HVAC Blog

For immediate release Hydrocarbon Refrigerant DIY kits for air conditioning systems potential fire hazard May 17, 2012 - Mississauga, Ontario – Anyone who has ever forgotten to lift the lid before lighting their propane barbecue knows how volatile, and highly flammable, this fuel source can be. Would you then risk using such a potentially hazardous product in your air conditioning system? This is exactly what mass marketers and retailers are suggesting that home and building owners do by promoting a hydrocarbon refrigerant “Do-It-Yourself (DIY)” kit as a replacement refrigerant gas for residential or commercial air conditioning systems. Unlike the non-flammable refrigerants used by a qualified air conditioning technician, hydrocarbon refrigerants are made up of a mixture of propane and isobutene and are extremely flammable similar to the gas in a barbecue tank. The use of such a flammable refrigerant in a home or building can create a serious fire and explosion risk ...

NRCan Closes ecoENERGY to New Registrants On Sunday January 29th, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) Minister Joe Oliver announced via the NRCan website and by way of a news release that the federal government would be officially closing the popular ecoENERGY Retrofit-Homes program to new registrants.   The sudden closing of the program comes two months before its official end date on March 31, 2012. The government has limited participation to 250,000 registered homeowners. The NRCan website states the following: The program has successfully reached its goal of 250,000 registered homeowners. As planned, the program is no longer accepting new registrations. To help ensure registered homeowners have time to get their post-retrofit evaluations and receive a grant, the Government of Canada is extending the deadline to June 30, 2012, for homeowners to complete post-retrofit evaluations and apply for a grant. All retrofit renovations must still be completed by March 31, 2012. ...

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2012 Heating and Cooling Incentives  HRAI and Ontario Power Authority announced continuation of Heating and Cooling incentives to 2012.

Canada Regulatory Update- Amendment 13 As part of the regulatory process to implement minimum energy performance standards under Canada’s  Energy Efficiency Act , Natural Resources Canada’s Office of Energy Efficiency (OEE) issues bulletins to announce intentions regarding  standards for new products and revisions to existing products. These bulletins cover reporting requirements, minimum energy performance levels, labelling and verification requirements that will come into effect for products manufactured after a specified date.  Traditionally, after stakeholder consultations by webinars, additional bulletins, stakeholder meetings etc .  are held, the proposals are pre-published in the  Canada Gazette , Part I.  This allows for an additional 75-day comment period. The pre-published regulations are revised if necessary and proceed to final approval and publication in Part II of the  Canada Gazette .  On October 12, 2011 Am...

With the defeat of the federal budget, the Conservative Government’s immediate plans to resurrect the ecoENERGY Retrofit Program were put on hold as well, but, if election promises are to be believed, there will be some type of energy retrofit program no matter what party wins.  The Conservatives are promising to revive the ecoENERGY program that would give homeowners up to $5,000 in grants, but only for one year.  The Liberals are promising a program that would extend to 2017, and would pay 15% of the actual cost of energy efficient home renovations up to a total of $13,500.  The N.D.P. indicated they will have a similar program, but did not announce any details.   It is anticipated that each plan would include energy efficient furnaces and air conditioners, although, the final details are not available.   M4X24469SXHH

Why?  According to The Government of Ontario, they are currently building the infrastructure we require by upgrading old transmission lines and power plants.  The Government confirms Ontario has shut down 8 coal units so far and plans are in place  to shut down all remaining units by 2014, to reduce air  pollution and by moving to cleaner sources of electricity.    How much will we pay?  The Government of Ontario says that over the next 20 years, including taxes and other charges, electricity bills are projected to rise about 3.5 per cent per year.  They add however, that largely because of investments being made in the short term to bring on new energy supply and upgrade electricity infrastructure, electricity bills are expected to increase by about 7.9 per cent per year over the next five years.    How can we manage costs?  Although electricity prices are rising...