Whether this happens will depend on how well households respond to BC Hydro and provincial and federal efforts to adopt the technology.
By now you may have met Dave and Jacklyn, also known as BC Hydro’s advocates for all energy saving and environmental protection activities.
As an incentive, Crown is offering up to $3,000 in rebates for switching from fossil fuel-based systems, which can be combined with provincial and federal rebates for a combined savings of up to $11,000 in cost and installation.Customers who switch from an electric baseboard heating system can receive up to $2,000 in rebates.
Meanwhile, the B.C. government waived provincial sales tax on heat pumps in its most recent budget, while also raising the PST for fossil fuel heating appliances to 12 per cent, effective April 1.
The aim is to help “finance the cost of new incentives to make heat pumps more affordable for rural and northern communities,” according to Treasury background information.
In a statement emailed to The Citizen, BC Environment further said the PST waiver would translate into up to $500 in lower equipment costs, “making heat pumps a more affordable heating and cooling option.”
In addition, the ministry said the most recent provincial budget included $16 million over three years to provide additional incentives for northern and rural heat pump installations.
Still, the move sparked an outcry in some quarters, with the provincial government once again rolling out a policy that might work in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island, but not for anyone “living beyond hope.” Saying it is unrealistic.
After all, while heat pumps can be effective in summer, and Hydro is promoting them as a viable alternative to air conditioning, what about a reliable home heating system in winter, especially when temperatures drop to -40 degrees Celsius?
“It’s a valid statement, even though I’ve been involved in several projects using cold climate heat pumps,” said Krum, who owns and operates Prince George-based Hometech Energy Solutions Inc. since 2007.”Cold climate heat pumps will effectively produce electricity as low as -30, so in these households they do need some power backup to deal with maybe -40 in the short term.”
Perhaps the bigger concern is finding people eligible to use the system to retrofit existing homes.Beginning July 1, work must be done by a contractor who meets the standards set by the Home Performance Stakeholders Council for homeowners to be eligible for the rebate.
Currently, there is no information about the Prince George and Fort St. John area in the Find a Contractor feature of the HPSC website.But there’s still time, according to HSPC spokeswoman Tanya Ratzlaff, four companies that have said they serve Prince George are in the registration process, “and we’re doing outreach to increase that number.”
For now, the biggest focus seems to be on new homes.Heat pumps are already common in the Prince George Aboriginal Housing Association’s development on the corner of 17th Avenue and Winnipeg Street, and will be a key feature in more future projects.
A key driver will be the so-called BC Energy Step Code, an incremental process whereby new homes will be 80% more efficient by the end of 2032 than homes built to the 2018 BC Building Code.
Before that date, the threshold will reach 20% by the end of this year (called the third step), rising to 40% by the end of 2027 (the fourth step).
According to Terri McConnachie, executive officer of the Canadian Association of Home Builders in Northern B.C., northern contractors have easily achieved their 20 per cent goal by simply building “more compact homes” and adding more “Small tweaks” such as triple-glazed windows.
“In northern British Columbia, we’re already building more efficient, more airtight homes, so meeting the deadline by the end of the year won’t be a problem for the new home industry,” McConaughey said.
As the 80 percent deadline looms, heat pumps and other types of technology will come into play, she said.Homes that meet the standard will also have the ability to dispose of solar panels, which are considered the final step toward “net zero,” or “generating all the energy it uses,” McConaughey said.
At the same time, a growing number of home builders in the Midland region are gaining ‘net zero’ certification as part of the annual process to maintain their qualifications.
Gas supplier FortisBC knows what’s going on well and doesn’t want to be left out.
With approximately 95% of Prince George’s households reliant on fuel, FortisBC is working towards a provincially mandated goal of ensuring 15% of its supply by 2030 comes from renewable energy sources, such as methane emitted from landfills.
While heat pumps are currently an electricity-only product, Jas Baweja, corporate communications specialist at FortisBC, said the company is “exploring opportunities” for gas heat pumps, which could replace gas-powered furnaces and hot water with “almost half the use. An item of energy” system.
In the online video, BC Hydro’s Dave explains it this way: The system consists of external and internal units, connected by refrigerant lines.
“Yes, believe it or not, even in cold winters, outdoor air still contains a certain amount of heat,” he commented.”The warm air then passes through a refrigerant coolant, which is compressed to further increase the temperature.”
In summer, the process is reversed, with a heat pump taking warm air from your home and moving it outside.
A central system connected to existing plumbing is often used in homes that rely on natural gas or electric furnaces, while small split, wall-mounted indoor units are used to carry warm air from the outdoor unit into the home.They’re best for homes without existing plumbing but have electric baseboards or underfloor heating, and are “a great option for open-plan homes or smaller spaces,” Dave said.
Residential activity accounted for 6 per cent or 4.1 megatons of total greenhouse gas emissions in British Columbia in 2019, according to a provincial government inventory.