Steve Maxwell writes about four options for heating a rural house in the 27 September 2008 issue of the Toronto Star.

He breaks heating systems into oil, propane/natural gas, ground soure heat pump, and wood/wood pellet.

Maxwell comments about the electric ground source heat pump as not always having local technical support in rural areas. I don’t know about that – the rural areas is where residential use of ground source heat pumps is highest.

On the other hand, he makes the important point that a heat loss calculation should be completed on your home prior to making any final decision.

He also brings to light the problems with HRVs (Heat Recovery Ventilator). Or rather, the people who install them, because the HRVs work well but are rarely installed correctly and “balanced” – a form of commissioning.