Reflections on 2022

It’s been quite a year when it comes to fighting climate at home.

This year we worked directly with over 300 homeowners (309 exactly). These homeowners received an energy audit which with Goldfinch Energy means a conversation about their home, where it’s loosing heat, opportunities to reduce energy consumption and of course the merits and recommended options for climate-fighting heat pumps. We’re so grateful that homeowners trust us to help them with big decisions on their home.

Of those we worked with this year, 84 installed heat pumps (30% kept the gas as back-up while the remainder are using their heat pump to comfortably heat their home throughout the winter). We helped 24 homes disconnect their gas services entirely by removing gas hot water tanks (see this blog post about our two favourite gas-free hot water options). They also removed their gas fireplaces and gas stoves. These homeowners are all leading the way in cutting off their home’s reliance on fossil fuels and are saving by no longer paying the monthly gas delivery fee.

Trish and Sarah also took action on our own homes by getting rid of our gas furnaces and gas hot water tanks. Since both of our furnaces were relatively new we both retrofitted the furnace’s air handler (the fan that blows around the air) and connected it to a new heat pump. The gas for our furnaces is no longer connected. We’ll blog about this system soon, but it’s the most affordable way to switch to a heat pump if you have a gas furnace that’s newer and are ready to get off of gas for heating.

Trish’s heat pump getting installed.

Trish stands proudly in front of her home that is now heating with a heat pump.

Trish is also in the process of starting an HVAC company (which operates independently of Goldfinch Energy) that has the most talented heat pump installer in Toronto. Mike Holm is the only person (to our knowledge) that can help people who have radiators switch from a gas boiler to an air to water heat pump. We’re grateful to Mike Holm for working with our clients and making it possible for the many homeowners across Toronto to have an alternative to gas for home heating.

A few reflections from homeowners who made the switch to heat pumps are:

“In terms of the air to water heat pump. I would say it actually provides a nicer more even heat and works even better for the heated floors in our basement and addition. Nice surprise!”

“The air flow from our ductwork is so much more gentle than before making us more comfortable when we’re next to our vents.”

“My bills are lower this year than the last. I know that this will continue to be the case as gas prices continue to rise faster than electricity.”

Our work does not exist in a silo and we’ve enjoyed working with several community organizations who are also advocating for people to take climate-action at home. The PocketChange Project (nestled in Toronto’s east end) kicked off fall 2021 and has 22 homeowners in the process of retrofitting their homes. Goldfinch Energy is priviledged to be working alongside the fantastic volunteers who make PocketChange a reality and for our partnership with green architect Paul Dowsett (also a Pocket resident and one of the 84 mentioned above who installed a heat pump). Paul would want us to mention that at the time of writing this blog he is one gas fireplace away from cutting off his Enbridge account.

Harbord Village launched their bulk discounts offering reduced rates for heat pump hot water tanks, induction stoves and e-bikes. Along with the discounts they’ve been busy discussing the benefits of heat pumps, solar panels and insulation through many in person events and webinars.

At the city level, Toronto launched their zero-interest Home Energy Loan Program (HELP) which was so popular the loans were quickly allocated to many climate-motivated homeowners.

Looking forward, we are excited to meet the growing demand with our newest energy advisor Anne Hogarth and plan to continue to grow by bringing on at least three more energy advisors in 2023. We’re happy to share that there are even more rebates for heat pumps as Enbridge is now topping up the $5,000 rebate from the Greener Homes program (this is all part of a new program that is called HER+).

We look forward to growing our impact as we feel the climate urgency even more with increasingly unpredictable weather in 2023.

One of Sarah’s children Eli, poses in front of their house. Eli, seven, is great at noticing heat pumps and solar panels in the neighbourhood.

Heating water without heating the planet

It’s been two months since Trish and I began heating the water in our homes without gas. We both previously had gas hot water tanks that were particularly inefficient and posed a risk from carbon-monoxide in our homes, as they exhaust through the chimney. Trish was smelling gas in her mechanical room and attributed the odor to her gas hot water heater. With both of us deeply committed to helping others get their homes off of fossil fuels we were both eager to practice what we preach with our water.

Trish opted for a heat pump hot water tank. Heat pump hot water tanks are the slick cleantech of water appliances. They extract heat from the surrounding air (using the same technology as a fridge, AC or a heat pump) and transfer it to the water. Their efficiency is around 400% (one unit of electricity to power the heat pump generates four units of heat) making them the most cost-effective water tank second only to solar hot water. Since heat pump hot water tanks need to be installed in a mechanical room that’s at least 10’ by 10’ or with vents on the door (so that there’s enough warm air for the heat pump) they were a good fit in Trish’s mechanical room.

Cost: $5,500+HST (Trish opted for a more costly model to test it out for other clients)

Rebate: $1,000 (Greener Homes program)

What Trish installed: Stiebel Eltron Heat Pump Hot Water tank

Size: 50 US gallons (181 litres). Since the recovery time can be around 50% slower than a gas hot water tank we recommend sizing up so that there’s more hot water to go around.

Sarah is currently undergoing a basement renovation and chose an electric tank and drain-water heat pump recover system. Given her smaller basement size, Sarah opted for an electric tank which is quieter than a heat pump hot water tank. Modern electric hot water tanks are much better insulated than older versions reducing the amount of electricity used to keep the water hot. To make her system more efficient, she also installed a drain water heat recovery system which is a simple copper pipe that extracts around 60% of the heat as it flows down the stack and out of the house. This heat is transferred to fresh water that goes into the tank reducing the amount of electricity used to heat the water. With an electric tank, we also recommend a timer that only allows the hot water to reheat overnight (when the cost of electricity is lowest). This was not necessary for Sarah since her home also has solar panels (offsetting the cost of electricity).

Cost: $3,600+HST (the drain-water heat recovery system cost $1,000)

Rebate: none

What Sarah installed: PowerPipe (drain water heat recovery system) + AO Smith Electric Hot Water tank

Size: 40 US gallons (151 litres). Her family got used to a tiny 20 gallon tank while her basement was being underpinned so going back to a 40 gallon tank felt luxurious. The drain-water heat recovery system makes the hot water last a little longer too.

Currently, these two systems represent the two best alternatives to gas for hot water heating. We’ve got our eye on the heat pump hot water heater that has an external unit, but for now, the heat pump hot water heater (that is one unit that goes in the basement) or an electric tank with an off-peak timer (and ideally a drain-water heat recovery system) are what we are helping homeowners install in their homes.

PS While solar thermal is really amazing, it ends up being quite expensive and we usually recommend that folks use their precious roof space for solar panels.

Reflections on 2021

As the year winds down and the beginning of winter (and unfortunately, the omicron variant) encourages a form of hibernation, we’re all drawn back into our homes.

This time of year always prompts in me a more mindful and reflective state of mind, one I often wish I could sustain throughout the year.

In spite of a turbulent year caused mostly by COVID, I am proud of how far we have come. Just over 2 years ago, Goldfinch Energy wasn’t even much of an idea and if you were to ask, there were only a handful of homeowners in Toronto who could say they’ve reduced their greenhouse gas emissions. Today’s landscape looks very different, with new growth and fast progress across many homes.

With my own home, my partner and I are about one third of the way with our plans (you can read about them here). Our efforts are not just about reducing greenhouse gas emissions but also driven by a need to have more space (the basement renovation was driven by a desire to have more than 1 bathroom in a house with 5 people) and a desire to be more comfortable at home (before we insulated the attic and flat roof and sealed our ductwork, the second floor wasn’t very comfortable in the summer or winter). I continue to believe that reducing greenhouse gas emissions at home doesn’t need to be the single goal that drives home renovations and that every homeowner’s path to getting their home off of fossil fuels is unique to their family’s goals and realities.

