5 ms·

> Heating via electrical resistance is 100% efficient. No, this is quite wrong. You're not taking into account generation and transmission losses. Gas heat i

> Heating via electrical resistance is 100% efficient. No, this is quite wrong. You're not taking into account generation and transmission losses. Gas heat is actually much more efficient than electrical resistance heating. Plus, as others are saying, using energy to move heat from one place to another allows you to move more heat than you could generate just by converting the energy to heat.

timr2 8y ago
No, I'm not taking that into account. And you're not taking into account the loss of the Deepwater Horizon or gas lost to well leakage. It's not that HN people dislike pedantry, they just reflexively dislike pedantry that doesn't support their preconceptions.
- Spooky23 8y ago
  Your pedantry only works in a closed loop where all externalities are accounted for. There is no real world scenario in a place that has a beating season where the cost to the consumer is better with electricity versus gas or oil. Electric costs about 4x for whole house heating in my neck of the woods, and houses quote electric only heat sell at a discount. My guess is that your evaluation of electric externalities doesn’t include the health impacts of burning coal, ecosystem damage due to hydroelectric or long term storage and other capital costs incurred by nuclear generation.
  - twothamendment 8y ago
    > There is no real world scenario in a place that has a heating season where the cost to the consumer is better with electricity versus gas or oil. Electric costs about 4x for whole house heating... I guess I live an unreal life. All of my heating and cooling is electric. My bills are lower than anyone I've compared with and in every case I'm heating and cooling more square feet. The magic? Ground source heat pump. Several people tried to talk me out of it and I'm glad I didn't listen.
    - ScottBurson 8y ago
      That's great — really, it is; if I ever get to build a custom house, I want to use a ground source heat pump — but we were specifically arguing over electric resistance heating.
      - twothamendment 8y ago
        I guess I missed that. Yes, electric resistance heating is horrible on the wallet. I have electric resistance as a backup to my heat pump, only because they wouldn't install it without it. It would cost so much to run I have the breakers turned off just so it can't be shocked by my bill.
    - Spooky23 8y ago
      That’s awesome — it tends to be a capital cost that people cannot afford to retrofit. In my area, you need to drill deep wells for heat pumps to work. Our local branch library did it and it cost about $40k.

timr2 8y ago

No, I'm not taking that into account. And you're not taking into account the loss of the Deepwater Horizon or gas lost to well leakage. It's not that HN people dislike pedantry, they just reflexively dislike pedantry that doesn't support their preconceptions.

Spooky23 8y ago
Your pedantry only works in a closed loop where all externalities are accounted for. There is no real world scenario in a place that has a beating season where the cost to the consumer is better with electricity versus gas or oil. Electric costs about 4x for whole house heating in my neck of the woods, and houses quote electric only heat sell at a discount. My guess is that your evaluation of electric externalities doesn’t include the health impacts of burning coal, ecosystem damage due to hydroelectric or long term storage and other capital costs incurred by nuclear generation.
- twothamendment 8y ago
  > There is no real world scenario in a place that has a heating season where the cost to the consumer is better with electricity versus gas or oil. Electric costs about 4x for whole house heating... I guess I live an unreal life. All of my heating and cooling is electric. My bills are lower than anyone I've compared with and in every case I'm heating and cooling more square feet. The magic? Ground source heat pump. Several people tried to talk me out of it and I'm glad I didn't listen.
  - ScottBurson 8y ago
    That's great — really, it is; if I ever get to build a custom house, I want to use a ground source heat pump — but we were specifically arguing over electric resistance heating.
    - twothamendment 8y ago
      I guess I missed that. Yes, electric resistance heating is horrible on the wallet. I have electric resistance as a backup to my heat pump, only because they wouldn't install it without it. It would cost so much to run I have the breakers turned off just so it can't be shocked by my bill.
  - Spooky23 8y ago
    That’s awesome — it tends to be a capital cost that people cannot afford to retrofit. In my area, you need to drill deep wells for heat pumps to work. Our local branch library did it and it cost about $40k.