4 ms·

IIRC air conditioning is generally less demanding because you’re ‘only’ trying to drop the temp by ~30F to get back into the 70s on a hot 100F day, whereas for

IIRC air conditioning is generally less demanding because you’re ‘only’ trying to drop the temp by ~30F to get back into the 70s on a hot 100F day, whereas for heat you’re trying to increase by a much larger 50-70F on a cold 0-20F day. I’m sure wishing the house was better insulated today (Austin).

sjg007 6y ago
The insulation thing is weird because better insulation saves you in the summer too. I guess it's just the construction fixed cost. Electric heat seems like a weird compromise though considering the gulf of Mexico..
- maxerickson 6y ago
  Electric heat is great if you don't use heat consistently. Relatively inexpensive up front, low maintenance, etc.
  - sjg007 6y ago
    Central air and a natural gas furnace are both on the same duct system and low maintenance.
    - xxpor 6y ago
      Electric heat doesn't need any duct system though, which is nice. Also, no chimney to worry about. For places with low-co2 footprint electricity, it makes a lot of sense. Granted, down in TX central AC is a lot more important than worrying about heat for a once-every-30-years cold situation.
    - toast0 6y ago
      Electric heat in the central air is low maintenance too.
xxpor 6y ago
Air conditioning can also be more than 100% efficient (from the point of view of the heat in the room), because it's moving heat from inside to outside. If you're using electricity to heat your house, it's only 100% efficient because each kw is being dumped directly into the air. This is why heat pumps are so great, they're basically just ACs in reverse, so for 1 kwh of electricity, you'll get more than 1 kwh of heat in the air of your house.
tpowell 6y ago
As an FYI I’ve really enjoyed (Austin-based) Matt Risinger’s home building channel on YouTube [1] recently. He often discusses efficient building trends and materials. You think about your R-value much harder when it’s 9°F outside... [1] https://youtu.be/Ro3Tg9-PqFc https://youtu.be/Ro3Tg9-PqFc
- sjg007 6y ago
  Yeah but it’s just crazy.. the higher R value materials are not that much more expensive and they work everywhere.

sjg007 6y ago

The insulation thing is weird because better insulation saves you in the summer too. I guess it's just the construction fixed cost. Electric heat seems like a weird compromise though considering the gulf of Mexico..

maxerickson 6y ago
Electric heat is great if you don't use heat consistently. Relatively inexpensive up front, low maintenance, etc.
- sjg007 6y ago
  Central air and a natural gas furnace are both on the same duct system and low maintenance.
  - xxpor 6y ago
    Electric heat doesn't need any duct system though, which is nice. Also, no chimney to worry about. For places with low-co2 footprint electricity, it makes a lot of sense. Granted, down in TX central AC is a lot more important than worrying about heat for a once-every-30-years cold situation.
  - toast0 6y ago
    Electric heat in the central air is low maintenance too.

xxpor 6y ago

Air conditioning can also be more than 100% efficient (from the point of view of the heat in the room), because it's moving heat from inside to outside. If you're using electricity to heat your house, it's only 100% efficient because each kw is being dumped directly into the air. This is why heat pumps are so great, they're basically just ACs in reverse, so for 1 kwh of electricity, you'll get more than 1 kwh of heat in the air of your house.

tpowell 6y ago

As an FYI I’ve really enjoyed (Austin-based) Matt Risinger’s home building channel on YouTube [1] recently. He often discusses efficient building trends and materials. You think about your R-value much harder when it’s 9°F outside... [1] https://youtu.be/Ro3Tg9-PqFc https://youtu.be/Ro3Tg9-PqFc

sjg007 6y ago
Yeah but it’s just crazy.. the higher R value materials are not that much more expensive and they work everywhere.