Gas or Electric?

Gas or Electric? Which is cheaper? Which is cleaner? Which is better?

Using electric water heaters and electric space heaters, you convert 100% of the energy in a kilowatt hour into heat. At your home, it also gives off no emissions. When you use natural gas to do these chores, some of the heat from burning the gas goes up the flue, and while it is pretty clean, plenty of CO2 is emitted.

Knowing only this, electric seems like an obvious choice. But, when you consider that a significant portion of the electricity we use was created through burning coal to create heat, make steam, power a turbine, drive a generator, and then transport most of this energy over hundreds of miles to get to Memphis, the answer is not as clear.

Finally, if you look at the cost of gas per CCF (about 100,000 British Thermal Units (BTUs) of energy), and the cost per kilowatthour (kwh) of electricity (3,412 BTU/kwh), gas becomes the general preferred fuel. General rules: Don't heat water with electricity if you have natural gas available. Don't use electric resistance heat unless it is for small areas for short periods.

The exception is using a heat-pump to heat your home. A heat pump is an air conditioner with a reversing valve, and like an air conditioner, it does not create heat, it moves it from inside to out and vice versa. You will find the lowest operating costs to heat your home in a hybrid heat pump - electricity is used to move heat until bitter cold weather, when a natural gas furnace kicks in as auxiliary heat.

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