this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2023
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Adding to what others have mentioned, you probably don't use the same type/source of heat for the full house. A typical space heater is resistive heat, which is simply turning electrical energy into heat energy (at 100% efficiency). Your central heat could be a Gas-powered furnace (converting chemical energy to heat energy at ~90% efficiency), heat pump (converting electrical energy to heat at 300+% efficiency), or a few other options.
In my area, gas is much cheaper per joule than electricity. it ends up being the same price to heat the entire place with gas as it would be to heat just a room with an electric space heater. If I were to use a kerosene space heater, or a heat pump, or whatever else, then the numbers would change.
Yes, basic math says it uses less energy to heat a smaller area than a larger one. But that's assuming the same type, cost per unit, and efficiency. This is unlikely unless you have the worst option on both (resistive electric heat)
Lovely reply; this is not the simplest answer but it's the truth.
Buying gas is way cheaper than buying electricity; however, if your electric grid contains any significant portion of carbon-zero producers (hydro, nuclear, solar, wind), using electric space heater will emit less CO2 than gas furnace, for the same amount of heating. If you care at all about CO2 that is. This is the main reason why burner heaters have been so difficult to replace - we thought we could price our way out, let market forces pull us gently into a renewable future without having to make personal sacrifices, but gas is just so much cheaper it's tough to give up.
An electric heat pump will just about break even on cost with gas, while giving even greater CO2 savings. Annoyingly, a gas-powered heat pump will still be cheaper.