3 ms·

This would be very difficult for the grid. Switching to electric heating is a big hurdle.

• wumpus 5y ago
  Electric heating? Do you mean resistive heating, or heat pumps? It's been difficult in this discussion to figure out what people are saying.
  • OJFord 5y ago
    And when you say resistive, do you mean element within (an electric) boiler, radiators to work as normal, or something more direct, electric radiators/underfloor/etc.? I think it doesn't really matter much what is meant throughout - point was about shifting gas demand on to the electricity supply, and whether the grid could cope with it if everyone did that to a meaningful degree.
    • BenjiWiebe 5y ago
      Resistive heating means using 1kw of electricity to get 1kw of heat. Heat pumps use 1kw of electricity to get >1kw heat.
      • OJFord 5y ago
        Not necessarily, it's just uncorrelated since it's not what's doing the actual heating. Similarly a gas boiler uses 1kW electricity (for the pump) to get potentially >1kW heat out of radiators (and pipes). Because that heat is energy conserved from the gas, not the electricity. Anyway I didn't mention heat pumps or compare them to resistive heating so I'm not sure what I'm defending.