I’m happy to share that this year we addressed the top of our house. Our attic and flat roof are now well insulated and support enough solar panels to offset our electricity consumption  both now and in the future when we switch our heating, stove and hot water to electrically-powered appliances. Next year we’ll tackle the bottom of our house with the basement renovation.

Across the city of Toronto, neighbourhood and community groups have taken tremendous steps to bring together, motivate and educate each other in the importance and possibility of taking climate-action right at home. Trish and I are honored to have been invited to support several of them. Most notably the The Pocket Change Project and Harbord Village’s Net-Zero Project. All of the many groups and its members have demonstrated the power and potential of collective action that links both advocacy work and individual action.

Just last week, Toronto City Council adopted the TransformTO Net Zero Strategy which outlines a path for the city to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. The strategy, linked here, contains a lot of ambitious goals and a focus on existing buildings (which represent over half of Toronto’s greenhouse gas emissions). The most exciting aspect of the strategy (to Goldfinch Energy) is the goal to phase-out the use of natural gas in buildings by 2040. That’s a big deal! 

At an individual level, many members of the above-mentioned groups have (or are in the process of) taken big steps to reducing their home’s greenhouse gas emissions. Goldfinch Energy is fortunate to have worked with many fantastic homeowners this year and helped support six homeowners to get their homes entirely off of gas for heating (photos of a few are below). We also supported dozens of homeowners who made big reductions in their greenhouse gas emissions by switching their heating to a heat pump and have worked with hundreds to help them with an energy audit and cleantech assessment so that when their furnace or AC breaks or they are planning a renovation, they too will reduce their home’s greenhouse gas emissions. 

It’s been an incredibly rewarding year and we are also grateful to the many like-minded business partners we’ve met. We look forward to building upon in 2022.

Ramona lives in a beautiful semi in the west end of Toronto. She made some big decisions this year. We met in June. By September she insulated her attic and made her home more airtight. By October she removed her gas furnace and replaced it with a heat pump. She also removed her gas hot water tank and replaced that with a heat pump. To offset the electricity consumption, in December she installed solar panels. It was a pleasure working with her to slash her home’s greenhouse gas emissions from 6.7 tonnes/year to ZERO.

She is featured (above) next to her heat pump and (below) pointing at the inverter which converts the electricity generated by the solar panels to AC current for Toronto Hydro’s grid.

Bye-bye AC, hello heat pump

Heat pumps have an unfortunate name because half the benefit, the cooling part, is left out. If you live in a warm climate you’d buy a heat pump mostly for the cooling. In a moderate climate you’d buy it for both. There is some speculation, fueled by Elon Musk, that Tesla may come out with residential heat pumps. However, I imagine it will have some swish name as even calling it Tesla HVAC is an improvement over Tesla Heat Pump, especially in California.

Many homeowners are switching off of natural gas (methane) completely for home heating. It’s not inexpensive to replace both your heating and cooling system at once. A proposed federal rebate should help, but there’s another option for ducted homes if your AC is nearing the end of it’s life and your furnace is on the newer size. It’s simple, just replace your air conditioner with a heat pump. That’s what Goldfinch clients Eli and Ashley have done.

Heat pumps are just fancy air conditioners that also work in reverse. They move heat outside a house in summer and move it inside in winter. They can even work down to -27C. Ashley and Eli recently bought a home and hired Goldfinch to prepare a Cleantech Roadmap, a 10-year plan to improve efficiency and decarbonize their home. As the home came with a brand new furnace, replacing it didn’t make sense so instead they’ve opted to replace their non-functional air conditioner with a heat pump.

Broken AC

New heat pump and a new baby!

Through our HVAC installation service, Goldfinch ran calculations using a new tool from Natural Resources Canada. We focused on finding the best size for both heating and cooling, as well as the efficiency of various models. We also brought in a trusted installer.

We’re estimating their heat pump will cover all their heating from 5C and above, which is a significant amount of time their gas furnace won’t be running from now on. We can’t wait for next winter to analyze the results, but in the meantime, Eli and Ashley will enjoy the financial savings. Their heat pump has much higher efficiency than most air conditioners and, in the shoulder seasons, heat pumps typically cost less to operate than gas furnaces.

Heat pumps are an old technology (our fridges are heat pumps too) but in the past decade their application has exploded. Part of the reason it’s speculated that Tesla will get into HVAC is that they put heat pumps in their newest cars to help in colder climates. As EV owners in Canada know, electric cars don’t give off tons of heat the way gas cars do, so in winter it uses up the battery to defrost and warm them. Switching out a radiant heater for a heat pump heater in the newest Teslas, saves more of the charge for driving and improves winter range.

We applaud Ashley and Eli for prioritizing carbon emission reductions in their home and thank them for choosing Goldfinch. We wish their family of four a wonderful summer in their more comfortable home.

The heat pump is also whisper quiet!

My plan to cut my carbon emissions to zero

My partner and I have lived in our home for about 8 years. We’ve got 3 kids, one bathroom and 3 bedrooms. Things have been feeling quite squishy lately with all of us working and schooling from home.

Trish and I have found that when working with homeowners, the path to cutting home emissions is best when it incorporates the way that occupants use the space and their future goals.

Rather than aim for perfection along the way, we recommend that every step a homeowner takes shouldn't create barriers but instead gets the them one step closer to cutting fossil fuel emissions. For my home, the need for more space and an unfinished basement is our carbon cutting opportunity.

The other thing we’ve learned is that homeowners need to be talking and sharing their plans and experiences more. Homeowners who have cut their home emissions love sharing and homeowners who want to make changes but don’t know how get inspired when they hear these stories. I’m a part of an east end climate collective called TEECC. A few weeks ago I invited two homeowners (who we’ve blogged about here and here) to share their experiences during our weekly meeting. It was amazing to see the inspiration - it’s infectious! So I hope that by documenting and sharing my own experience I can inspire you to get going on the path to zero emissions.

The Basement

As mentioned above our basement is unfinished. The ceilings are about 5.5’ and with the ductwork it’s closer to 5’. So we know we need to dig down to create more height. I’ll add 1.5” - 2” of insulation before the concrete slab is repoured. These days hydronic in-floor heating is all the rage for basements but I think that a few inches of insulation will make it nice and cozy down there (it’s like putting slippers on the floor!).

The walls are double brick and covered with this ugly white parging that’s coming off. I’m still on the fence as to how we’ll insulate the walls. I’ve received a few quotes and most contractors love to use spray foam when insulating. I get it. Spray foam is way easier to install as you don’t need to worry about a vapour barrier (it acts as one) and you don’t even need to frame. But the embodied carbon of spray foam is pretty high (compared with other products). I’ll likely keep trying to find a contractor who will install 2” of rigid insulation made with Rockwool (the product is called ComfortBoard) and then frame with 2x4s and fill those with Rockwool as well. I won’t go into a detailed comparison as this blog I wrote does a pretty good job comparing the options.

my son enjoys picking off the parging which reveals this lovely greenish paint on the brick!

For the energy nerds out there, the basement walls will have an effective R value of R19 which is a bit better than framing with 2x6s and filling with Rockwool (which is R18) and much better than the standard approach of framing with 2x4s and filling with fibreglass (R10).

My energy consumption will go down by 12% which translates to approximately $200 saved/year. More importantly, our basement will have a bathroom, more livable space, it won’t smell musty and it’ll be super comfortable!

