The Chimney Sweep Online Fireplace, Woodstove, Gas Stove and Barbecue Shop.Letters From VentFree Gas Fireplace Owners.If youre considering a ventfree.Gas Furnace In Attic Installation For Woodstove' title='Gas Furnace In Attic Installation For Woodstove' />Comparing natural gas vs electric heating.Calculating comparative heating costs.I live in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada and have basically two choices for heating my home natural gas, or electric.My home has been heated with natural gas since it was built about 3.I recently did a calculation comparing electric space heating to natural gas to see if it might be worth switching.I was interested in comparing both cost, and greenhouse gas emissions.Here is what I found out.These results are specific to my home and my region.Electric per k. Wh consumedGas per k.Wh consumedGas per k.Wh usedCO2 0. 0. Cost0.There are many units of measurement for energy ex k.Wh, GJ, BTU, Therms, etc.For ease of comparison, Ive used k.Wh for both electric and gas, even though gas is more commonly quoted in GJ.Notice Ive included two columns for gas.The one with values per k.Wh used takes into account the efficiency of my gas heating system.Electricity is inherently 1.This isnt true of combustion based heating systems.Some of the energy consumed simply goes up the chimney and never heats your home.Even if a gas furnace were 1.I estimated my gas heating system efficiency at around 6.Electrical CO2 emissions in the above chart were determined by referencing the data at Carbon Monitoring for Action CARMA which gives CO2 emissions for major power companies around the world.You can search for your power provider and see exactly how green your power is.My power provider is BC Hydro.CARMA data shows BC Hydro currently emits 2.CO2 per year and produces 5.Wh of electricity.Thats 0. 0. 05. 5 kgk.Wh. Combustion of natural gas produces around 5.CO2 per GJ. One GJ is equivalent to 2.Wh. Therefore combustion of natural gas produces about 0.CO2 per k. Wh consumed.I divided this by my estimated efficiency of 6.CO2 per k. Wh used.Costs in the above table are based on actual statements for my home over one full year total cost divided by total k.Wh consumed. This is more accurate that relying on figures quoted by gas or electrical companies which may not include hidden costs.To get gas cost per k.Wh used, I divided the gas cost per k.Wh consumed by my estimated efficiency of 6.These results indicate that for my home, heating with electricity is best in terms of CO2 emissions and about the same in terms of cost.Installing a more efficient gas furnace would likely bring the cost per k.Wh of gas below that of electricity, but the CO2 emissions would still be much higher.A better alternative could be to install a ground source heat pump.This would be even more efficient than straight electric heat and would produce even less CO2 per k.Wh used. This is something Ive been considering.The main barrier is the large capital investment.Ads by Google. Experimenting with electric space heating.Empirical data always trumps calculations, so I performed a simple experiment over a couple of consecutive winters to test the theory.My home was originally built with a natural gas furnace and forced air heating system.In the winter of 2.I heated my home normally with my gas furnace plus the heat from electrical equipment in my home.In the winter of 2.I turned my furnace off completely and heated my home entirely using electric space heaters.I do not use significant electric power outside the home no Christmas lights for me so its a reasonable assumption that all my electrical usage ends up as heat inside my home.What little gas usage is shown in the second chart was for my hot water heater.The reason I compared only winter months is so that I could be certain all the windows and doors were closed for both tests.The data below shows the results of my experiment.These first two charts show average continuous power consumption in k.W. I determined the average power consumption in each month by taking the total energy consumed in k.Wh and dividing it by the total time in hours.Power is a more useful measurement than total energy consumption because, in theory, the temperature difference you maintain between the inside of your home and the outside should be directly proportional to your continuous power consumption.The two charts seem to indicate strongly that heating my home with electricity is more efficient than with gas.It clearly required less power to maintain the interior temperature in the winter of 2.However, these charts dont tell the whole story since the temperature difference being maintained could have been different between the two years.The data can be normalized by looking at the temperature difference Tinside Toutside per k.W of continuous power consumption.The average outside temperature during each month is provided on my gas statement, and I monitor the inside temperature myself.Here is a plot of temperature difference per k.W of continuous power consumption for both winters.Ck. W is technically a measure of the thermal resistance of my homes building envelope.It should be roughly constant over all months since it is a property of the materials and geometry of my home. Average Software Developer Salary San Francisco . However it isnt constant in the chart.The reason is that there is an additional heat source, solar, that I havent accounted for.Solar input power is the reason both lines rise at either end of the chart.Higher solar input in these months results in less power being required from electrical or gas sources to maintain a given temperature difference.To reduce solar effects that might vary from one year to the next, lets compare the data in December.Using only electric heat, I could maintain a temperature difference of approximately 4Ck.W. Using mostly gas heat, I could maintain a temperature difference of only 2Ck.W. Therefore, my above estimated gas heating efficiency of 6.This data seems to indicate a gas heating efficiency of less than 5.My total energy consumption and cost for these two consecutive years agree with this assessment 1.May, 2. 00. 71. 2 months ending May, 2.Change. Gas consumed 2.Wh. 25. 22 k. Wh 2.Wh. Electricity consumed.Wh. 19. 76. 5 k. Wh8.Wh. Total Cost1. CAD1.CAD 3. CADI was able to replace the loss of 2.Wh of gas consumption with only 8.Wh of additional electrical consumption.Assuming similar temperature differences being maintained in each year, that indicates a gas heating efficiency of only around 4.Note then that my real cost of heating with gas without replacing my furnace is around 0.Wh thats k. Wh into my home and not up my chimney compared to 0.Wh for electric. Note also that the 3.I purchased. Ads by Google.Replacing my current gas furnace with a higher efficiency gas furnace would likely make heating with gas more economic than heating with hydro.However, taking into account the capital investment of a new furnace, the additional greenhouse gas emissions, and the fact that gas prices are rising faster than hydro, I will happily continue heating my home with electric space heaters for the time being.Having made that decision, my only gas appliance in the house is now my hot water tank, which is also a horribly inefficient beast with an open chimney and a continuous pilot light.Converting that to electric will not only reduce my water heating costs, but will also allow me to cancel my gas account saving me about 1.I consume any gas.Ive devised a plan for converting my current tank to an electrically heated one on a timer.Expect that project to be posted soon.Update 2. 00. 80.I converted my gas hot water tank to electric.See how I did it here Convert your gas hot water tank to electric.
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