Heating and cooling

While electric powered homes, using high efficiency heat pumps and heat pump water heaters are the preferred option for green homes, if your home is too far from the natural gas supply or it's mobile home or tiny house, propane may be the only option. While Ecohome is a firm advocate of decarbonizing homes by the…

Discover the key differences and factors to consider when choosing between Geothermal heating systems and Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs) for your home. Geothermal vs. ASHPs - what's the difference? Heating and cooling systems play a crucial role in maintaining comfortable indoor temperatures in homes everywhere…

Heat pumps are still perceived as a new concept to many homeowners in the US and Canada and as they've improved considerably in performance over the years there are many misconceptions about heat pumps needing backup heating. Ecohome investigates. Having a backup heat source that can operate without electricity…

Even when turned off, gas stoves & cooktops can be dangerous - leaking harmful chemicals like nitrogen dioxide, methane & cancer-causing benzine into homes. Over 40 million US & Canadian households can mitigate or eliminate the risks from cooking with gas. Gas stoves - playing with fire? Fossil gas stoves and gas…

Choosing the best heat pump can be difficult. Heat pumps are poorly understood, they have often been over-sold, poorly installed, and placed where they can be a noise nuisance. But the best heat pumps are a really good choice for heating green homes. How do the best heat pumps work? A heat pump works very…

There is little more unnerving that losing heat in our homes during winter. Having a reliable heating system, and even a backup heating system, can help you rest easier at night so if your furnace isn't working, try this. There are a few things that will cause any furnace to either stop running, or only deliver cold…

Natural gas for heating & cooking in homes is so convenient & relatively affordable - so why have governments & local cities across North America & Europe taken the radical decision to phase it out, & when is natural gas going to be banned. So why is natural gas being phased out?   Natural gas is being phased out of…

One of the questions we're often asked is about noisy baseboard heaters. They click, they bang, they tick, tick, tick constantly, and most of all, electric baseboard heaters or hot water heated baseboard heaters keep people awake. So, how to fix that. Noisy baseboard heaters -yeah, it's a thing... Over the years…

When building a new home, especially sustainable high-performance eco homes like Passive House or Zero Net Energy in a cold climate, some heat is still necessary. Is the greenest option Electric Heating? Read on to find out. More and more homebuyers are starting to demand energy-efficient new homes and are pushing…

Wood Combustion – How Firewood Burns, the stages and processes, & how to get the best heat for your $ while being eco-friendly. Understanding how firewood burns, the technical details Stage 1: The Evaporation of Moisture – otherwise known as “getting the d@mn thing going” If you’ve ever tried to burn wet or…

Building our Frost Protected Shallow Foundation slab on grade with Solar radiant floor heating powered by air tubes heated with air solar panels for our demo house - Ingenious! Ideal for boosting Passive House heating in cold climate zones. Why build a frost protected shallow foundation using prefabricated foam…