Heat Pumps

By improving our basement we’re reducing the size of furnace we need to heat our home. It may not come as much of a surprise that we’re going to chuck that furnace (or try to find an interested recipient for a 10 year old furnace) and install a heat pump. By insulating our basement we reduce the size needed by 40% which means we can spend $2,000 less on a smaller heat pump.

More importantly, switching out our fossil-fuel burning furnace for a delightfully clean heat pump cuts most of our home emissions (heating accounts for 75% of my home’s emissions).

We’re also going to remove our gas hot water tank which is also 10 years old and replace it with a heat pump hot water tank. Although the tank has not yet reached it’s end of life, it’s a good time to replace it as we’ll have plumbers in anyway for the basement bathroom and this’ll save us $ in the long-term (and of course gets us off fossil fuels sooner!).

Switching out our fossil-fuel burning hot water tank for a delightfully clean heat pump tank cuts the largest remaining chunk of our emissions (hot water accounts for 20%).

We’ll then just be left with a gas stove which I am eager to replace with an induction stove when we renovate the kitchen at some point (and we’ll then be able to cut our gas service altogether!)

Historical representation of heating solutions in my 100 year-old home. The chimney is currently only used to exhaust the gas from the hot water tank. The soot door can be seen in the bottom right.

The Roof

Our roof is also overdue to be replaced so that’s going to happen after the basement so that we can remove the redundant chimney. With a new flat roof that faces south we are prime candidates for renewable energy through solar panels. The solar panels will produce about 60% of the energy I calculate we’ll consume.

If by the summer the $40,000 interest-free loan program is in place, I hope to qualify for it to help cover the costs of a solar array (it’ll cost approximately $22,000 to install a 7.7 kW array). The solar panels will save us $1,500 - $2,000/year in electricity bills so we’ll use that to pay off the loan in 13 years.

Electrical Panel

Want to check if you have 100A or 200A service? Look at the switch at the top. It’s 100A here.

To install the heat pump for heating and heat pump hot water tank and to make sure we’ve got the capacity to charge an EV when our current vehicle goes, we’ll need to upgrade to a 200 amp panel. I’ve checked and we don’t quite have the capacity on our current 100A panel to accomodate everything we need. I’ve found that homeowners who are switching our fossil fuel appliances for cleantech don’t often consider their electrical panel. But it’s a great first step for any homeowner (and while you’re getting your panel replaced grab a can of spray foam and make sure to seal up any spots that seem drafty - I often find a lot of air leaks around and behind electrical panels).

What have we already done?

When we first moved in we replaced all the 100 year old single pane windows with well-sealed double-pane windows. We replaced the rotting cedar siding with vinyl siding and added 1” of rigid insulation underneath. The siding is my one big regret. I wish we’d have added at least 2” of insulation and considered a more environmentally friendly siding such as cedar or metal. For more on why vinyl is not great for the planet check out this blog. Now I know better but this experience also helps remind me that we can’t all build the perfect new home from scratch and need to find creative ways to improve what we already have.

You may also recall that a few months ago we had the attic insulated and I’ve done extensive air sealing.

What else could we do?

Alas, there’s often more that can be done on our beautiful century-old homes. Our main floor walls are all double brick without any insulation on the inside. So during the winter they are quite cold to the touch. In the future, it would be great to add insulation to them (from the inside or outside). And rather than waiting for all the walls to be perfectly insulated, I’m seizing the opportunity to switch out the two big fossil fuel emitters (furnace and hot water tank) for heat pumps and get a solar array on that nice new roof.

I love old homes! Double-brick walls were common in Toronto in the early 1900s and are easy to detect from the outside. Look for bricks that are about half as skinny. These bricks, called tie-bricks, are used to connect the first and second layer of bricks.

Top 3 things you should know before purchasing an Electric Vehicle

I often commute by bike (well, when there was commuting) but my husband and I both have jobs that require cars so we’ve transitioned to EVs. We’re now in year 3 of having two EVs and what’s the outcome? Our fuel costs have been slashed by 40-80% respectively and our maintenance costs are way down too. And the best part… they are way more fun to drive! 

Despite the long list of benefits, we did make a few blunders along the way that I hope you can avoid if you need to buy a car in the future. 

The first charging blunder is that we didn’t plan for two EVs. I bought mine first and hired an electrician to run the wiring for charging. Of course in our 100-year-old home, our electrical panel is the furthest-most point from our driveway. What I didn’t anticipate was that my amazing husband would switch to an EV two years later. That meant another electrician and 7 holes punched in our basement ceiling to run the wiring needed for his car. If I’d planned ahead for charging two cars at the outset, I’d have saved a lot of money on electrical work. 

And there was a second charging blunder too. My charger has a long cord and my husband’s is shorter, but guess whose charger is closer to the cars? Mine with the long cord of course, so watch out for that too. 

And the third blunder I made, the type of EV I bought, relates to why we needed two chargers instead of one. I bought my EV in 2017, and while I’d really wanted to buy a Chevy Bolt (an all-electric vehicle) there wasn’t enough supply so I bought a Chevy Volt (a plug-in electric/gas hybrid). It seemed like a great first EV because it has 80km of electric range before gas kicks in to go another 500km. My thinking was that I mostly drive in the city so 80km was plenty, and when I occasionally went out of town I’d just use a bit of gas. Turns out that was wrong. 

Plug-in hybrid electric/gas cars are tempting but the emission reductions are disappointing.

My plug-in hybrid EV wasn’t a good choice in terms of reducing emissions. Yes I drive emission-free in the city all the time, but anytime I go out of town, I drive way more kilometers than I did in the city, so the car isn’t nearly as clean overall as I had hoped. If everyone follows this hybrid route, we’re essentially putting off electrification of our transportation for another 20 years.

Car companies like the hybrid EVs because they’re easier to sell and they still need lots of expensive maintenance like a gas car. Those are exactly the reasons not to buy one! I wish I’d taken the plunge and done all-electric the first time. It also would have saved us money on the electrical work. My car charges at a regular 120V outlet but when my husband bought his car it made sense to run a 240V line. If I’d run a 240V line when I bought my car, we could have just upgraded to a two-headed charger when the second EV arrived. And it turns out, charging on a long distance trip is super easy, we just needed an open mind to learn something new (like the early gas drivers did!) 

With a Thule box on top our little family car can transport SUV-sized cargo.

An exciting outcome of buying EVs is that our neighbours have now done it too. We have 4 immediate neighbours which makes us a climate-conscious pocket of 6 EVs in close proximity. Our collective emission reductions are impressive, about 25 tonnes annually. So fun to drive and contagious too.

Good luck with yours!

My home office IS now comfortable!

Yesterday when the outdoor temp was between -5 and -10 for most of the day, I was able to work at home in my office in just a t-shirt. No toque, no blanket and not even a sweater! And in case you are wondering, we keep our home at a comfortable 19 degrees.

What did we do? You may recall the blog post of a few months ago where I outlined the things I had planned.

I’ve done two of the three things and am so satisfied with the results.

(insert image).

Duct sealing

The ducts were leaking (inser percentage) meaning not much of that warm air was making up to the spot that’s furthest from the furnace (my home office).

Cost - $1,600

Benefits - immediate gratification. Toque and blanket shedding levels!

Implications - for about 3 hours we had two people working in our house so it was best if we vacated. Once they left, it was as if they weren’t there (except that now warm air was gushing from the vents!). Trish wrote a great blog post detailing how duct sealing works.

