Heating a home is one of the most costly parts of our monthly home expenses. According to the Department of Energy, it takes approximately 30% of your total utility bill. This makes it important to install a system that will be effective, environmentally sound and produces the best quality with the least cost to operate.
To logically choose the best alternative for heating a home, we must take into account future heating costs savings and balance that with the cost of the product and installation. In other words, the cost may be a little higher for the product (including installation), however the cost savings on the future monthly heating bills will be more than enough to compensate for the initial difference.
There is another factor to be considered and that has to do with conservation of our resources on planet earth. We currently live in a world where these challenges exist and demand our attention. The product that we choose should be an environmentally sound product.
There are an array of heating and cooling options available. Each comes with their advantages and disadvantages. Below is a list of some of the most common heating solutions:
- Furnaces
- Boilers
- Heat Pumps
- Gas-Fired Space Heaters
- Unvented Gas-Fired Heaters
- Electric Space Heaters
- Wood-Burning and Pellet Stoves
- Fireplaces
The majority of North American households rely on a furnace to heat their home. Oil and gas fueled systems, being fossil fuels, should be viewed as a less appealing choice for two reasons. First the cost is higher to operate and secondly both are unfriendly choices for the environment.
The best products we have on the market that fulfill all of these concerns are products containing heat pumps. Quickly stated they include: Geothermal heat pumps (Ground source), or source heat pumps and Hybrid heat pumps. These products cost less to run and are extremely environmentally friendly.
Heat pump technology is a great way to heat homes today. Working on the principle of taking advantage of heat wherever we can find it, heat pumps can take heat out of relatively cold air and enable cheaper heating expense due to the ability to capture that heat. Through the use of one of these systems the air to be heated is already warmer than air using other methods. That translates into real money savings because the warmer air takes less energy to bring the room/house up to the temperature desired.
There are also state of the art heating systems to consider in order to maximize efficiency and sustainability. Below are a few of those systems:
- Radiant floor heat
- Mini-splits
Mini-splits are a great option for eco-friendly heating solutions. They use heat pump technology and have the dual capability of both heating and air conditioning. Another attraction is that each mini-split has its own zoned areas. This makes it easy to obtain just the right heating and cooling for each specific area. That’s real efficiency for your project, big or small.
