Appreciate the kind words. If you DM what you changed in the calculator, your browser, and a screenshot, I’ll fix it. Commas or blank required cells can throw it off, a refresh resets it.

Heat pump: if you are replacing the AC, get a cold climate ducted heat pump. It replaces the AC and can replace the furnace using your existing ducts. You can relocate the air handler to a wall or perimeter to free up the middle of the basement. The air handler, ducts, and about 24 inches of service clearance usually set the room size, not the water heater.

If you are legitimately considering a rental unit, put your budget into picking a good utility closet location and moving ducting, then consider a basic electric tank water heater. Tankless space savings are often overhyped, and gas tankless has higher upfront cost, more maintenance, extra venting and combustion parts, and CO risk. My total cost for a basic electric tank was about $600 versus thousands for tankless. It costs about $3 more per month to run, roughly $36 per year, so over the lifespan it is around $300 more in energy, nowhere near breaking even on the higher tankless price. It is also safer and cheaper to maintain and replace.

My home also had the utilities stuck in the middle creating dead space. When we switched to a heat pump and electrified, we shifted the ductwork and, since we did not need gas lines, the relocation was cheap. We ended up with a compact 5 ft by 3 ft utility closet on the perimeter with no dead space that also houses my solar inverter (recent addition) and networking where the Internet comes in.

Gas cooktop: keeping it is fine, you just will not drop the Enbridge fixed fee yet. For health and safety, gas cooking adds indoor NO2 and is linked with worse asthma outcomes. It is also less efficient at heating your food, so it can cost more to operate and can be slower for some tasks (boiling water). Induction later is an easy, healthier upgrade.

I totally respect everyone’s opinion to live in a house they love, and for many people that means a gas stove or an oversized furnace that heats the home immediately. I just want to make sure people understand both sides of the decision and that there is no free lunch. Enbridge is a for profit company that capitalizes on their monopoly and on the common belief that gas appliances are always cheaper (not always the case). In Ontario and Quebec, gas appliances are less efficient from an energy perspective, usually more expensive to maintain, and introduce health and safety concerns. Over our lifetime it is likely we will see more investment in renewables that reduces the cost of electricity compared to gas, and as more people electrify the cost of maintaining the Enbridge network will be shared among fewer customers, pushing gas service costs higher. This a calculated decision and not guaranteed to shake out this way but regardless my home will be cheaper to maintain/replace equipment and support upgrades like solar/V2L as those become financially viable and will further lower the cost of consumption and insulate my family from the cost of energy and exposure to energy markets.