Attic insulation

We didn’t know what was in our attic (as we didn’t have any access). So to start, I had a handyperson cut a hatch into our attic (cost $500). Only the first 16’ of our roof is an attic, the remaining 23’ is a flat roof (we’ll deal with the flat roof later).

We then had a contractor come and blow in insulation called cellulose (cellulose is amazing at insulating in attics and it’s made from recycled newsprint!).

Cost: $800 (we’ll recoup a few hundred dollars from Enbridge’s Home Energy Rebate Program)

Benefits: immense satisfaction. Sweater shedding levels!

Implications - we had the contractors here for about 3 hours. They parked their truck in our shared drive (which we needed to make sure they had access to) and ran a large tube through the second floor windor and into the attic. They evenly distributed the cellulose up to 20” which is just over the level required to qualify for the Enbridge rebate (and the level that as an energy advisor I recommend attics to be insulated to!).

I can’t believe we didn’t do these things sooner. As an aside, I also didn’t realize how much my feelings about certain rooms in my home were based on comfort. My love of my bedroom/home office has gone up immensely now that it’s not shudderingly cold.

Productivity is at an all time high in this comfortable office!

Our vision for a golden future

The idea for Goldfinch Energy came from Trish’s own experience when her furnace broke on a Friday night in February.

Trish had just started working with a clean energy policy organization (the Pembina Institute) and so she asked the HVAC company what alternatives there were to gas. The salesperson laughed and said, “there are no alternatives to gas”. With the risk of pipes freezing, there wasn’t time to shop around.

That was 5 years ago. Now, finally, MANY more homeowners are interested in reducing their fossil fuel consumption in order to mitigate climate change.

However, even though the urgency of addressing the climate crisis and demand from homeowners have both risen, it’s still not as easy as it should be to do the right thing. Just yesterday, I had a conversation with a Toronto resident who was interested in switching out her gas furnace for a heat pump. She was told by an HVAC contractor that it’s not possible to fully heat your home with a heat pump. She knew better though and called us to discuss her home and develop a plan.

That’s why Goldfinch Energy exists. Goldfinch Energy exists to make it possible for all homeowners to get started and keep on the path of cutting home emissions. We all want to ensure a future for children (and a decent retirement would be nice too!) Taking action at home should be easy, possible and affordable. For many clients we make a 5 or 10-year plan so each time a gas appliance fails in can be replaced with a clean technology. We’re also advocating for heat pump rebates to reduce the cost of switching.

We believe that Canadians, if given the opportunity, would choose to make their homes safer for everyone’s future.

We have a vision where that’s possible for all Canadians. We have a vision where our homes don’t spew out gas emissions but instead are affordably heated using renewable electricity. Where it’s easy to switch to a heat pump. Where it’s not complicated to add insulation to our walls and upgrade leaky windows. Where lending and rebate programs are easy to navigate and motivating to make climate-responsible choices. Where HVAC contractors are better informed on climate issues and supportive of homeowners’ desires to get off gas.

We know that people who make retrofits to their homes find them more comfortable. Rooms that used to be avoided in certain seasons are now enjoyed year round. Drafty rooms don’t send homeowners running for a toque and a warm blanket.

We also know that everyone’s journey towards a cleaner, greener home is different. We are trained Energy Advisors and have tapped into a wealth of knowledge on building science so that we can provide you with the expertise to help guide you along your journey.

We know that it’s always nice to get a rebate cheque in the mail and work hard to ensure that our clients maximize their rebate opportunities.

We’re also actively reducing the emissions produced in our own homes. Step by step switching out a gas stove for an induction stove (Trish did this just last week!), replacing a gas dryer with an electric one, preparing our homes for heat pumps (for heating, cooling and hot water) and, for clean electricity, adding solar. We look forward to continuing our own journey and being inspired by the many homeowners who have reached out to us to cut their fossil fuel emissions and make their home more enjoyable in the process. We’re all in this together.

Proudly sporting our new Goldfinch Energy hoodies after having just provided a cleantech roadmap and energy audit to a Toronto homeowner

Be like a goldfinch

Trish and I named our company after the American goldfinch because it’s not only a beautiful bird with an excellent name, it’s incredibly well-adapted to Ontario’s changing seasons. In the summer the goldfinch’s feathers are bright yellow and it can easily hide among the goldenrod, black-eyed susans and sunflowers that dot our landscape. In the winter, the goldfinch sheds its yellow feathers for more subdued brownish ones that enable it to camouflage into the bushes and trees.

As we all know, our weather is changing due to rising global temperatures. Like a goldfinch, we want to help you adapt your home to be ready for climate change (because it’s here already!)

How much is our temperature changing? I recently analyzed some weather data in the GTA. I looked at the average hourly temperature for the last 5 years and what I found was quite surprising!

• Days below -20C: Zero

• Days between -15 to -20: 1

• Days between -10 to -15: 3

• Days between -5 to -10: 16

In contrast, the 40 year weather data from 1981 - 2020 that’s typically used to help people design their heating and cooling systems shows 25% more days in each temperature bucket:

• Days below -20C: 1

• Days between -15 to -20: 2

• Days between -10 to -15: 5

• Days between -5 to -10: 20

A silver lining of the warming trend is that it’s more affordable to switch out a gas furnace or boiler and heat our home with an air source heat pump. Heat pumps are highly efficient but at very cold temperatures auxiliary heat might kick in which costs a bit more. However in the GTA there’s been much less need auxiliary heat in recent years. Plus, the latest cold climate heat pumps can now extract warm air from the outside and pump it into our homes even when the outdoor temp dips as low as -27 C. These adaptable machines, like the goldfinch, work well year round. They keep our homes cozy and warm throughout the winter and comfortable and cool in the summer. They also cost less than gas to operate in the shoulder seasons.

And because we can’t say it enough, heat pumps do not emit greenhouse gas emissions (unlike our gas furnaces). A lot of people don’t realize that natural gas is 95% methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

The warmer winter temperatures means that the cost to run a heat pump is often the same or less than running a furnace (the actual cost depends on a bunch of factors which we can help you calculate for your home). More on that in another blog post!

What Insulation is Best?

This is a question we hear quite often. The short answer is that it depends. There are many different types of insulation with their own merits and drawbacks. Most of us are familiar with the pink insulation that comes in batt form. We can thank the energy crisis of the 1970s for the dominance of the pink fluffy stuff which was used for all new buildings (as the code mandated insulation). These days insulation comes in many forms and from many products so that no matter what part of your home you’d like to insulate, there are multiple ways to get the job done. There are even products like insulated sheathing that enable you to accomplish two things with one product.

I find that it’s better to discuss what the insulation will be used for rather than debate the merits and drawbacks of various insulation materials. And if you have issues with a certain product, there are always alternatives. Below are the materials I prefer for some of the most common home renovations in the GTA.

Up top - the attic

Cellulose is an excellent option when insulating your attic. It’s affordable and has the lowest embodied carbon. Made from recycled print material, you can even blow in the cellulose into your attic yourself (many home hardware stores sell machines that shred the cellulose such as this one here). As with any insulation project, make sure first to inspect the attic space for any moisture related issues and address before insulating (e.g. rot on joists).

Down low - the basement

When insulating a basement it’s very important to make sure that the renovation plan first considers water that may come in through the concrete slab (through capillary action) or the wall (via groundwater). If you are in an area that’s prone to basement flooding, consider insulating from the exterior (as that’s the most sure proof way to deal with moisture) and adding a french drain, or if you can’t dig down on the outside of your walls, a sump pump on the interior. Once moisture is dealt with properly, you can insulate as much as you like!

