Heating and cooling

Making sense of the best wood burning fireplace inserts and wood stove specifications and knowing how to choose the best one for you if you're looking to burn wood for minimum environmental impact & maximum heat output is easy with our guide. Wood Burning Inserts & Stoves - which are best & which burn…

Short of a wood stove, pretty much all heating systems require power to operate. So in the event of an apocalypse (zombie, climate, asteroid, etc) these two pellet stoves can keep you warm when the power goes out. These Wood Pellet Stoves need no electric! Burning wood to heat a home does not make you an…

Heat pumps can heat a house three times more efficiently than other heating types. When paired with a heat pump water heater this significantly reduces the cost of heating & domestic hot water, especially when the home is LEED or Passive House certified. How well does a heat pump work in a LEED or Passive House…

Radiant heated floors add comfort to a home and can help you heat more efficiently. There is some debate in performance building circles, particularly in the Passive House community as to whether or not you can add enough insulation below a concrete floor to eliminate the need for heating it. We have been on the…

A high efficiency mini-split heat pump feeds a heat pump water heater which will take a big bite out of the future energy bill of the Demo House. Our previous update covered aspects of the building envelope, which allowed us to reduce the annual heating requirement to about the Passive House standard of 15 kWh per…

Installing a hydronic radiant floor system in a slab-on-grade floor. Here is our DIY video of how to lay down tubing for our radiant floor in the Edelweiss House. We have a 10 zone system, allowing floor temperatures in each room to be controlled independently. HePex tubing was provided by Uponor, who also use…

What is a heat pump? An energy efficient home heating system that can save you some money. Read on to find out how they work and if it makes sense for you. When it comes to residential heating and cooling systems, few types of systems are as energy efficient as heat pumps. But what exactly are they and how do they…

Hydronic heating systems involve heated liquid being pumped through radiators, baseboard heaters, floors or even walls. Similar to electric baseboards, hydronic heating systems facilitate zone heating as you can keep different rooms at different temperatures. Though different from electric resistance heating…

Electric resistance heating converts almost 100% of its energy into heat. Ultimately though, the true efficiency and environmental impact of heating with electricity is determined by the source of its production. Is Electric Heating Eco-friendly? Determining whether or not electricity is an efficient and…

During the combustion process, natural gas is the most efficient and least harmful of fossil fuels. How affordable or ecologically responsible it will be in the future depends largely on supply, sourcing and the supply network. The cleaner burning process (than diesel fuel) and price has made heating and cooking…

像枫木、橡树、桦树和樱桃这样的浓密的硬木是较好的取暖和燃烧最热的木材。不同的地区有不同种类的木材，因此最佳的柴火将因地点而异，见下文。选择最热柴火的第一准则?Before we get into which wood is best for…