HEATING

 

 

Whether you own your home or not, you gotta face it: The way we heat where we live is a huge contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Where does it all come from? And how can we make it more efficient?

It’s a bit overwhelming, but even just living, we’re creating global warming. Many things we do just can’t be helped or avoided. But whether you live in a condo, a grand mansion, a basement apartment, or in a tent city, there're a few things you can do that are effortless. In our homes, we consume lots; from air conditioning, to TV watching, to taking bubble baths, to heating. And heating your place is a biggie.

Heating is a broad category because folks in Canada heat their pads in different ways. These include electricity, natural gas, oil and even the good ol’ fireplace. Hot water heating depends on the same things: electricity, natural gas, oil, or solar power.¹

 

                                _{Source: http://www.ec.gc.ca/}

YOUR ELECTRICITY PROBABLY COMES FROM BURNING COAL

Way up here in Canada, unless you’ve signed up for renewable energy, the energy used to power your home may come from the most evil of all sources: coal. Not to harp on about the negative or anything, but Environment Canada research shows that energy consumption in The Great White North has been on the rise. From 1990 to 2000 alone, the increase was a full 10 per cent!  Sadly, that's even with energy efficiency programs happening (check out the whole deal here: www.ec.gc.ca under energy consumption). Geez, think of what the damage would have been without! These measures include higher building and equipment standards as well as consumer incentives and government programs. But sadly, that needed change hasn’t done enough for us yet. The most recent study (from 2003) shows that 50% of Canadian homes are heated by electricity.

 

HEATING OIL VS. BIOFUEL

Yes, just like your parents, we love telling you what you're doing wrong! Heating your home with oil is one of them. Luckily for you, we've got all the answers (well, not really, but...) Oil is also a polluter. Lucky for us, its new rival is almost here.

You may have noticed that some public transit companies are riding the BioFuel bandwagon. Well, soon others will catch on, and BioFuel will be used more widely. For instance, in Massachusetts, Mass Energy is now offering its oil customers a choice. Folks in the Boston area can opt for Bio-Heat. Made of 10% refined soybean oil, and 90% low-sulfur heating oil, Bio-Heat is a cleaner-burning fuel, producing 75% less sulfur emissions and 10% less carbon dioxide emissions. Terrific. So if you've already got the big oil tank installed and can't afford going down the geothermal road of things, this could be your way to go. Ask your provider about Bio-Heat, and tell them you support this alternative. Then you can go away feeling better since the soybean oil is a domestically produced renewable fuel, thereby reducing reliance on foreign oil. But for total eco-cred, you should really consider an alternative that doesn't totally harm our earth.

DITCH THE FIREPLACE

It’s sad, but that nice, cozy, warm atmosphere your fireplace provides is actually a major polluter. Burning in a wood stove or fireplace are uncombusted materials that release heaps of nasty stuff. Think: particulate matter, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and formaldehyde.²  Suddenly that nice, warm fireplace doesn’t sound so cozy anymore, does it?

Also, your home's energy efficiency rating plummets wildly when you have a fireplace. Serious. A big gaping hole in your house? Letting in all those drafts? It's a daft idea. So, it seems like your choices are to ditch the fireplace (which will hugely help if anyone in your family experiences asthma), or burn less often, and burn more responsibly. Don’t burn the following:³ 

 

• green wood
• wet wood
• pressure-treated wood, painted wood
• particle board, plywood
• plastic
• coloured or glossy paper
• cardboard
• coal

NATURAL GAS

According to Natural Resources Canada, about 50% of Canadians heat their homes with natural gas.⁴ Natural gas is the cleanest of the fossil fuels, composed of mostly methane.  It’s safe to say that natural gas is way better than coal-burning used for energy. Natural gas produces about 30 percent less carbon dioxide than oil and about half that of coal or wood.⁶ But it still does release carbon dioxide, and low levels (comparatively) of carbon monoxide and other reactive hydrocarbons into the air. But way, way less than coal, and unlike coal, which emits a crapload more nitrogen oxide, and sulfur dioxide. The other pretty good thing about natural gas is that it burns "clean," meaning there’s virtually no particulate matter released into the air.  So, it’s not at all sounding cheery, but it’s for sure better than heating your home from oil or coal-generated electricity.

Natural gas is a transitional fuel, but not a permanent solution. Consider that natural gas requires drilling and transportation (which takes an environmental toll), and on top of that it isn’t renewable. Meaning, we’re not really addressing the climate change issue when we’re choosing natural gas. And if you want to think about it backwards for a second, climate change is actually making it hard for us to depend on natural gas energy. Extreme weather affects the price of natural gas as well as its availability. In fact, natural gas prices (once considered to be very affordable) are on the rise. Natural Resources Canada has estimated that an average-sized residential household in Canada could have paid up to $370 more for natural gas used in the 2005-2006 winter compared to the year before.⁶ Ya, now you’re listening! So consider the other options.

 

GEOTHERMAL AS A SOLUTION

 

ADVANTAGES

 

• clean, with no emissions

• easy on the land (small, with no river dams, pits or clear-cutting)

• reliable (it's just a matter of digging deep)

• reduces your need for imported fuel!

WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT

So, imagine you just heard about the most successful alternative energy project in history. Imagine this source was able to provide the world's energy needs for the next several millennia, without the threat of running out. Keep imagining that it would be accessible to most parts of the world. Sounds great, eh? Now what if we told you only 21 countries are currently using this?⁷ You'd be pretty perplexed, wouldn't you? Well, here's what it is and how it works. 