For basement walls, stone wool (also known as mineral wool or Rockwool) is an excellent choice. Stone wool occurs as a natural byproduct of volcanic activity and is a recycled product made with the stone dust from industrial blast furnaces. It comes in both batt form (goes between the framing) and rigid form (no need for framing).

It’s an excellent insulator if you want to avoid using petroleum products and is both fire resistant and water repellent (this is due to the inherent drying potential of the product which is also resistant to rot, mold and mildew growth). The most cost effective form of basement insulation for the interior involves adding a couple inches of rigid insulation (R8-insulating factor) and then framing with 2x4s and filling those with batt form of Rockwool (R14). Rigid insulation is always a good choice because it provides continuous insulation over the whole wall so that you don’t end up with heat loss that looks like the photo below. 

The lighter areas show the wall studs through which heat can easily flow out of the house in winter.

What about spray foam?

Many contractors prefer to use spray foam, particularly when finishing a basement or third floor cathedral ceiling. This is because some types (closed cell spray foam in particular) do a three for one job of being an air, vapour and heat barrier. It also has on average a higher insulation value per inch than cellulose, fibreglass and rockwool so you can accomplish more and save on space. You may choose not to use it because like most petroleum based products, it just sits in the landfill once it’s no longer needed. However, you may decide that it’s the best material for a job that you are undergoing - and that’s okay too! My job as an energy advisor is present you with choices so you can achieve your green renovation goals.   

What about natural insulation products?

So far we’ve focused on insulation products out there which are both readily available (which means lower cost). There are some emerging natural insulation materials such as hemp grass (which is now being manufactured in Quebec!) With most natural insulation materials, they retain moisture to some extent so should not be used in areas where moisture can pose a problem. I’d probably suggest using it for a home retrofit where insulation is being added to above grade walls from the exterior. It comes in rigid insulation form and could be used in place of any other rigid insulation. As this is a newer product (only started being manufactured in 2018) it may be hard to find in smaller quantities but once builders start using it for new homes, the costs will come down and it should become more readily available.

In short, the world is your oyster when it comes to choosing an insulation product for your home. If you don’t like what a contractor is suggesting, you can always ask for alternatives! Factors such as how the product interacts with moisture, the insulation per inch, cost and ease of installation should be considered to ensure that you choose the best product for your upgrade.

Goldfinch clients convert to a heat pump

Meet Chris and Tierney. Last summer when they heard about Goldfinch Energy, and our mission to help decarbonize homes, they got in touch right away for a Cleantech Roadmap. They were relatively new homeowners and their purchase inspection had flagged that their 26-year-old furnace would soon need replacing. And, like many of us, they are climate concerned and want to do their part to cut carbon emissions. Goldfinch was thrilled to help them out.

Goldfinch started by listening to their goals and figuring out how they could be more comfortable in their home. Tierney is an avid gardener and last spring and summer she converted much of the front and back yard into vegetable plots. We noticed when visiting that all the windows were open and they were enjoying the fresh air. The house didn’t have any air conditioning, which wasn’t a problem except on really warm nights in the summer. We took all this information away, did some research, and delivered them a custom Cleantech Roadmap.

In order to achieve their goal of getting off fossil fuels, switching from a gas furnace to an electric heat pump was an easy decision. The harder decision was whether to stick with a centrally ducted system or go with the newer style of ductless heating and cooling. Central heating is great when it distributes air evenly but sometimes it results in too hot or cold rooms that can’t be remedied by a central thermostat. Likewise central air conditioning is perfect for some homes, but if you like the windows open much of the time, and you don’t like a cold basement in the summer (especially when your Covid office is there!) it can be uncomfortable.

Goldfinch Energy helped Chris and Tierney by interviewing four and meeting with two of our trusted installers. We also did a heat load calculation as part of an energy audit to ensure they would purchase the right sized equipment. After careful consideration, they decided to go with a ductless system. This means they now have three wall-mounted indoor heating/cooling units in their home, giving them complete zone control. Each zone has its own thermostat so in the winter the heat can be adjusted in each area. In the summer, it’s even more flexible. The air conditioning can be off in the basement where they don’t want it, on or off on the main floor depending on whether the windows are open, or, only the master bedroom can be air conditioned so it’s comfortable when it’s time for bed. In this way they’ll use a fraction of the energy central air conditioning would require. 

With a highly-efficient, zone-controlled heat pump Chris and Tierney’s home is the epitome of climate responsibility. They also choose not to own a car so their carbon footprint is officially tiny. The only fossil fuel appliance left in their lives is their water heater, and we can’t wait to see what smart decision they make on that front. Whether it’s solar, electric, hybrid heat pump… we’ll be sure to blog when their gas meter can be removed completely. 

The most important question you can ask your contractor

“What are good alternatives to my gas furnace?” 

In the summer, a homeowner named Karen reached out to us with that very question. We leapt for joy because although we do many things to help homeowners upgrade to a low-carbon home, the biggest step is fuel switching. Fuel what? Fuel switching means replacing equipment so your home doesn’t burn fossil fuels. 

Our homes have a great many culprits when it comes to fossil fuels. Usually our homes have a gas stove, a gas-fired hot water tank and a gas furnace. The biggest emitter of all is our furnace which accounts for up to 80% of our carbon emissions. Second on emissions is hot water, so if you aren’t ready to part with your gas stove - don’t worry about it!

When Karen asked about alternatives to her gas furnace we were elated. She not only asked the right question but also at the right time. Her hundred-year-old Toronto home was undergoing a renovation with a fantastic design and build company. Goldfinch Energy worked with her to help her understand her options when it comes to alternatives to natural gas. Better educated, she took the advice and brought it back to her builder and requested a heat pump. 

Most people have the vague sense that our gas appliances aren’t great but we don’t think about them very much. It’s usually only when they break that we think about them.

What was special about Karen was that she thought to connect with Goldfinch Energy during her renovation. It’s an excellent time to install a heat pump as she would have needed to install a new piece of heating anyway (this is common during big renovations as the size of the heating equipment needs to adjust to meet the newly renovated home).

Hats off (and gas cap on!) to Karen for her laudable choice and excellent timing!

Amazing fix for too hot or too cold rooms

I’ve only been conducting energy audits for a few months now but I already see homeowners struggling with the same problem over and over. Rooms that are too hot in summer and too cold in winter. People usually blame the windows or insulation but I often find that leaky ductwork is to blame. It’s not hard to check if this could be happening in your home. Turn on the heat (or cooling in the summer) and feel with your hand how strong the airflow is in the problem room(s). People always tell me they can feel some air but I point out that if it’s blowing less than in other rooms, that room is going to be less comfortable. The good news is that problem ductwork is fixable using Aeroseal technology. 

Last summer I had two rooms on my second floor that were way too hot. It drove my teenage son to move to the basement and my husband to a makeshift office on the main floor. That left me sweltering upstairs looking into solutions. Luckily I discovered Aeroseal technology which has since transformed these rooms completely. By fixing our home’s ductwork, conditioned air now comes blasting out of the vents.

The Aeroseal crew found three ‘ducts to nowhere’ behind the drywall in my basement ceiling. Because so much conditioned air was being lost here, three rooms on my second floor weren’t receiving enough.

