Natural gas is hot. Steady reports of rich new discoveries capped by last week’s news of Exxon paying out $31 billion to acquire a major supplier has experts touting natural gas the heating fuel for many years to come. Still, the economic and environmental case for an all-electric zero energy home is still strong if not stronger.
Indeed, one scenario has so much natural gas flowing through the pipeline that it replaces coal as the fuel that makes power plants go, as well as the furnaces in individual buildings. In that case, you get your heat from burning gas whether you have a gas or electric heater in your home.
Natural gas prices at 6-year low
Even if that comes off as a bit extreme, the long-term price advantage that gas has had over electric utility rates – about half the cost now – is unlikely to be threatened for a long time. Nevertheless, the total cost differential begins to shrink when you take into consideration that the gas-powered space heaters, as well ovens and clothes dryers, have higher upfront and maintainence costs.
Electric heat gains a little more financial traction in zero energy homes when you consider two of their most important features: super insulation and solar power. Photovoltaic panels on your roof may offset the cost of electric heating plus your home isn’t emitting carbon. There is nothing however, to balance out the cost of the gas piped into your home and your house is part of the global warming problem.
Having super insulation means you don’t need much heating in the first place. That means your monthly costs are low whatever the difference between gas and electric rates.
One last thing that will lower the spread between monthly gas and electric costs is choosing baseboard heater to heat your home. They’re cheap and they can be used to regulate heating room by room. Just hook them up to thermostats and just heat the rooms you’re using at the level you want.
baseboard heating: best deal
A simple formula enables you to determine how much heat you need from baseboard heaters. You multiple the room’s square footage by a figure reflecting a home’s insulation and the local weather. The figure is 7.5 for a home with R-19 walls and R-38 ceilings in a cold climate. So for a 200 square foot room the wattage would be 1,500.
In a better insulated room you could do with less. A sleek 5-foot long 1,250-watt baseboard heater is selling on the web for $50 (right). Click here for details. Or this one for $53 here that costs a little more and is not quite as trim, but promises no pops or pings.
For the smaller room a 2-foot long, 750-watt heater is being sold for $37. Click here for details. Now combine five longs for three bedrooms, living room and dining room with three shorts for two full and one half bathroom you have a total cost of less than $400. Compare that with the cost of an efficient gas furnace, which can cost several thousand dollars to buy and have installed, and you can see why electric is the zero energy choice.