Most effective/cost efficient way to heat a home.
 

So I've only been in Canada for 2.5 years and everywhere I lived had central air so I never worried about heating before. Now I'm in a new place with base board heaters and I'm not sure if we should use them or find some other form of heaters.

It's a basement suite and my main concern is losing heat when we take the dog outside to pee (not a fenced yard) and the only doors we have are on the bedroom and bathroom so that's a lot of potential escaped heat.

What are other people using? Is there a general wattage for base heaters per foot in length?

Technically speaking electric heat is the most efficient energy wise, but can be costly if the house itself looses a lot of heat. Unless you have a wood burning fire place, there isn't anything much cheaper that I know of. Typical baseboard electric heaters are about 175 watts per foot.

My place is about 1400sf and built in 2004, and during dec/jan/feb it can cost a small fortune to heat, approx ~$300-400 per month. Have a feeling it will be a cold one this year.

The okanagan is not really a cold area and typically only gets a few weeks of real cold weather but with the winds off the lake it can get very chilly indeed. Some hints and tricks to retain winter heat is to put plastic over your windows either on the inside or outside weatherstrip all areas that have gaps around doors and windows. Just by doing that you will keep your house that much warmer.

I am not a fan of baseboard heaters as they are known fire starters people tend to pile crap on those and forget about it till it's too late. I do use good quality space heaters for colder rooms and I have floor fans to push the heat around but mind you I do live in a much colder climate than Kelowna so what I do may not be practical for you. My house was built in the 1970s and was based on utilitarian use rather than function so it is a heat loss magnet.

A natural gas fired furnace (60 000 - 120 000 btu/hr) with a good efficiency rating (newer) and regular maintenance is the most cost effective way to heat a home.

Modern 'in-floor' radiant heating systems are also great however the tankless water heater (150 000 - 400 000 btu/hr) can use more gas than a furnace to achieve the same temperature rise.

Electric baseboards are the norm in basement suits. The landlord passes this cost onto the tenant, so he cares little about cost efficiency. Using electricity to generate heat uses a lot of energy. The same is said for electric water heaters.

However, all of this is useless unless the envelope of your home is properly done. Triple glazed windows, seamless vapor barrier, an insulation R value greater than local code and proper ventilation in the attic.

One of the best things ive found to keep costs down is to plastic the windows and get an electric blanket , you can turn the heat all the way down when the bed is toasty warm .