Heating and cooling account for about 56% of the energy use in a typical Toronto home, making it the largest energy expense for most homes. A wide variety of furnaces, water heaters, and ari conditioners s are available for heating or cooling your home. Furnaces and air conditioners achieve a wide range of efficiencies in converting their energy sources into useful heat or cool air for your home. In addition, many heating and cooling systems have certain supporting equipment in common, such as thermostats and ducts, which provide opportunities for saving energy.
When looking for ways to save energy in your home, be sure to think about not only improving your existing heating and cooling system, but also consider the energy efficiency of the supporting equipment and the possibility of either adding supplementary sources of heating or cooling or simply replacing your heater, furnace or air conditioner with new energy-efficient ENERGY STAR unit.
In addition Canada's government grant program ecoENERGY Retrofit for Homes provides home and property owners with grants of up to $5,000 to offset the cost of making energy-efficiency improvements. ecoENERGY Retrofit grants apply to a host of measures that reduce energy consumption and provide for a cleaner environment, from increasing insulation to upgrading a furnace, water heater or air conditioner.
The grant amount is based on carrying out energy efficiency retrofits such as increasing your attic insulation or replacing your gas furnace with a qualified ENERGY STAR® model. Only homes that have undergone a residential energy efficiency assessment by an NRCan-licensed advisor will be eligible for grants. The maximum grant one can receive per home or multi-unit residential building is $5,000; whereas the total grant amount available to one individual or entity for eligible properties over the life of the program is $500,000. The average grant is expected to be more than $1,000 and will yield an average 25 percent reduction in energy use and costs.
When replacing or upgrading an existing heating and cooling system, it's important to first consider the limitations imposed by your current system and available energy sources. When selecting a heating and cooling system for a new house, your options are generally much wider, although your builder or developer may place limitations on your choices.
TorontoHeatingExpert.ca is Your souce for information about heating and air conditioning you home. Starting with Energy Star guide and finishing with information about latest innovative heaters, furnaces and airconditioners.
