There are a number of choices available to you when it comes to how you heat and cool your home. While many people choose electric means of cooling, heating is often a different story. The heating options for your home include things like gas heat, wood-burning heating, and even ambient heating solutions that use steam or hot water to pump heat through pipes in concrete flooring. Some homes even use a combination of these methods to heat different rooms in the house.
If you’re considering how you want to heat and cool your own home, however, there is something to be said for using an all-electric solution. While electric heat and air might not be right for every home or every homeowner, it’s at least worth considering if you’re in the market for a new home or are planning out a new construction project. If you’ve never really given an all-electric home much consideration, here are a few things that you should think about.
Rising Home Heating Costs
It seems like every year, the cost of heating your home is going up. There are many reasons for this, not the least of which is fluctuations in the cost of heating fuels such as propane and natural gas. Depending on where you live, using these fuels as a heat source can be pretty expensive over the course of increasingly harsh winters when you’re going to have to run the heat a lot. Supply issues can also make it difficult to get refills of fuels like propane when you need them, and if you are able to secure a refill for your tank, then the increased demand could drive prices even higher.
While the cost of electricity also sees periodic increases, electric power isn’t as prone to wild fluctuations as some other fuels are. This can create more price stability over the course of a season, even in the event of severe winter weather that might drive up demand and pricing for some other fuels. Given that your home is already wired for electricity, it also offers the convenience of giving you a single bill for your heating and cooling needs without the requirement of scheduling refills or making other provisions to secure fuel.
Harnessing Solar Energy
Another big potential advantage of going all-electric is that you can use solar energy as a means to offset or even eliminate your heating and cooling costs. By installing solar panels on your roof or near your home, you can offset your use of grid power, or even charge batteries that your home will draw some or all its power from. Depending on the size of your solar setup, this can result in a significant decrease in the amount that you pay to heat and cool your home (and run everything else, too) throughout the year.
The savings from going solar can extend beyond just your heating and cooling costs, too. Installing solar panels at your house may qualify you for certain tax breaks or other benefits, saving you money when it comes time to pay your taxes as well. If you have a large enough solar setup, you may even be able to produce more power than your home uses. Depending on where you live, this could give you an opportunity to sell some power back to the grid, actually making money off of your home’s power setup.
Choosing an All-Electric Home
There are several ways that you can go all-electric, from buying a house that already has an all-electric setup to having a new electric unit installed to replace previous heating and cooling equipment. If you’ve already got an all-electric setup, you can also look at options such as solar to reduce your costs even more. Fortunately, whether you’re looking for an HVAC pro to install a new unit or a solar installer that can help move you off the grid, We are here to help.
