One Couple's Quest to Ditch Natural Gas

While the late nights buried to my knuckles in spreadsheets calculating the payback periods on heat pumps and solar panels were, dare I say, fun, my nerves began to fray when the solar company we wanted to hire abruptly went out of business..

Indeed, an estimate from Efficiency Vermont, the states energy efficiency utility, pegged the systems consumption at 10,000 kilowatt-hours annually in heating alone..

Although the redesigned system would run $3,000 more, the city offers an extra $1,750 in rebates for ducted systems like this, and making this switch would reduce our annual heating costs by about $600, to around $1,100, accelerating the payback period...

That doesnt include the gas hookup fee of 88 cents per day that we pay to keep the boiler on standby, which Efficiency Vermont recommends doing at least for a couple of winters to ensure the heat pumps can handle the load job on the coldest days..

Our additionsthe stove, the dryer, the heat pumps, and an electric vehicle chargerwere pushing our homes 200 amp panel beyond its maximum capacity..

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