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.

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.