Free and Nearly Free Money

I'm not an elected official, yet it appears that the Nova Scotia government will give me rebates and incentives for certain types of energy efficiency upgrades done to my house.  Yes, I must look closer at this: Conserve Nova Scotia Programs and Rebates.

Wouldn't you pick up a dime on the ground if you saw it? I would!  So here's an overview of the current rebates and incentives:

• EnerGuide - Rebates for energy efficiency upgrades to existing homes
• Zero-interest loans - Up to $5000 in interest-free loans
• Solar Air Heating Rebate - $500 rebate on qualifying new residential solar air heating systems
• Solar Hot Water Heating Rebate - $1250 rebate on qualifying new residential solar hot water systems

The Neighbours Experience

I talked to the neighbors across the street from my place a couple of weeks ago about their renovation.  They live in a house very similar to mine and have recently finished raising their house and replacing their foundation, among other things.  Since I am planning on doing almost the same thing, they kindly showed me around their place, told me about what they did, and how much things cost.

I got some valuable pointers about financing the project and got to learn some of the things they found out along the way.  For example:

• Apparently the city will want me to replace my sanitary line from my house out to the sidewalk and will ask that I separate the storm line (roof drain, perimeter foundation drain) from the sanitary line.  But apparently this last bit is optional.  And it's a good thing it is, because the city sewer in my street is a combined system (sanitary and storm water are in the same pipe together).  So there isn't much point in paying extra to separate the two, since (in my opinion) the city will likely not separate their sanitary and storm systems in the near future.
• For the foundation consider using insulated forms rather than a traditional strip form concrete foundation.  Insulated forms cost more, but you can build your interior wall directly on the insulated form and your insulation has be installed with the foundation.
• Their original foundation was not level to begin with (so probably, neither is mine) so be prepared for lots of cracks to develop in your walls after the new foundation is poured and the house is leveled on top of the new foundation.  You may even have some doors that will not close after the house is lowered onto the new foundation, so you'll probably need to sand down doors and door frames afterward.
• If you're replacing your driveway, and it is up close to the side of your foundation, wait until the next summer to do it if you can.  Although the ground that is put back around the foundation should be compacted as it goes back in the hole, you may still get some settlement which could cause your new driveway to crack or settle, ruining that new investment of yours.

Solar Thermal Heating

A conversation this afternoon with a friend has convinced me that I need to look into heating via solar panels. After all the sun is free and isn't going anywhere, right?

His brother works for a local company that installs off the grid power systems. I'm going to do some research and then talk to him about this. I'll post what I find out here. In the meantime, here are some good links to information I've dug up about Solar Thermal Heating.

Solar Heating Links:
Thermomax Industries - Manufacture solar collectors, solar accessories, collector tanks and other solar products.
Thermo Dynamics - Manufacture solar collectors, solar pumps, heat exchangers and other solar products in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
Canadian Solar Industries Association (CanSIA): Solar 101 - The basics on solar heating and power.
Solar Energy in Radiant Floor Heating (CanSIA) - Overview of radiant floor heating using solar energy with budget costs for the work.
Solar Energy for Residential Applications (CanSIA) - Overview of residential solar domestic hot water installation.
Solar Nova Scotia - Offers courses on solar building design and offers the Canadian Solar Home Design Manual for purchase.

Geothermal Heating

I've started doing some research on geothermal heating systems.  This is something that I'd really like to install in my house because of the superior efficiencies that you can get with this system and the fact that you aren't generating any greenhouse gases--at least at your house.  Unfortunately, Nova Scotia Power still generates the majority of it's electricity using fossil fuels.  (Reference: wikipedia,  NS Power)

With a geothermal system and a water source heat pump you can get COPs (coefficient of performance) of around 3.5 to 4.5 depending on the unit you are using. The coefficient of performance is the ratio of energy output to energy input.  So the higher the COP rating on your heat pump, the better it's performance.

I found some great information on how geothermal heating systems work in residential applications at Maritime Geothermal Inc who manufacture geothermal heating units out of Petitcodiac, New Brunswick.

Image from: Nordic Geothermal Inc

I quickly realized that a geothermal system in my location (the city) would mean that I'd need to go vertical with a geothermal well, since there just wasn't the room in my backyard for a horizontal ground loop (or two).  I found some great information on geothermal wells from Brewster Well Drilling.  I phoned them and an extremely helpful guy Philippe Gingras met me at my place and we talked about how the systems are installed and the costs.

Here is some of the information I found out:

• Rule of thumb for geothermal well installs is 150 feet of well depth for every 1 Ton of heating load from the heat pump.  So a 4 Ton system would need a 600 foot deep geothermal well.
• 600 feet is their drilling depth, so if you needed more than a 4 Ton system you'd need another well.
• They like to locate the wells as close to the mechanical room (where your heat pump will be) as possible.
• The top of the well is around 5-6 feet from the surface of the ground and you can pave over it with a driveway or put grass over it.
• The supply and return lines from the well are run in a trench to the side of your foundation where they core drill a hole through the foundation wall, into your basement where the lines run to your heat pump.
• It costs about $21 per foot to drill a geothermal well.  So a 600 foot deep geothermal well will cost you roughly $12,600.  This would be the installed price including drilling the well, installing supply/return lines, filling the well with grout, trenching from the well to the side of your house, and bringing the supply/return lines into your house.  This would be a budget price and assumes that digging in your yard doesn't require breaking bedrock to get the 5-6' depth above the well, repairing your driveway, etc.
• Geothermal systems are best suited for new home installs.  This is because they work best when they are used as heat sources for in-floor radiant heating systems or via hot air forced through ventilation duct work in your house.  You can also use it in a combination of the two, so that you can reverse the heat pump in the summer and air condition your house using the duct work.
• Geothermal systems can be used in renovations, but they are most economical when you already have ventilation ducts installed throughout your house and your present heat source is either close to needing to be replaced, or leased so you can cancel the lease and have the old equipment removed.
• A drilled geothermal well would work great at my property and they would install it in the driveway, which is right next to the house.  This, I thought, would be great since I am thinking of putting my new mechanical room at the back corner of my house, next to the driveway.  Also, the driveway needs to be replaced soon, so if they had to rip part of it up to drill the well, it wouldn't matter much.
• The budget price to install ventilation duct work in my house would be in the $5-6000 range but I got some names of a couple of mechanical contractors they work with to narrow that cost down.  I'm thinking that I can cut this cost down if I were to install the duct work myself, but I'd still need to know how to do it properly.
• The budget price to install the heat pump and associated equipment that would extract heat from the geothermal well would be in the $4-5000 range.
• All told I'd be looking at a budget price of $25-30,000 to install a geothermal system.  Whoa!
• The federal government used to offer a $4,500 rebate for geothermal installations, but they canceled the program last year. Thanks Steven Harper!

Have geothermal questions? Contact Philippe Gingras at Brewster Well Drilling: 902-456-0517 (cell) and 902-832-4758 (fax).