heating-cooling-energy / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

R values and insulation performance
Efficient home design

Understanding thermal performance

First published in ecoHouse Canada The thermal performance of wall assemblies and insulation products has long been characterized using R-value, a metric which describes thermal resistance. While R-value is useful, it doesn’t tell the whole story about heat flow through building enclosures such as walls and roofs. Rece...

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...

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 ...

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 ...

Comparing ground source and air source heat pumps
Heating and cooling

Heat Pumps: Ground source geothermal GSHP or air source ASHP, what's the difference?

Air Source Heat Pumps, and are Ground Source Heat Pumps "Geothermal?" Let's clear up some confusion on terminology regarding heat pumps - search Google for Geothermal Heating Systems and you will find hundreds maybe thousands of companies using the word "Geothermal" to describe ground source heat pumps, two systems tha...

Reducing the need for air conditioning
Heating and cooling

How to keep homes cool without air conditioning

  How to cool a home without AC While it's true that no matter where you live, be it urban, suburban or rural, the hottest days and nights of summer may have you dreaming of coolers climates. However, those living in dense urban areas will feel it the most, where ambient temperatures can be 5 to 9 degrees Celcius highe...

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 & 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 su...

Photovoltaic solar panels
Renewable energy

Solar heating and energy generation

Solar energy Our future truly depends on us continuing to develop and implement renewable energy systems. In Canada, Ontario is at the forefront of that movement by offering strong financial incentives for homeowners to produce their own energy. Some of the other provinces seem to be lagging behind, offering artificial...

Geothermal Heating Systems
Heat pumps, geothermal and AC

Geothermal heating for Homes in North America - Does it work & will it save money?

Geothermal Heating Systems for Homes Domestic Geothermal heating systems can be a great way to heat a home, replace a furnace, and are labeled as money savers. Question is, are they worth the hype? Here's a quick view first of how they operate. Starting at depths of between 6 and 10 metres, the temperature of the earth...

Passive House design Vancouver
Passive House

The city of Vancouver is actively promoting Passive House construction

Vancouver has set a goal of being the greenest city in the world by the year 2020. Some of the policies included in that plan are expanded public transportation, bike lanes, encouraging laneway houses for urban density and requiring all new civic buildings to be zero emissions. The city has also imposed upon itself a m...

Metal roof with solar panels
Roof coverings

How to choose roofing materials

1. Asphalt shingles: Asphalt shingles © Ecohome We’ll start with shingles to get it out of the way, because choosing an eco-friendly, durable roof covering starts first with dismissing any idea of installing asphalt shingles. High-embodied energy, rarely if ever recycled, they deteriorate rapidly with UV rays, emit s...