In places that cold, the gist I get from reading about heating/cooling is you are better off bringing down your air changes per hour [1] (a function of how airt

In places that cold, the gist I get from reading about heating/cooling is you are better off bringing down your air changes per hour [1] (a function of how airtight your residence is), then insulating (including nearly eliminating all thermal bridges), then passive heating, then active heating, in that order. I've read field reports of people with measured air changes per hour that meet the PassivHaus standard, with 60+ R-value insulation (again, PassivHaus standard), isolated the foundation with insulation, consolidated all possible thermal bridges into a single, small conduit, and heat input from passive solar concentrator, enjoying NE US winters with only double-digit gas/electric bills for active heating in the worst months. With a rocket stove, most could avoid even that nominal amount and take care of burning their brush pile at the same time. The insulation will cost you upfront, though. Corning FOAMGLAS is my favorite at the moment because it doesn't involve greenhouse gases during its manufacture, but it and its installation can easily add 15% to your overall build cost. Use EPS (looks like giant styrofoam blocks roughly the size of 3 feet thick doorways, wish all the styrofoam we throw away into landfills could somehow be recycled into these) instead, and you still are looking at around a 10% upcharge. Granted, you're hovering around 70'ish R-value with that much, and thermal changes take a much longer time compared to conventional residences. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_changes_per_hour https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_changes_per_hour