Many rural homes in Ontario use an oil furnace for heating. This makes sense, because oil is an extremely compact, easily transportable form of fuel that for decades was the most economical choice. As we know, oil is no longer as economical as it once was, and environmental damage from extraction, refining, transportation, storage and [...]

If you think crawlspaces have to be “icky,” think again. Building science whiz Joe Lstiburek has published “New Light In Crawlspaces” to guide you through the mess. An earlier version of this article first appeared in ASHRAE journal several months ago. It’s great to see this information being made available for non-subscribers. Other highly recommended [...]

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. [...]