birthplace of Passive House and passive solar home design

Passive House design, how does it work? If you've ever sat in a car with black leather seats in the summer, particularly when wearing shorts, you already understand passive solar heat gain. It is a very simple concept that as a building technique dates back thousands of years. You simply need to find out where south is...

Electric vehicle charging station
Commuting

Electric Vehicles getting help from the provinces

There is no question that the best way to lower emissions as we scurry about a city is to travel by foot, bike or public transportation, yet it’s unlikely we will see the end of the personal vehicle anytime soon. Transit would need to become much more extensive and gas much more costly for us to see any significant red...

Furnace not heating? Furnace Troubleshooting & Easy DIY Fixes
Heating and cooling

How to troubleshoot a furnace that won’t work.

There are a few things that will cause any furnace to either stop running, or only deliver cold air, so here are a few easy DIY furnace repair tips that may get you warmed up without having to call an HVAC professional. It is at least a place to start, so you aren’t paying someone to come tell you that your thermostat ...

E-bikes and electric scooters- green transportation
Lifestyle, location and commuting

Why you should get an E-bike now

Ebikes or electric bikes - an increasing trend for urban commuting A basic ebike gives a rider about the same experience as a normal bike, just with a bit less effort. You can still ride on bike paths, you’ll still need to pedal, you’ll still get exercise and burn calories (though perhaps a few less).  As an interestin...