space heating for new homes

Space heating can replace with advantage traditional central heating systems, even in cold climates, as long as you build a super-insulated home...

The pre-conditions for space heating in cold climates

Tight insulation and sealing, proper orientation to the sun, a good floor-plan and landscape, good siting, materials with a convenient thermal mass, qualified windows properly located and dimensioned, are crucial elements for your new home.

These features can turn space heating into a truly alternative to central heating (in cold climates) or even eliminate the need of a heating system (in other climates).

See: New Homes Green Features

New sealed-combustion heating systems for space heating

Many builders and home owners are choosing space heating instead of central heating. The idea is, obviously, to heat individual rooms and parts of the house, with new efficient gas stoves, biomass furnaces, fireplaces, inserts (or even small heaters) powered by natural gas, pellets, wood…

In the core of these new versions of ancient heating equipment is a sealed combustion chamber (with air coming from outdoors) that makes them much more efficient and healthier. Modern stoves of fireplaces are very different and much more powerful than the old fashioned open-combustion predecessors.

Electric heating

In some cases (namely in mild climates) electric heating - based on room electric heaters - can also be considered.

In spite of its higher unitary cost (comparatively to gas heating, for instance), electric heating make sense for small uses: electric heaters are maintenance-free, don’t raise combustion problems and in many cases don't involve installation costs... And these elements turn them into excellent solutions for super-insulated homes (with their limited heating needs).

Zone heating

The space heating approach is often based in the zone heating concept – a concept that involves dividing the home in different areas, for heating (and cooling) purposes.

Through zoning you will have different temperatures in different rooms, depending on the schedules and the way the occupants use the different parts of the house.

Home zone heating can be supported by gas stoves and other new sealed combustion equipment, or electric portable heaters, and is an alternative strategy to the use of central systems..