heating-biomass-fuel / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

High efficiency wood stoves
Wood stove and biomass heat

Heating With Wood and Biomass Fuel

There has been an increase in the use of wood and other biomass fuel for heating homes across the colder parts of North America & Canada for the last decade. In Eastern Canada and the USA in particular this trend was largely triggered by one storm in 1998. There was a noticeable spike in woodstove sales in 1999 thr...

Wood pellet stoves that don't need electric ideal for off grid operation
Wood stove and biomass heat

These wood pellet stoves for off-grid heating don't need electric to operate

These wood pellet stoves need no electricity Burning wood to heat a home does not make you an eco-terrorist, let's get that one point out of the way first. Trees are a renewable resource and they are, in effect, solar energy batteries whose energy is accessed when we burn them.  After the 1998 Eastern Canada ice storm,...

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...

A modern outdoor wood boiler in a snowy rural yard
Wood stove and biomass heat

Outdoor Wood Burning Boilers - Are Centralized Hydronic Heaters Efficient for Home Heating?

Outdoor wood burning boilers: Is this the right home heating system? For homeowners seeking energy independence, outdoor wood burning boilers offer a smart solution for centralizing heating away from the living envelope. Also known as hydronic heaters or outdoor wood furnaces, these units are designed to burn stove woo...

Why Electric Heating Systems are Best for Sustainable Homes
Heating with electricity

Heating with electricity - the best choice for high efficiency & Zero Energy homes?

More and more homebuyers are starting to demand energy-efficient new homes and are pushing the building industry towards building better homes with lower fuel costs. Building Zero Net Energy homes is also a trending subject, and they are becoming more common as societies transition away from carbon-based economies and ...

Heating with electricity

Heat up your home efficiently and affordably in Quebec with the electric thermal storage heating system grant!

Electric heating is the best option in Quebec. The downside? Winter peaks, where during cold winter days, the grid can become overloaded. Bi-energy heating systems address this problem by using another energy source, which unfortunately is often a fossil fuel. To reduce GHGs and meet environmental targets, fossil fuels...

Tiny house

Off-grid tiny house in the heart of the Sierras.

Snowboarding pioneer and photographer Mike Basich built himself an epic Tiny off-grid cabin. Without a bedroom or bathroom per se, but equipped with a hot tub and chairlift, this gorgeous Tiny House is most perfectly situated in the heart of the Sierras.  © Mike Basich Basich began his career as one of the p...

Pulling weeds from an interlock paver stone walk way.
Permeable laneways and patios

How to Remove Weeds From Patios and Between Paver Stones Without Using Chemicals

A guide to non-toxic weed removal on patios Are there weeds growing in cracks between flagstones or pavers that are driving you nuts? Almost enough to get some earth-poisoning chemicals to fix it, but your conscience won't let you? Great, because we feel the same someatimes and we have some solutions to offer you to re...

Natural gas fracking Fossil fuels are bad for the environment
Heating with gas and oil

Natural gas for home heating is dying a slow death

Is natural gas bad? Yes it very much is no matter how you look at it. Burning any fossil fuel releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and contributes to the warming of the planet. The carbon dioxide emissions from burning natural gas are lower than with oil or coal, but there are other emissions to be concerned abo...

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

Hydronic heating systems, the complete guide to radiant heat

Hydronic heating is a system that uses water as the medium to distribute heat throughout a home, rather than relying on heating air. In simple terms, this means that water is used as the heat-transfer fluid used to warm the living space. Although hydronic heating offers many advantages, it can be challenging to incorpo...

Passive solar heating & cooling in Homes has a long history in USA
Passive solar home design

Passive house and passive solar - free heat for homes

What is passive solar heating and cooling? Passive heating and cooling of homes is not new. The above image is of Mesa Verde National Park, the Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings in Colorado, occupied from 700 to 1300 AD. This early North American settlement was shaded from the summer sun, but fully exposed to the sun ...