Installing a cold climate Heat Pump will keep you cozy all winter, cool all summer, and cut your home’s emissions. One unit does it all.

Your Heat Pump Guidebook is available here!

NOTE: The guide, produced in Toronto by the Toronto Home Energy Network,contains some stats pertinent to that region. Clearview Sustainability Network (CSN) will be reviewing the information and producing a version that relates more closely to data from the areas in and around the Township of Clearview.

Incentive programs are available for households in Clearview to install a heat pump.

• The Greener Homes Loan program that offers interest-free financing for heat pumps and other
energy efficiency measures is still operating.
• Grants of up to $10,000 are also available through the Oil to Heat Pump Affordability program.
• If your home is electrically heated (e.g., baseboards) and you have a low to moderate income, you could be eligible for a free heat pump (including installation) from the province’s Save on Energy program.

Ask The Clearview Sustainability Network about these and other incentives available in our area. Contact us at: clearviewsustainabilitynetwork@gmail.com

Cold climate heat pumps will keep your home warm even when it is very cold outside.

There is a myth that heat pumps are inappropriate for cold climates. That is not true. Modern heat pump systems can keep your home warm and cozy 100% of the time, even on the coldest days, and even in older homes. A heat pump has to be sized correctly in order to meet the needs of your home, but so do all other heating systems.

A heat pump system will be the most efficient when it is sized correctly and will then comfortably provide all of the home’s heating or cooling which will be based on the local temperature extremes (even when such extremes aren’t the case 99% of the year – the example sited was for Toronto at -18°C). When your heat pump is specified in this manner, supplemental heat from a backup heating source (such as an existing furnace) may only be needed for extreme weather events. Most years you may never use the back up at all.

(It is important to remember that if you can get your home completely off gas, you can avoid paying Enbridge’s fixed service charges totalling over $300 per year.)

Heat pumps are popular in many of the coldest climates on earth for good reasons.

Homeowners in many cold climates are rushing to buy heat pumps because they provide very efficient heating and cooling, and can save a household many thousands of dollars on heating bills while reducing carbon emissions. We often hear that homes are more comfortable after installing a heat pump with more consistent and even heat.

Finland, Norway, and Sweden have very cold climates, yet they also have some of the highest rates of cold climate heat pump adoption in the world.

Source – extracted and edited from Ontario Clean Air Alliance – Heat Pump Beats Gas – Fact Sheet, Mar 20, 2024.

This Fact Sheet is available on CSN’s website – see Building & Development section.

Climate change adaptation means planning for and acting on the anticipated impacts of climate change. It involves making changes to how we live and what we do before climate change impacts happen (anticipatory) as well as being ready to respond to increasingly likely and frequent extreme events (reactive).

Green Development Standards (GDS) are voluntary or mandatory measures created by municipalities to encourage design that is environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable. GDS are comprehensive principles to guide development at a level of planning and design that focuses on the community as a whole. These standards are integrated into the planning approvals process, where development applications are asked to meet certain criteria in the GDS.

The Building and Development Committee focuses on:

• Participation on Clearview Township’s newly created Climate Action Advisory Committee (CAAC)
• Supporting all efforts of Clearview Township to adopt Green Development Guidelines, like many other Ontario municipalities, to create a low carbon community. This is also a regional effort of collaboration involving many communities in the Southern Georgian Bay area.
• Supporting Clearview Township to develope a program to support residents retrofitting their houses to reduce carbon consumption.
• Providing a trusted site where residents can find related articles and reliable facts about carbon reduction and how they can help.