4 ms·
They're somewhere in the vicinity of 100% efficient as heat producers. Even the energy that goes into producing light just decays into heat after bouncing off a
by repsilat 11y ago
They're somewhere in the vicinity of 100% efficient as heat producers. Even the energy that goes into producing light just decays into heat after bouncing off a couple of walls.
Less "efficient" than using a "heat pump," and possibly more expensive than using gas (I don't know anything about energy in Minnesota). If you're using electricity to heat your home, though, you might as well use something like SETI@home and put it to use :-)
- tempestn 11y agoUnfortunately you can't use a heat pump (at least a normal one) below about -8C (17F), so -17F would definitely be out. I also don't know anything about energy in Minnesota, but here in BC, gas heating is still cheaper than electric, especially if you use an efficient gas furnace (that doesn't exhaust too much heat), but not as much as it used to be. (Technically though it will always be less "efficient" than electric due to that exhaust, but that's really comparing apples to oranges.)
- lscharen 11y agoThat's true for air heat pumps, but many people (myself included) have ground water heat pump systems; either open- or closed-loop. My unit is fairly old (mid 1980 Tetco) and provide all of our heating and cooling. It uses the most electricity in January/February for heating and July/August for cooling, but my total electric bill is usually never more than $200/mo and that included all of the home's "normal" electricity use.