Living in Calgary - Heating Your Home While Reducing Your Carbon Footprint

In Calgary, heating a home is never easy. The average nightly temperature in February, the coldest month of the year, is -15ºC. Add in the occasional wind chill, and you have some pretty frigid temperatures. In fact, late January of 2009 brought wind chills of between -30 and nearly -50 ºC.

Given those bone chilling temperatures, it is only logical that many Calgary homeowners are evaluating their home heating systems to see where they can increase efficiency and decrease costs.

Why Choose a High-Efficiency Furnace for Your Home Heating

Alberta's Climate Change Central (CCC) estimates that close to 60% of your home energy bill goes toward heating. Clearly, a more efficient furnace would help reduce those costs.

In today's economy, however, many people are weighing the expense of buying a new high-efficiency furnace against other options. Maybe a mid-efficiency furnace will do. Or maybe they can stick with their old furnace until the economy recovers a bit.

Those in difficult financial circumstances will have trouble justifying the costs of a new furnace, especially if there is life left in the old one. For the rest of us, there are many reasons to consider a high-efficiency furnace:

• Costs will be offset somewhat by government incentives. A new renovation tax credit (only available until early 2010) and the existing federal retrofit program will shave off at least a couple of thousand dollars from the price.
• High-efficiency furnaces cost more than mid-efficiency furnaces, but the higher costs will be paid for in less than six years, according to CCC.
• A new furnace adds to the resale value of your home.
• High-efficiency furnaces are quieter and keep the temperature in your home more constant.
• High-efficiency furnaces can be operated by a DC motor, which uses about 30% less energy than an AC motor.

How a High-Efficiency Furnace Heats Your Home

What makes these new furnaces so efficient? According to the Natural Resources Canada (NRC) website, the efficiency comes from the way heat is generated and the way gas from the furnace is vented.

In a standard furnace, combustion gases are generated by the burner, pass across a heat exchanger and release heat, and then get exhausted outdoors via a chimney. In high-efficiency models (specifically condensing gas furnaces), "heat exchange surfaces made of corrosion-resistant materials [are used] to cool and condense the combustion gases (causing them to liquefy), thus releasing more heat for the home." There is a small amount of wastewater, piped to a floor drain.

The condensing process also reduces the temperature of the flue gases, so they can be pumped out of a PVC or ABS plastic pipe, instead of a chimney. Chimneys are a major source of heat loss, so bypassing them increases the efficiency of your home heating system.

In addition to greater heating efficiency, a high-efficiency furnace can also reduce overall energy costs, if you use a variable-speed DC motor. These motors, mentioned earlier, use less energy while distributing heat better. What's more, they generate less heat, which allows the bearings to run cooler. According to NRC, this results in less motor noise and longer life expectancy for the motor.

Installing a High-Efficiency Furnace

If you want to start reducing your home heating bill, look for heating contractors in your area. It is best to get a few estimates before signing a contract. You can find a company through references from your friends or through a simple Internet search for Calgary heating contractors.