Pumped about heat pumps: New Hamilton program aims to make climate-friendly heating affordable

There were obstacles as an early adopter, admitted Cassidy, who laughingly recalls being scolded by the contractors who disconnected his natural gas meter. “They told me they’d be seeing me soon (to reinstall gas) ... but so far I have no regrets.

“If it lowers emissions and can be cheaper, why wouldn’t you do it?”

The old-is-new-again technology is becoming the darling of the climate-friendly home-heating movement — and it might become increasingly common in Hamilton if the city’s proposed home retrofit loan program gets the go-ahead.

A heat pump works much like a refrigerator or air conditioner. But in addition to pumping heat out of your home in summer, it also extracts heat from the air and pulls it into your home in winter. The basic technology is not new, but ultra-efficient, modern versions can now heat your home even if outdoor temperatures fall to -30 C.

Cassidy is enthusiastic about the technology based on his experiences using a ductless version in his century-old, 1,500-square-foot house that includes a basement apartment. (There are also heat pumps that use existing central heating ducts or work in tandem with furnaces.)

In 2020, Cassidy calculated he was paying about $1,120 annually for space and water heating (as well as home cooling) using only the electricity-powered heat pump, compared to his pre-retrofit combined gas and power bill of closer to $1,180.

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• Dec 31, 1969
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• Dec 31, 1969
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Those savings “should only grow” now that the cost of natural gas has skyrocketed and the federally mandated carbon price is climbing, he argued. Meanwhile, he calculated his carbon emissions from home heating dropped from around 5.5 tonnes to about one-third of a tonne per year.

Still, the heat pump enthusiast noted challenges that he suspects would dissuade some residents.

For example, while Cassidy ultimately paid about $8,000 to buy and install his ductless heat-pump system, plus the cost of rarely used backup baseboard heaters, he was originally quoted $20,000-plus by a contractor to do the job. “There are a lot of numbers being thrown around out there,” he said.

It can be daunting to find reliable information about costs, models and appropriate unit sizes, added Emma Cubitt, who started a Facebook group, Heat Pumps for Hamilton, where interested residents can seek help and relate experiences.

Cubitt, an architect, went to Cassidy as well as engineers she knows in the building industry for advice before outfitting both her own home and a retrofitted secondary unit with heat pumps. “Without that expertise, I would have felt pretty lost,” she said. “The internet is not always a reliable resource.”

The federal government now offers grants and low-interest loans to help cover the costs of carbon-cutting home renovations — but in most cases you must pay to do the work first. “If I were on ODSP, or even just on a tight budget, I don’t know if I would rush out to change my (heating) system,” Cassidy said.

That’s where the city’s new office of climate change initiatives is hoping to step in.

City councillors heard a pitch last week for a home energy retrofit pilot that would give eligible homeowners (owners of single-family detached or semi-detached homes and townhouses) up to $20,000 in zero-interest, upfront loans to do carbon-cutting home renos.

The key word in that proposal is “upfront.”

Even residents who are aware of federal rebates for home retrofits are often “intimidated” by the upfront costs, said Nico Strabac, a consultant on the city proposal and project lead for Mohawk College’s Centre for Climate Change Management. “This is the point when many homeowners stop their journey,” he told councillors.

The city’s program would give money in advance of the renovations, with homeowners paying the loan back over 10 to 15 years via their property taxes. It would also provide an “energy coach” to help residents navigate the technical details of any retrofit project — and ideally, access federal or provincial rebates to lower overall costs.

The loans can be used for retrofit work like insulating and air sealing, as well. But heat-pump installation is considered a particularly big climate win, since nearly three-quarters of Ontario residents heat with natural gas.

The average older, 1,800-square-foot, single-family home heating with natural gas in Hamilton produces close to 4.9 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions year, while a house using an oil furnace could be up around 15 tonnes.

Councillors appeared on board with the pilot, although several expressed concerns about ensuring loans were available in particular to low-income residents and that tenants are protected during any project.

The city says it plans to do “targeted” advertising of the loan program to low-income neighbourhoods and those with older homes that are most in need of retrofits.

If council ratifies the pilot program, it will start small — with a goal of financing retrofits in about 50 homes by the end of 2024. If that works, the city hopes to scale up the program thereafter.