The cost of moving into a new home can be quite steep. New homeowners are often focused on buying new home furnishings, appliances and accessories. But one other important thing to consider is how your home can help you save money in the long run. Insulating your basement is one way to help put money back into your pocket. An insulated basement can help reduce energy costs and increase your living space, as well as help increase the resale value of your home. A …

When it comes to breathing in healthy air, and keeping asthma and breathing problems at bay, furnace filters and AC filters are much more important than you think. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, indoor air is two to five times more polluted than outdoor air. This article will help you make informed decisions as to the replacement of your furnace filters and air conditioner filters and how to care for them.

Preventive maintenance for your air conditioner is important to do before the summer season heats up, but taking steps to maintain the outdoor unit once summer’s over is just as critical. By following a few simple steps, you’ll ensure that your cooling system is ready to go next year.

While homeowners get out and enjoy the last vestiges of warm weather, this season is the best time to prep your home to endure Calgary’s harsh, cold winter. There are a variety of ways to get your home ready, with varying degrees of cost and difficulty:

Home owners who heat their homes with boilers have several options to improve efficiency. If your system is old, inefficient and possibly unsafe, a retrofit may be able to upgrade it. However, be sure to compare the costs of a retrofit with the costs and benefits of replacement. Some retrofits apply to both gas and oil-fired systems, but some are fuel specific.

As long as there has been wood to burn, man has used it to stay warm. Our ancestors who discovered fire had the edge on a renewable heating source that is not only cost-effective, but also an environmentally friendly way to heat the home. Still, many of today's homeowners rely primarily on oil, gas, and propane oil to heat their homes rather than looking to wood. Why? It could be because they don't have the facts about burning wood efficiently or are unaware of today’s high-efficiency wood-fired home heating appliances.

Replacing your furnace is a huge undertaking. Not only is it a significant investment, but choosing systems and features to optimize efficiency and energy savings takes time and knowledge. One element that is important to consider with furnace replacements (and installing systems in a new construction) is where to vent the furnace.

It’s fairly easy to assess the electricity consumption of your home using a smart meter, but what can you do to find out exactly how much electricity your air conditioning and furnace consume? Calculating heating degree days (HDD) and cooling degree days (CDD) shows the fuel consumption of each piece of equipment to determine efficiency performance. Once you know that, you can better evaluate how much energy savings you’ll recoup from upgrading.