Well I spent the morning going threw the place with a certified house inspector. I told him valhalla360's logic on the topic and he basically said he should stop watching HGTV because that stuff doesn't work in this zone. To leave the basement unheated will result in a cracked foundations roughly in the zone of the 2'nd to 4th block run below grade. Classic location was his words.
Did come up with a plan on how to stop the foundation from cracking using a minimum of energy. What it boiled down into was going four feet out from the foundation with insulation board using the rule of thumb that every inch thickness is equal to one foot of snow for insulation. This works for this place because it has a wrap around deck. Then turning the basement into a small insulated heated area and allowing the upstairs to go cold. Of course this is after all of the pipes are winterized and traps antifreeze'd. Makes sense to me.
