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Not if the electric heaters aren't producing the same amount of heat. The comment suggested they've reduced heat consumption.
by xapata 4y ago
Not if the electric heaters aren't producing the same amount of heat. The comment suggested they've reduced heat consumption.
- bo0tzz 4y agoProducing that amount of heat with gas would still be better than using electricity.
- vanilla_nut 4y agoDepends on the generation method. If OP's using solar panels, it's a net positive. If their power is largely generated by nuclear or hydro, also a net positive. If it's generated by fossil fuels, agreed.
- mrob 4y agoInfrared heaters are just resistive heaters with reflectors to redirect the radiation to where it's needed. You can aim one at yourself while you're working to remain comfortable even when the rest of the room is cold. This can sometimes be cheaper than running a heat pump to heat the whole room.
- tesseract 4y agoIn practice, electrical heating is is often spot heating in one room or even aimed directly at a person - a niche that isn't really served by indoor gas-fueled heating appliances.
- hedora 4y agoIf they were heating the same area, then they'd have probably replaced their furnace. Europeans have been buying record numbers of air to air heat pumps this year. Even with transmission and conversion losses, their coefficient of power is high enough to use less natural gas than directly burning it would.
- kube-system 4y agoYou might think it's impossible to beat a modern 98% efficient gas furnace, but electric heat pumps can have effective efficiencies greater than 100%. (sometimes 200% or 300%!) They can do this because they "steal" heat energy from outside (yes, even in the cold winter air)
- xyzzyz 4y agoYes, but if the electricity is made from gas, then 300% efficiency of heat pump is better than 98% efficient heat furnace only if generation efficiency is at least 33%. Heat pumps are pretty great, but as of today, they are by no means necessarily more efficient than burning gas directly for heat, at least when it comes to GHG emissions. In fact, in very cold climates where air temperature is below freezing most of the time, air-source heat pumps are highly unlikely to be more efficient than just burning gas, unless we move wholesale to nuclear for electricity (solar won’t help you during winter, and wind is too fickle to solely depend on).
- bryanlarsen 4y ago> only if generation efficiency is at least 33%. the efficiency of a combined cycle gas generator is usually 50-60%.
- xyzzyz 4y agoThen it depends on what portion of the electricity mix is CCG instead of simple gas turbines or coal, what’s the actual efficiency of heat pump (you won’t get 300% when it’s subzero temperature) etc. Point is, air source heat pumps are really not much, or even necessarily at all more efficient than just burning gas directly at home, it all depends.
- bryanlarsen 4y agoat >50% efficiency, the heat pump heat factor has to drop below 2. On a modern heat pump that's about -25C or so. I don't think it gets that cold in Germany.
- dr_faustus 4y agoWith the current weather, most electricity during the day is generated by wind and solar. So, thats not that much of a concern.