Where residential emissions actually come from
In most Canadian homes, space heating accounts for roughly 60% of energy use and an even higher share of GHG emissions if the heating fuel is natural gas, oil, or propane. Hot water heating is typically second. Electricity in BC is already 98% renewable, so any shift away from combustion fuels has an outsized impact on your carbon footprint.
Reduce first, then switch fuels. A heat pump installed in a leaky house has to work harder and run longer — which reduces the emissions benefit. Lowering your home's heat loss through air sealing and insulation means a smaller, more efficient heat pump can replace a larger gas furnace, multiplying the impact of both upgrades.
The highest-impact steps, roughly in order
Air sealing your attic plane and ceiling bypasses is usually the first priority — it's low-cost, high-impact, and makes every subsequent upgrade more effective. Adding insulation to the attic follows closely. Together, these can reduce heating loads by 20–40% in older homes.
After the envelope, switching from a gas or oil furnace to an electric heat pump delivers the largest single reduction in emissions for most BC households — roughly 50–70% less carbon per unit of heat delivered, depending on your current fuel type.
What a Home Performance Report shows you
A report models your home's current GHG emissions and projects the reduction you'd achieve at each stage of improvement: air sealing, insulation, heating system upgrade, window improvements. This lets you prioritize spending by emissions impact per dollar — rather than guessing based on general advice that may not fit your specific home.
Want to know which upgrades will reduce your home's carbon footprint the most? A Home Performance Report models your current emissions and shows the impact of each improvement.
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