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

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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 ...

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...

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...

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...

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 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...

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 ...