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.