1995

We’re having a new driveway built, and I want to have coils installed under it to melt snow. Thoughts?

You’re not alone. Although I’m of the move-it, don’t-melt-it camp, many homeowners and business owners think it makes more sense to heat the driveway. This is not an inexpensive option. The longer and colder the winter, and the larger the heated area, the more it costs for installation and operation. You can either heat the entire surface or run a pair of tracks down it, heating the pavement one of two ways: with a boiler that heats a solution of antifreeze and water or with an electrical heating element. I haven’t seen a detailed engineering study at the residential level (there are studies that examine this for airports), but one company, Heatizon, claims that a roughly 25m2 version of its electrical heating mat costs about a dollar (about R12,50) or less per hour of operation.