Editor’s note: There’s no one way to go about cutting carbon emissions at home, and everyone has a different starting place. For Ben Kaplan, that was a cold basement in his first house. After experimenting with a wood pellet stove, he embraced heat pump technology – but if he had it to do over again, he would begin with a home audit and better insulation.
Our home improvement journey started eight years ago in a cold basement.
Our first home is a 1950s brick ranch – “bullet proof,” as our home inspector Mike had said. Well, almost, Mike. It is indeed sturdily built, but as we got to know the house, we identified some critical updates that would make us more comfortable and reduce our impact on the environment.
My wife focused on aesthetics, while I zeroed in on infrastructure and mechanical components. Where both of our interests aligned was the basement, as it represented almost half of our living area and would need our help to become a comfortable, functional space. A gas furnace heated the main floor. But the basement had no heating source. It would need to be warm!
Adventures with wood-pellet heat
When considering heating options for the basement, we first explored the idea of a wood stove. Both my wife and I had fond memories of being raised in homes with roaring fireplaces during the winter. But after careful reflection, the wood stove, although very hygge, was not energy efficient or super practical. While still fantasizing about pioneer tech, we happened to catch an episode of This Old House on PBS, and I experienced my eureka moment during a segment on a wood pellet stove installation. The pellet stove eliminated many of the building code and safety issues presented by a wood stove, and it was also far more efficient. We were onto something!
Having exhausted all that the internet could offer on this niche subject, we were ready to visit the chimney and stove supply store. This would be a big purchase – when factoring in install and parts, it would equal about half the cost of a new furnace. With all of our questions answered, and satisfied with the Lopi AGP pellet stove’s performance and features, it was time to pull the trigger. We contacted the city as the first applicant for a wood pellet stove in Evanston and scheduled the installation.
By then it was fall, and, on the first crisp evening, we couldn’t wait to fire up our little mechanical dragon, watch the mesmerizing dance of the flames, and soak up the glorious heat, satisfied with our decision.
This satisfaction lasted for several winters. Then five years ago, after our son was born and up on his feet, the pellet stove seemed less of a solution and more of a problem. We grew increasingly concerned that he would touch the hot glass on the stove’s door and also worried about the risk of smoke in the house. (The pellet stove needs electricity to operate; if we lost power, the stove’s blower system would no longer be able to push out the fumes from the fire chamber.) Thus began the next modernization experiment.
Goodbye pellet stove, hello mini-split heat pump
Heat pump technology was not unknown five years ago. In fact, it had been in use in many parts of the country for years. Once you wrap your head around the idea of generating heat from outside freezing cold temperatures, the benefits are straightforward. The system acts as both your heat source in winter and an air conditioner and dehumidifier in the summer. It is super energy efficient, can be zoned for different parts of the house and reduces the amount of carbon dioxide your home emits directly.
 100vw, 1024px”/>The mini-split, or ductless, heat pump delivers conditioned air to a unit or units inside the house, usually mounted high on a wall and controlled with a programmable remote. <span class=)
We chose a ductless, two-zone mini-split heat pump from Mitsubishi that operates down to -14F (there are now models that operate down to -22F). The ductless model required much less installation labor than a ducted system, and we wanted two separate zones so that we could decide when to heat specific areas of the basement and reduce wasted energy. With the exception of a few polar vortex events, we have not experienced any issues with the system’s performance and have zero complaints about our choice.
One important consideration we did overlook was that this technology can create higher utility bills than you would expect if your house is not fully insulated, you have older windows or the winter is bitterly cold (0 degrees or colder). We have excellent attic insulation and have new efficient windows, but our first-floor walls and floor are uninsulated, and this draws heat up from the basement, causing our heat pump to operate longer than it would if we had insulated more of the house.
Advice for homeowners looking to make the switch
In retrospect, I would have changed the order of our projects. We never did an energy audit of our house – a great place to start and an easy way to put home improvement projects in a logical sequence. We should have installed insulation in our walls before we moved in. This would have helped reduce our natural gas bill from the furnace that heats the first floor and it would help reduce our basement heat pump’s impact on electricity bills.
Most of you will not find it fulfilling to treat your house like an engineering lab. You should work with professionals and develop a plan first before investing a dime in structural home improvements or energy efficient mechanical systems. Talk to an electrician and understand what changes may be needed when switching to electric appliances or adding a heat pump to a basement or a home addition. Invest in the boring things first (insulation and windows) before splurging on the latest tech. In most cases the boring things will not only reduce your energy use, but come with government incentives.
As for me, for the moment I’m hanging up my lab coat and filing away my ideas for the second house and the next generation of home tech.
Climate Watch is a series of occasional articles about what climate change means for Evanston and what we are doing locally to make a difference.