HVAC system technology has come a remarkable distance during the past 100 years or so. It is a tribute to reliable heating systems that almost 33 million people can live in a cold climate like that of Canada. And, as a winter country, we have more of a stake than many nations in ensuring that fuel to operate those systems remains available and affordable. So far, the supply has been steady but the price despite the recent easing due to a relatively warm winter and reduced demand is getting less and less reasonable. The installation of high efficiency equipment can help considerably, but the customer has to have the money to do it. A lot of people dont. An increasing number of Canadians are using their furnace or boiler only when its absolutely necessary. Their homes are never comfortable. We are starting to see desperate measures such as buying heating oil by the jug by people who just cant afford the $400-$600 to have their oil tank filled. And the situation is starting to get ugly. Between Christmas and the New Year, thieves drained a just-filled oil tank at a Halifax church. At the same time, despite enormous strides in equipment efficiency, it seems that many old and inefficient technologies are experiencing a revival. In talking with contractors at the CIPHEX West show in Calgary in November, I heard about a number of coal-fired boilers installed on farms and colonies. I have heard of at least one industrial plant that switched from natural gas to coal and I suspect there are others. And used-oil burning equipment is quickly becoming a no-brainer for auto repair and other facilities that generate used oil. (Unfortunately, in Ontario, the government is moving just as quickly to ban that technology.) So what does this mean for the HVAC industry? We have a role to play, but we can only do so much. Most contractors are already on the right track, encouraging their customers to spend a little more and go for higher efficiency equipment. The margins are better and customers will thank them down the road. It really does pay to keep up to date on new technology and to be alert for the technologies that really work versus those that are either more hype than substance or just too experimental to install in a customers home or business. But the industry needs some help to get high efficiency equipment into the homes of everyday Canadians. One of the first moves of Steven Harpers new Conservative government was to eliminate the NRCan Energuide for Houses rebate program that had been developed jointly between the federal government and the industry. It was a good program, as these things go, in that before and after energy audits ensured a genuine improvement in both home and heating system efficiency. The amount of the rebate was tied to the level of energy saved. It looks as though the government has seen its error and plans to launch a similar program ecoEnergy Retrofit in April. But the industry and the country needs a far reaching program to get high-efficiency heating equipment into the homes of those who are struggling. Replacing a furnace or boiler is a big-ticket expense. Customers that are buying heating fuel by the jug are hardly likely to replace an old inefficient furnace if it still works, much less purchase the best equipment
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