[Nathan Zachary]

Just goes to show a fool and his money are easily separated.

Your hybrid will not save you anything, nor the environment. The environmental damage that thing causes just to build it is 10 times that of a regular little MPG puddle jumper, 3 times that of a full grown Humvie. Plus it will give you 1/3 of the service life, if the battery lasts that long.

If your furnace is only 2 years old it's already fairly efficient. Sure, there are some with complicated ventilation/ environmental control systems build on, but they actually end up costing you more in electricity costs to operate all those gadgets.

You'd be much further ahead, and save more money simply by just by sealing up and insulating your house better. No matter how efficient your furnace is, it will not compensate for a drafty, poorly insulated house.

Besides, CO2 is not a pollutant, and does not cause global warming. If gas is too expensive, burn wood.

[dfwright]

He said he bought a gas/electric HVAC, and he apparently has done his homework on the monetary savings associated with doing so.

Unless I missed it, he didn't seem concerned over environmental impact, just his pocket book. Perhaps he's not a fool after all?

[Uncle Miltie]

Dude:

HVAC = Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning.

I promise not to drive my furnace anywhere.

:-)

[Uncle Miltie]

I don’t much care about “pollution” per se. I’m an economist (see nom de post). The cash flow analysis just plain works.

The builder of my house put in a horrible Natural Gas system. He also didn’t seal the vents well. So, I can get a better hybrid Gas / Electric system, seal my vents, etc. and get a good payback.

Here in the Pacific NorthWest, we have cheap electricity and expensive Natural Gas. With a hybrid system, I can heat with cheap electricity through a heat pump when that is more efficient based on outside temperatures and cost / KWH, and through a gas furnace when that is more efficient. A chip in the system will decide to switch between fuel sources depending on the relative cost.

Compared to my crappy system, I can cut my HVAC costs about in half. As pointed out in my original post, the economics pencil: It is a better investment (at 18% “ROI”) than my other opportunities (stocks).

I’ll take deals like that all day long.

[Uncle Miltie]

"Besides, CO2 is not a pollutant, and does not cause global warming. If gas is too expensive, burn wood."

Wood Soot is a pollutant. Here in Southern Oregon, the California wildfires prove that daily!

;-)