So how did Aeroseal Tech do it? The first step was to cover our vents and then hook up some software to report on rogue air loss from the ducts. In my case, a whopping 45% of my home’s conditioned air was leaking out somewhere behind the walls or between the floors. Using a thermal camera, the crew was able to pinpoint three problematic spots in my basement ceiling. They cut these open and showed me that I had three open ducts going absolutely nowhere. Unbelievable! It was the result of a renovation done in the early 80s and no one had bothered to seal them up when an addition had made them redundant.

An aerosol containing an acrylic compound is being blown into my ductwork filling all cracks and gaps up to the size of a loonie.

Once the crew closed up the gaping holes, the Aeroseal technology came into play. The crew blows an aerosol containing an acrylic compound into the ductwork and it sticks to any gaps, cracks and openings in the ductwork, up to the size of a loonie. A lot of old ductwork is just fastened together with metal bands and using a thermal camera you can see that air leaks out from every join. In my home, the Aeroseal technology worked so well that my duct leakage went from 45% to less than 1%. 

As a final step, the crew measures the airflow from each vent before and after and adds vent dampers as necessary to get the air flow as even as possible in every room. The result in my home, absolutely amazing! I can’t believe we didn’t know about this solution sooner but very few people think about their ductwork. Home inspectors don’t mention it in their reports and energy advisors rarely notice it either (except the energy advisors at Goldfinch of course!) I think we’re just raised to make do in older homes but it’s better to proactively find solutions that improve comfort.

The rooms that were uncomfortable before are now prime real estate in our house. Funny though, my teenage son has decided to stay in the basement. After I used the service, my business partner Sarah Grant also had her ducts fixed and now she doesn’t have to wear a toque in her office anymore. It’s not an inexpensive service at $1,500 to $2,200 but we both found it was very good value and we wish we’d done it years ago. A client of ours also had it done recently and the crew found Toronto Star newspaper pages from 1976 shoved in her ducts. Older homes can be uncomfortable but it doesn’t need to be that way! If you need any advice don’t hesitate to reach out.

The gold standard for air sealing

Today Trish and I had the privilege of visiting a home that was getting the deluxe treatment with regards to air sealing. This home was undergoing a beautiful renovation and the homeowner figured if they were paying to have an incredibly well insulated home, it also made sense to have an airtight one too. The homeowner, Mike, was right! 

I’ve made the analogy before but it really works so I’ll use it again. Insulation is like the sweater we wear on cold days while the air barrier is like the wind breaker. We need both to stay warm on cold days and so does our house (it also needs a vapour barrier and a weather barrier but those are topics for another day!)

So what does the gold standard of air sealing look like? Called AeroBarrier, the air sealing technology involves pressurizing a house and spraying in an aerosol that contains an acrylic compound. The material enters the home as a vapour and since the home is pressurized it’s pushed to the outer edges of the home. If it finds a spot to latch onto it will. If not, it’ll keep moving around until it does. A home the size of Mike’s took about three hours and one bucket of product to seal.

The results were amazing. A 50% improvement in air leakage, with air tightness that’s comparable to a new home. The homeowner will see results in reduced energy bills (an estimated savings of $300 - $400/year) and incredible comfort. Also the side benefits of lower air leaks means less noise, dust and unwanted creatures will enter the home. 

Stay tuned for our next blog post where I will share the details on how this technology can also help you with leaky ductwork!

If you’d like to nerd out on this really interesting technology you can learn more here.

The crew supervises the installation which took 3 hours.

2020 Reflections: Individual actions can add up to something big

Well this has certainly been quite a year! Trish and I began our journey together in the spring of 2020. And I’m sure that that time in our lives will be etched in everyone’s memory - a time when going to parks was banned, a time when we all suddenly felt so isolated from each other and then, as we watched the infection rates rise, felt our global interconnectedness more acutely.

When Trish approached me with the idea for Goldfinch I initially thought that she was a bit crazy - starting a business in the middle of a pandemic! While all our kids were at home!!! But it actually turned out to be such a GREAT time to start. We found people were more willing to give us their time and so in just a few weeks we gathered knowledge, made connections and formulated a business concept that we then tested out throughout the summer.

The idea for Goldfinch came from Trish’s very own experience in the middle of a cold winter night when her furnace broke and she started talking to HVAC installers about alternatives to gas. She found their reactions dismissive at best. So while the pandemic forced many of us into uncomfortable shifts in our life - working from home, schooling our kids at home, to name a few, it also forced her (and I) to begin helping climate concerned homeowners reduce their emissions.

Despite the fact that the pandemic has occupied much of our minds this year and much of the media, it has been a monumental year for clean technologies.

In just a few weeks, the testing standard for cold climate heat pumps (developed by CSA) will will be published (they are in the final stages of the review period). Helping homeowners with the assurance that their heat pump will keep them warm, even on the coldest of winter nights.

Further west, in Vancouver, we see exciting support and incentives offered by the province, gas utilities and cities in a collaborative fashion. Did you know that a Vancouver homeowner can receive $9,000 back for installing a heat pump in their home?!? That’s no small potatoes as most installations of a 2,000 square foot home cost between $10,000 - $15,000 (talk with us if you’d like a more refined estimate for your home!)

And to further boost the collective confidence that we all need to be doing something about our home emissions, the federal government is putting precious economic recovery funds towards a program that will help reduce emissions and improve energy efficiency. Promising one million free home energy audits and up to $5,000 worth of rebates, we look forward to seeing high uptake from homeowners in the Toronto area.

On a local level, we’ve seen a huge increase in the ability of community based groups to both organize and mobilize resources. Across the city concerned neighbours in Harbord Village, The Pocket and Toronto’s East End (and more) are coming together on an often weekly basis to talk about climate and what they can do about it. Many of them have landed on a Net Zero or Energy Efficiency program - seeing that we can (and should) take action close to home.

While the pandemic has been a royal upheaval to our lives and I know I’m not alone with my pandemic fatigue, it has taught us both that we are all connected and that our individual actions matter. I need to say that again, what each of us does matters! So however you spend your holidays (and we are fairly certain it’s at home!), our holiday wish is that Canadians en masse begin to open our eyes to the importance of reducing our emissions at home, and the next time someone’s furnace breaks (or their AC breaks or they undergo a major renovation that touches on mechanicals), they seize the opportunity to explore alternatives to gas and slash their emissions.

Trish and Sarah making good things happen since May 2020

DIY Air Sealing

Sometimes I get so frustrated by the things I can’t control that I need to channel my energy towards things I can do something about.

I’ve had air sealing on the list for the last few weeks (ever since I audited my home as a part of my energy advisor training). A few weeks ago I tackled it. I want everyone to know that you don’t always have to spend thousands of dollars to reduce your home’s emissions. Up to 40% of home’s heating is lost to air leaks. Air Sealing is something you can (and should) do right now.

First a few words of caution - you should always wear protective equipment. A mask and gloves are advised, especially when working with spray foam. 

Second - Do your research and take the time to understand how air, heat and moisture flow through your home before you start running around and sealing up every nook and cranny. If you seal things without understanding how your home works you may, at worst, create problems with moisture and airflow and at best may spend a lot of time and money without really moving the needle on your air leakage. When in doubt ask a professional!

An excellent resource is one from Natural Resources Canada called ‘Keeping the Heat In’. If you don’t have time to read it all, just read the section on air leakage. 

Why do small cracks cause a lot of heat loss? Two things need to be present for heat to be lost through air leakage. First, there needs to be cracks or spots where air can leak out. This may be obvious but it’s helpful to think about why they exist and where they may have come from. Most newer homes have an air barrier, for the wall portion of our homes this is most often house wrap. For it to be effective it needs to be continuous. Think of it similar to those stylish fanny pack windbreakers we all owned in the 80s. 

