As always, late to the party..... LOL. Everyone here seems to be on track, but I do have one comment on the cost of different fuels, and investing in a heat pump to save money.
An air-to-air heat pump runs totally on electricity, and can effectively extract heat out of the air down to ~ minus 12 deg C. (10 deg F) This means you still need a "backup" source of heat when the temperatures dip below that.
The real key is the cost of electricity compared to Natural Gas, Propane, or Fuel Oil.
At current electrical rates in Ontario, $1.00 into a heat pump will buy you ~40,000 btu's of heat. Here are the others:
Electric furnace or baseboard heaters - 17,000 btu's per $1.00
Natural Gas (Hi-Eff) - 75,000 btu's per $1.00
Propane (Hi-Eff) - 41,000 btu's per $1.00
Fuel Oil - 31,000 btu's per $1.00
GeoThermal - 73,000 btu's per $1.00
Pellet - 40,000 btu's per $1.00
Again, these are all based on current rates here in Eastern Ontario. YMMV. I can provide the formula's for anyone who would like to calculate based on rates in their region.