 

 

 

Geothermal is the heat source within the planet. This source could provide us with warmth and power without polluting the environment with harmful emissions. Here's how it goes: Heat from the earth's core is continuously moving outwards. Sometimes this heat rises and escapes in the form of a volcano, but more commonly it just heats surrounding rocks, earth and water. Some of this hot geothermal water comes back through cracks and fault lines as geysers. Most of it collects underground, trapped in crevasses and rocks. This hot water is called the geothermal reservoir.

In the olden days, geothermal water was used for bathing and cooking, then later for heating buildings. Nowadays though, modern geothermal is produced by drilling wells into the hot water reservoir. Then the steam, heat, or hot water is used to power turbines which produce energy. Ta-dah. When that's all done, water is sent back into the reservoir to be reheated and to sustain the site.

 

• Did you know? The town of Klamath Falls in Oregon uses geothermal water and pipes it under roads and sidewalks to keep them from icing over in winter. Cool, eh?

Geothermal energy is in a tiny bit of dispute as to whether it's a true alternative energy. Now that you know how it works, it doesn't hurt to point out that technically, it is possible to deplete these hot spots. Though, that would be a bit of a stretch. The earth's heat is so vast that there is no way to remove all of it, even if the whole world depended on geothermal for its energy use.⁸ 

 

Probably the most famous geothermal source you are familiar with are the geysers in California. If you've ever watched any Looney Tunes, Old Faithful is the geyser of gushing steamy water bursts that often propel Yosemite Sam way up in the air. They are the largest dry stream field in the world. Not only that, but they're the U.S.'s largest producer of geothermal energy. There are other geothermal hot spots under development for energy generation in the U.S., including Nevada, Oregon, Idaho and Arizona. In fact, the United States is the greatest producer of geothermal energy. And lucky us. Canada has one test site in the Meager Mountain-Pebble Creek area of British Columbia.

 

• Did you know? Yellowstone National Park, which straddles Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, is home to more than half of all the geysers on planet Earth.

GEOTHERMAL EXCHANGE HEAT PUMPS

One affordable way you can implement geothermal technology is by installing a heat pump in your home. Also known as a ground source heat pump, this wacky contraption works on the same principle. In heating mode, it uses the earth's heat to warm things up, and in cooling mode it operates as a heat sink. Rad. Another similar invention is the air source heat pump. They are simpler to install, making them cheaper.

 

• Canada boasts an estimated 30,000 earth-heat installations which provide heating for commercial and residential buildings.⁹

 

• The EPA has rated heat pumps as among the most efficient heating and cooling technologies.

 

• Carleton University in Ottawa is heated by heat pumps!

 

THE DIRT

Perhaps the scariest aspect of going ahead with your choice to use a heat pump is the cost involved. It is difficult to estimate the costs of a system. The two associated costs are installation and operation. Estimates to install a complete home system range from $10,000 to $20,000. Although this big fat figure may be higher than the cost of a combustion furnace, the operating costs of a system which provides heating, cooling and water heating are lower than that of a furnace with the same functions. An indication of the payback period (that's the amount of time it takes to cover premium costs) ranges from 4 to 7 years. Maybe it's time to dip into your children's college fund!

 

THE BAD BITS

In an effort to be balanced, it's worth pointing out the one negative bit we've discovered with geothermal heat pumps. Here goes: The ground pipe that is buried wayyy underground is super sturdy and it's practically impossible for something to break it. However, what about the chance of an accidental digging or something? First of all, the drop in the system would cause it to stop pumping. If there was any fluid leak before the shutdown, it's not the biggest worry on earth, since the anti-freeze used is super-diluted ethanol. Still, not so good.

Another issue is the compressor used, which relies on a refrigerant for the pressure cycle. Industry specifications assume that all compressors leak over time. Not good. But, the refrigerants used in heat pumps now offer the lowest possible impact on the environment.¹⁰

Still, it looks like the benefits totally outweigh the bad. So get going on your research. Check out the Earth Energy Society of Canada, which offers a total A to Z for Canadians seriously considering installing a heat pump system.

BUY CARBON OFFSETS

If you know you’re polluting, but feel like you have to (like, really, how else are you going to make that meeting on the other side of the world?), then do the responsible thing by kicking in the extra money to companies that can offset the mess you’ve just made. A carbon offset provider such as Carbon Zero takes a fee, and contributes to a process which aims to reduce carbon emissions, or increase carbon absorption. Visit www.carbonzero.ca to see how you can neutralize your emissions with one of the many offered carbon offset projects. 

 

  

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^{1 Source: The Consumers Guide to Effective Environmental Change. New York: Three Rivers Press, 1999, 66.
2 Source: http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/en/myenvironment/home/fireplace.php
3 Source: http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/en/myenvironment/home/fireplace.php
4 http://www2.nrcan.gc.ca/es/erb/CMFiles/WINTER_MARKET_OUTLOOK_2005_ENGLISH206KCY-25112005-2389.pdf
5 Source: https://www.nwnatural.com/content_yourhome.asp?id=260
6 http://www2.nrcan.gc.ca/es/erb/CMFiles/WINTER_MARKET_OUTLOOK_2005_ENGLISH206KCY-25112005-2389.pdf
7 Source: www.geothermal.inel.gov/publications/future_of_geothermal_energy.pdf
8 Source: www.geothermie.de/egec_geothernet/ci_prof/australia_ocean/new_zealand/0080.PDF
9 Source: http://canren.gc.ca/tech_appl/index.asp?CaId=3&PgId=8
10 Source: www.earthenergy.ca/faq.html#environmental}