alas, if one lives too far north, one cannot avail oneself of a heat pump, technology I really like. Gotta stick with the Clampetts' Texas Tea for the time being I guess...
Do they have other optional rates? Most people don't know they have options as to how they are charged. Dominion Virginia Power offers three options. I changed mine and installed a demand-controller and have saved 35%. Ozzie can expound on this as we've discussed it before.
Ozzie, your paradigm of optimism!
Go To Hell carolina, Go To Hell!
9F 9F 9F
https://ecogreen.greentechaffiliate.com
This advice probably comes too late to help the original poster, but let me put a plug in for geothermal heating/cooling. It is just like a heat pump, except that uses a loop of water circulating through coils underground to obtain/disperse heat rather than a condenser in the open air. It is far more efficient than a conventional heat pump because the temperature of the soil a few feet underground remains more or less constant in the 50 degree range throughout the year. It can be used in any climate region (other than permafrost).
The only downside is the significantly greater upfront cost and a few logistic concerns in placing the coils. However, unlike solar panels which are green, but may or may not ever pay for themselves, a geothermal unit is supposed to pay for itself in about five years.
I do not have direct experience with geothermal yet, but we are looking to replace our heat pumps in the next few years after they reach the end of their normal life. However, I have friends who specialize in green building and green building standards and they enthusiastically recommend it.
I had to redo our upstairs HVAC a few years ago, and our upgraded high efficiency Carrier Infinity setup was approximately 8k.
My neighbor went the geothermal route, and it was over 25k. I'm not clear on the tax credit, but I think it is in the 10k range.
Our bill approximately 30% with the new system.
From a technology and green standpoint, geothermal is really an exciting option. From an initial investment perspective, maybe it's not double the cost but it is close.
Geothermal and solar sound exciting. At some point, we'll have to look into the new wave.
But what I find in this house we just bought (built in 1911), the old wave was much better than the recent wave.
We live in Saint Louis, so you have summers that are almost as bad as those in the South, but not quite. The duration is less bad, even when the intensity is similar. We have candy-*** winters. It might get actually cold, like a few nights around 5F or 10F in January, but it's for so few nights a year that it pales in comparison to the epic struggle that is keeping a dwelling around 74F all summer.
So it's getting a tad chilly now, not cold. The HVAC can blow some nasty forced heat that gives everyone respiratory difficulties. I hate this. But fortunately the 1911 house also has gas-fired radiators.
These things are amazing. They take a few minutes to warm up, but when they do, BAM! I have to ease them off before they get going; otherwise it would be 80 in here. They take almost no energy, especially compared to running the HVAC. (Our A/C bill in August, which wasn't all that hot, was $392, and we have good insulation and we block out the southern windows when it's hot). There was also an interesting article in the NYT the other day about how in Europe, they make pretty radiators instead of the ones you saw in Hanes or Trent.
So HVAC. Great for A/C. God bless A/C. Life would not be worth living without it. But heat? There are a bunch of other ways to get that. Heck, in our little condo we're renting now, two halogen lamps would do most of the work. Everything in your house gives off heat. Including you.
A movie is not about what it's about; it's about how it's about it.
---Roger Ebert
Some questions cannot be answered
Who’s gonna bury who
We need a love like Johnny, Johnny and June
---Over the Rhine
Our new house in Mebane (what a lovely town) has a gas boiler and radiators (which are built into the wall, not the monstrosities that stick out in the room). The heat is even and moist. The system works flawlessly. I paid the wonderful guys at Scoggins extra to come do my servicing (Mebane is outside of their service area so I paid a bit extra for their travel time). Clay said, "this is the type of system everyone should have". When I asked why they were becoming so rare he said, "Americans like instate gratification. These systems are expensive to install so they cost more on the front end. But they are cheaper to operate and last forever. You may have to tune this up once in a while and replace a leaking pipe here and there, but you'll never be looking at a $6000 bill to replace your system."