Ottawa unveils plan to phase out oil-fired furnaces and support heat pumps

The federal government says it has a plan to start phasing out the use of oil-fired furnaces in new construction and get homeowners and businesses to switch to heat pumps over the next several years.

The finalized Canada Green Buildings Strategy, which is being released today, outlines Ottawa's priorities for decarbonizing buildings — the third-largest source of climate-altering carbon emissions in Canada.

The strategy does not target natural gas and propane heating sources. While the document doesn't explain in any detail how Ottawa means to phase out oil-fired furnaces, Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said the federal government intends to use regulations and investments to encourage the switch to heat pumps.

«We will be moving to ban the use of heating oil in new construction. And that simply reflects the fact that there are lots of alternatives to heating oil,» Wilkinson told CBC ahead of the strategy's release.

«Heating oil is enormously expensive, and it is the most polluting fuel that we use to heat our homes.»

Strategy focusing on new construction

The Canada Green Buildings Strategy commits the government to introducing a «regulatory framework that will allow the phase-out of the installation of expensive and polluting oil heating systems in new construction, as early as 2028.»

Heat pumps — which use electricity and don't burn fossil fuels — are more efficient than traditional indoor climate control because they transfer warm or cold air instead of generatingit.

The buildings strategy document says some heat pumps can warm a house even when temperatures fall below -30 C, and cool it when temperatures exceed 40 C. Heat pumps are often coupled with back-up heating sources for prolonged periods of severe cold.

Heat pumps