Insulation

The money you put towards the quality of the insulation and windows can offset the costs and complexity of your heating and ventilation system.

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As your heating and cooling requirements drop so do the complexity of your mechanicals.  A typical code-based home uses over 100kWh/m2a for heating.  Once you get between 30 and 15kWh/m2a your options for heating open up.  In a small building the simplicity of electric base board makes sense despite higher electrical costs.  For least use of electrical, an air to air heat recovery system makes sense when a larger system is required.  To consider alternatives to standard mechanical systems you will require in the range of R40-R60 levels of insulation throughout the building.