When someone installs new pot lights in the ceilings, or gets a new air conditioner installed, these are more holes in our home’s K-Way Wind Breaker (or air barrier for the more technical folks reading this). If the installer doesn’t take time to seal this penetration properly, it may be a likely culprit for air leakage. 

I mentioned that two things need to be present for heat loss by air leakage. The second is a pressure difference. Our homes are naturally depressurized relative to the outside. Wind blowing on one side will naturally depressurize a home. Anytime we run an exhaust fan we are depressurizing our home (think of it like drinking from a plastic bottle without pausing to let air go into the bottle). The most common cause of depressurization comes in the winter. Hot air is lighter and so will rise and when it does it finds nice little leaks for it to flow through (like through those pot lights in the ceiling of our top floor). Then to make up for the air that was lost, cold outdoor air will come in through the basement, mix with the indoor air and the cycle continues.

Your home may be a good candidate for DIY Air Sealing if:

• You’ve had an energy audit and received a list of air leakage locations from the auditor.

• You’ve done your research and understand the stack effect

• You consider yourself somewhat handy

Common Sources for Air Leakage Source: Keeping the Heat In, NRCan

Okay now that the science lesson is done, onto the fun part. Doing the work! First, head to your local hardware store. Pick up a few cans of spray foam, some indoor/outdoor caulk (think about where you’ll be using it and what colour you’d like), some foam gaskets for your outlets and weather stripping for those drafty doors.

Start outdoors and examine all the spots where something goes from the outdoors to indoors - an exhaust fan, the internet cable, your power, exhaust from your furnace, to name a few. Check how well sealed they are and top up if necessary.

Then head indoors. If you have an attic, you’ll want to start there and first look at your hatch. Does it have weather stripping and a latch? Then into your attic we go! For every pot light and other penetration into the attic, check how well sealed they are. Spray foam works well in attics because no one will see it and it does an excellent job. A word of advice on spray foam - if it gets on your clothes or anywhere you don’t want it to go, don’t try and wipe it up. It’ll only make things worse. Wait until it dries and then it’ll crack off (although for clothes you’ll never be able to get all of it off). Gloves are also a really good idea when using spray foam.

Then head to your basement. If your basement is unfinished, seal up the spot where your basement wall meets your main floor subfloor (these are your headers and they are often a culprit for intake air). Sometimes, you might find it helps to shove some insulation between the headers first and then seal around the insulation to both hold it in place and to make sure you don’t end up using an entire $20 can of spray foam on one little area.

Last, tackle any doors or windows that you know are leaky with weather stripping and caulk as relevant.

Good luck and if you’ve had an audit done, you may now qualify for the air sealing rebate currently on offer from Enbridge (you need to do two things on your home to qualify).

I’m always happy to provide 10 minutes of free advice or support to anyone who is interested in air sealing so please don’t hesitate to contact me at sgrant@goldfinchenergy.ca.

Sue Dexter: Harbord Village’s community champion

When it comes to climate change we’re all in this together, yet most of us have experienced feeling paralyzed by our inability to make a difference. Sue Dexter, a long-time resident of Harbord Village, is a Net Zero trendsetter who knows how to drive change. Net Zero, in this case, means a home that produces as much energy as it consumes. Not only is Sue’s community-based approach to Net Zero more impactful than doing it alone, it’s also more fun to share experiences and celebrate successes as a team.

The outdoor unit of Sue’s new heat pump is whisper quiet and mounted off the ground so snow doesn’t block the fans.

Sue’s latest Net Zero adventure was to replace her gas furnace with a heat pump. Heat pumps aren’t new (our fridges and air conditioners use heat pump technology), but only recently have technological advances made them ideal for heating and cooling homes in colder climates like ours. They use electricity so they don’t produce carbon emissions like burning natural gas in a furnace does, and they’re far more efficient than baseboard heating.

Sue’s new centrally-ducted heat pump, a Mitsubishi Zuba, is providing plenty of warmth as the weather gets colder. It will also deliver more efficient cooling in the summer. An added benefit is that she no longer needs to maintain both a furnace and an air conditioner, just the heat pump. 

The heat pump’s indoor unit was installed horizontally from the ceiling to accommodate the lower basement ceiling in Sue’s home.

Thanks to some help from the City of Toronto, Sue had some cost projections before embarking on the project. Sue thinks her heat pump will cost about the same to run as her gas furnace did but in a worst case scenario it could be $200 more during the heating season. To her this represents good value because she is cutting her carbon emissions by more than 85%. And in fact, as a cleantech trendsetter, it won’t surprise you to learn that Sue installed a solar array in 2007, so much of her electricity is essentially free.

Sue’s solar array isn’t large, only 3 kilowatts, but it paid for itself in 12 years and has been generating a profit since. Sue also made a smart move by installing solar thermal hot water. The sun largely heats her water but she has on-demand gas backup for when it isn’t sunny. In the summer Sue’s gas consumption charge is less than $5/month.

Adopting the latest cleantech is always fun but the most important part of Sue’s project is that she’s not doing it alone. A long-time volunteer with the Harbord Village Residents Association, Sue was instrumental in starting its NetZero Committee. A number of volunteers on this committee have been educating themselves about cleantech options for their own homes and are available to the broader community as a resource. They’re also working on ambitious plans to reduce the carbon footprint of the entire neighbourhood.

If you’d like to make deep cuts to your household emissions (and utility bills!), the best way to get started is with a plan. And better than doing it alone, find others in your community who want to do it with you. We can’t all replace our cars and heating equipment overnight, but we do tend to replace these things every 5-15 years. In 10 years time, many people in your neighbourhood could have zero household emissions from home heating and transportation. 

Try reaching out to your community association to see if they have or want a NetZero Committee. Failing that how about pairing up with a neighbour or friend? Make a joint 10-year pledge to get off fossil fuels and share your experience and learnings with each other over the years. Change is easy when you do it with your friends, and the multiplying effect is far more rewarding than doing it alone.

Sue may be the first in her neighbourhood to fully switch off gas for home heating but there’s no doubt she’s spot on the next cleantech trend. Heat pumps are going gangbusters in Europe and California. And the next major hotspot thanks to a community approach... Harbord Village!

My home office is not comfortable

Since the pandemic hit my partner and I have been, like many Canadians with desk jobs, working from home (okay I don’t always work from home and love the days when I am outside measuring other’s homes and talking with you about your comfort issues). Today, I want to share a bit about my home office and the steps I am taking to make it more comfortable.

A caveat: calling the space an office is quite a generous term. We are in a 3 bedroom semi and with 3 kids, the office is also the master bedroom. But during the day, it serves as an office so hereonin I will refer to it as my home office.

As the temperatures have dipped below zero recently, you’ll often find me working with a blanket wrapped around me and a hot cup of tea on the desk. Sometimes I even don a hat.

Many of us (myself included) would have tried cranking the thermostat or even speculated that our furnace was not sized big enough. Now that I’m an energy advisor, I know that more often than not the path to comfort involves insulation and air sealing rather than upsizing a fossil burning piece of mechanical equipment that has a lifespan of 10 years (although there are times when a heating system is not sized properly and as an energy advisor I am also trained to check this too!)

So what’s the plan? First up, our ducts. This is an area that energy advisors, home inespectors and even HVAC installers don’t typically look at. But I know that my ducts are leaky as the air coming into one of the other bedrooms on the second floor is much more forceful than what is entering my home office. This was confirmed when I brought in Victor. Victor is with Aeroseal Tech. With a free home quote, he confirmed my suspicions, the air flow to my home office is half of what I’m getting from other vents. He was able to determine that at least 30% of my heat wasn’t making it to where it should. Meaning, my ducts are leaky and the heat, rather than getting pushed upstairs, is getting lost in the basement (where we don’t really need it) and in the walls where it slowly dissipates out. You may not think that this is a problem as the heat makes it upstairs eventually (temperature differences like many things in life naturally seek to balance out, I’ll save the physics lessson for later). But the problem is actually two-fold. Not enough hot air is getting to my home office and what little that does get there is leaking out of my home too quickly making that room constantly 2-3 degrees colder that what I’d like.

That brings me to the next section. You might be wondering why this room alone has issues. Part of it is because of leaky ductwork but the other part is because a good portion of the walls are exposed and poorly insulated. The ceiling is above a small attic that most definitely does not (yet!) have any insulation in it. The front wall also does not (yet!) have any insulation. A third of the floor is actually exposed (it hangs over our porch) and it too is not insulated (yet!). So there are both A LOT of exposed walls in this room and most of them are poorly insulated. The only side that is exposed and insulated is the right which has 2” of continuous insulation underneath the siding (we added this when we redid the siding). By putting my hand on the decently insulated and the poorly insulated walls I can feel an extreme temperature difference.

So the plan involves fixing my leaky ductwork and insulating the exposed walls. Two of the three exposed walls have framing and I plan to have cellulose blown inbetween the studs. Then, when we can take on a bigger project, we’ll add more insulation at the same as time when we redo the roof and the siding on the front of the house.

As far as insulating walls goes, blowing in cellulose between the studs is a relatively uninvasive low-cost approach. A insulating company will drill 2” holes between the studs, fill them with insulation, and patch over the walls leaving me with warm comfy walls and only a few spots that need to be painted over. We’re timing this work so that it’s done before we need to repaint.

I’ve started getting quotes on the insulation work and have the duct sealing scheduled for next Wednesday. I am SOOO looking forward to a more comfortable office in 2021! I promise to keep you posted on my home comfort adventures. If you have a problem with an uncomfortable home office, I’d love to chat and see if we can help!

Phil and Pegi: Riverdale Renovation

This past summer we had the pleasure of meeting Phil and Pegi on their lovely front porch. From there we learned about the key components of their low-carbon retrofit: better exterior cladding and two new heat pumps. 

A lot of people instinctively think their homes are leaky because of their windows but houses have a lot more wall than window. An energy audit can precisely determine both the biggest culprits for heat loss and the best fixes. Phil, a long-time advocate of energy efficiency, had an audit done for precisely that reason. He wanted to know which upgrades would most improve his building envelope.

Phil next to his newly insulated exterior wall and heat pump

The east side of Phil’s home was in need of repair but instead of just replacing the siding, Phil made the wise decision to add 2 inches of rigid foam insulation underneath new stucco. This widened his home by 2 inches but it looks great and blends perfectly with the front of the house. The result is a great looking wall that provides way more insulating value.

Most of us are familiar with adding insulation to the inside our homes but it’s even more effective when it can be placed on the outside. Inside, insulation is constantly interrupted by wall studs, outlets and more, whereas outside it can run almost continuously.

On the west side of Phil’s home, proximity to the neighbour’s house prevented adding exterior insulation but his home has interior wood framing so the walls could be insulated from the inside using a method called “drill and fill”. It required repainting but it greatly improved the building envelope. In addition to insulating both sides of his home, Phil also upgraded some of his windows.  

With the building envelope fixed, the next step was to improve the heating and cooling. Phil’s home has cast iron radiators but the heat was unevenly distributed. His home was also too warm on the upper floors in the summer. The perfect solution was to install a cold-climate heat pump because it would provide both heating and cooling. In fact, Phil installed a first heat pump with two indoor heads and it worked so well that he soon purchased a second heat pump so the rest of the home would be as comfortable.

With heat pumps now servicing Phil’s home for both heating and cooling, the gas boiler is getting much less use. It’s still needed during the coldest months because it services the basement and a few other areas, but burning less gas overall means fewer carbon emissions. The other advantage to using the heat pumps is that each head has its own remote thermostat. This means that everyone in Phil’s home gets the right temperature, not just the person with the lucky room, which used to depend on the season.

In doing this project, Phil and Pegi had a little help from the City of Toronto. Toronto H.E.L.P. loans can be a good idea for homeowners taking on efficiency and solar projects. These loans are attached to the property tax so that if you move, the outstanding balance is transferred to the new owner. It’s a great solution if you want a solar array but worry you might move before it’s paid off. 

Goldfinch has Phil to thank for inspiring our tagline: Comfort and cleantech under one roof. When we first interviewed Phil about his project he told us he never imagined how much more comfortable his home could be. Now, improved comfort and reduced emissions is our goal on every project. Change is easy when it’s win-win.

How to find and fix drafts and air leaks

Many of you already know that Trish Long and I have recently become Registered Energy Advisors. We pursued this accreditation because energy advisors take a building science approach to analyzing a home. If you’ve ever had an audit done, you know that an advisor is able to both assess your home’s current energy consumption AND make upgrade recommendations. The recommendations usually fall into several categories including windows, walls, doors, new heating system, etc. however most often air sealing is at the top of the list.

Performaing an air leakage test using a blower door

An Energy Audit will provide you with a calculation of how much heat is lost in your home through leaks. A typical Toronto home loses approximately 30% - 40% of its heat through cracks. These small gaps may be around your plumbing intake, along your window trim,or even in your attic around your top floor potlights.

Air sealing is, for most homeowners, the low-hanging fruit that you can either tackle on your own or hire a professional firm like Goldfinch Energy.

Goldfinch recently air sealed three homes, each requiring a different approach. In all cases we used a blower door to simulate a 20+ km/h wind, which clearly identifies a home’s air leaks. With just a few hours of effort, we were able to significantly reduce air leakage and the homeowners were able to feel a noticeable difference in the reduction of uncomfortable drafts.

At the first home, air was leaking in between where the basement wall ends and the subfloor begins (this area is called a floor header). Spray foam was the best solution in this case because the basement is going to remain unfinished for now. Spray foam does the best job when it comes to air sealing cracks between 0.5” - 3”. You can purchase a can of it at your local hardware store. If you plan to do this yourself, be sure to read the instructions carefully, shake the can before use, wear PPE and don’t wipe up fallen drips but instead wait for them to dry.

At the second home, there were two gas fireplaces that had a noticable amount of air leakage around the edges. These leaks, although small in width but approximately 8’ in length, were sealed up with fire retardant clear caulk. As the fireplaces were focal points in the home, I made sure the caulking wasn’t noticable at all. We also sealed along the baseboards and addressed sources of air leakage in the unfinished basement.

Rockwool is an environmentally-friendly insulation choice for walls, attics and crawlspaces.

Windows are a common source of air leakage. If you don’t want to replace them, there are often ways to reduce the air leaks around them.

For the third home, half of the footprint of the main floor was over an unfinished crawl space, making the room above unnecessarily chilly. Trish and I spent a fun-filled morning crawling in and adding R14 worth of Rockwool between the framing and then covering this with professional spray foam (these kits are best for covering larger areas and should only be applied by a professional).

If you aren’t sure where your air leaks are, hire building science experts from Goldfinch Energy who can identify them using a blower door. For minimal cost, you’ll have noticeable improvements and we’ll share the measurable results from the blower door test with you. You’ll be well on your way to making your home more comfortable and energy efficient.