Posted on 11/14/2023 7:14:48 AM PST by george76
The average American household that uses electricity to heat a home this winter will pay hundreds of dollars more than those who use natural gas, according to a new report from a federal agency.
The report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration said a home that uses electricity will pay 77 percent more or an average of $462 this winter, compared to a household that uses natural gas.
Looking into the winter fuel outlook, the report said electricity will cost $46.19, based on a unit of heat. By comparison, the cost of natural gas will be $13.97.
...
officials have embraced electrification as a way to reach greenhouse gas emissions goals. .. officials offer carrots and sticks in their efforts to cut carbon emissions and electrify buildings of a certain size.
Supporters say such requirements are necessary to combat climate change and ensure a healthier environment. Critics counter that Denver and the state of Colorado are rushing too quickly at the expense of residents and businesses.
Among those critics is energy author, film producer and podcaster Robert Bryce, who argued that banning natural gas for heating, for example, “will result in dramatic increases in energy costs and impose a regressive tax on the poor and the middle class.”
“The numbers from the Department of Energy and the Energy Information Administration show that on a Btu basis, electricity costs three times more than natural gas,” Bryce told The Denver Gazette. “This electrify-everything push, it's bad for energy security, it's bad for affordability, and it's bad for resilience.”
One issue in the debate is that "electrification" doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone. For one thing, the definition of “using electricity to heat their homes” used by the federal energy office appears to mean the use of electrical resistance baseboard heating versus natural gas heated-air furnaces.
But, in the Energize Denver initiative, city officials are talking about heat pumps versus gas furnaces, which means a different set of cost calculations.
Supporters maintain heat pumps are a viable alternative to gas furnaces, while critics insist that most heat pumps lose efficiency when it gets cold and at a high altitude, precisely the conditions on the Front Range.
Katrina Managan, director of the Denver Climate Office, said that, for existing homes, Denver’s Renewable Heating and Cooling Plan found that the annual energy bill to operate a standard gas furnace/AC combination is about $633 a year. With a heat pump, she said, it would likely be $609 to $718 annually, depending on the heat pump technology chosen and its configuration.
The high efficiency of heat pumps is based on how it functions, Managan added. Heat pumps, like air conditioners, don’t create heat by burning natural gas or heating up an electric resistance coil. Instead, they move existing heat from one place to another.
Gas furnaces are less expensive to operate electrically, while heat pumps use more electricity because of their more complex system of compressors and heat exchangers, Managan noted.
“They will use more electricity than a gas furnace, but similar or a more similar amount to what your air conditioner uses,” said Managan. “Typically, a heat pump is going in place of an air conditioner. It can cool the building, but it can also heat the building, and those really efficient cold climate heat pumps are similar in electrical capacity.”
Heat pumps are very expensive, said Dave Davia, CEO of the Rocky Mountain Mechanical Contractors Association.
“It depends on where you live, what you're trying to heat, and the nuances of your square footage of your home,” Davia said. “But if it’s an average home, (it's) somewhere between $12,000 and $14,000 to replace gas appliance with gas appliance. It’s 2.5 times more expensive for a heat pump for a 2,000-square-foot home versus gas forced air.”
And that’s for an ordinary heat pump. Advanced systems that work in extreme cold are more expensive yet, experts said.
Denver and state officials are confident the technology will advance and make cold climate heat pumps more affordable. They insist that fast decarbonization in Colorado is necessary to achieve an obligation to meet global greenhouse gas reduction goals. They note that numerous programs at both the state and local levels exist to help property owners pay for the upgrades.
Bryce is critical of the notion that heat pumps are going to provide energy security for Americans.
“This idea that we're going to quit burning hydrocarbons — well, you can say that it's easy, but it isn’t," he said.
He added: “The key to having a successful society is being able to handle extremes ... We have to be very sober about how we look at these issues because if we get these policies wrong, people are going to die.”
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the National Energy Reliability Corporation have both issued warnings that the nation’s grid is at growing risk of failure from the shuttering of reliable full-time coal and gas power plants in favor of renewable energy.
“I think the United States is heading for a very catastrophic situation in terms of reliability,” said Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioner Mark Christie during a May 4 Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on Capitol Hill. “The core of the problem is actually very simple. We are retiring dispatchable generating resources at a pace and in an amount that is far too fast and far too great and is threatening our ability to keep the lights on.”
Last time I looked, GA has about the highest natural gas prices in the U.S. aside from Hawaii. An additional problem is the cost adjustments. In summer our actual gas usage may be $6/mo, with a $36 add-on charge. Not sure a heat pump wouldn’t be cheaper overall, but the wife loves the heat from our natural gas furnace.
That the power companies are not forced to variable rates on demand accounts for most of the costs. Daytime power costs can be zero during the day when the sun is out and the wind is blowing in most upper midwest markets. I live in the upper midwest and would love to heat with cheap electric during the day and go to cheapish gas during the night, and the electronics to do that are cheap, just a second hemostat with a clock.
Adding electric to my gas radiant heat system would be less than 2k and if I could get electricity for .09/kWH that is cheaper than .63 per Therm NG contract rate for 2023-2024.
I right now just dump my off grid surplus into a space heater and a mini split from my tiny 3000W of solar and even smaller amount of storage. 3000W x 8hrs covers 9 of 12 months of HVAC.
They can pry my cold dead hands off my natural gas continuous water heater. Half hour in a steamy shower is birthright around here, that is worth the dollar in NG that it could cost.
Thank goodness branDUHnomics is keeping everyone’s head above water huh? Oh....?!
🙏🇺🇸🇮🇱👍
Absorbing that excess cash you’ll have from not being able to afford a card after the EV mandate goes to 100%.
Nothing to worry about, their electric bills won’t be going up because there is a pretty good chance the grid will fail and there won’t be any electricity in the coldest days of winter to come.
Grid Down Alert: North America at Risk of Blackouts During Cold Weather Events
https://thelibertydaily.com/grid-down-alert-north-america-risk-blackouts-during/
I have been doing various kinds of accounting for over 66 years.
NBot following the “77% more” statement.
IF A UNIT of electricity costs $46.19 & the equivilant unit if Natural Gas costs $13.97———
That calculates to electricity costing 3.30637 TIMES the electricity.
WHAT AM I MISSING???????
“WHAT AM I MISSING???????”
What are the units in your IF declaration?
> forced to variable rates
In Missouri, Ameren has three styles of rate plans. You can only change once a year. It’s hard to see these helping out for regular domestic usage. I’ve analyzed it pretty well. You would have to roast all afternoon until evening, in the summer, to save money. If you have a domestic load that runs about half the time, and it does not matter what time of day you run it, you could save some real money.
> units
Since it’s about heating, one should think BTUs.
But it doesn’t matter what the units are as long as they are energy units and the same are used on both sides.
The costs around here are like this (or were, last winter). The prices that are REALLY up are for natural gas. It’s a shame.
100,000 BTU per natural gas therm.
Now about 90 cents / therm all in
$1 per 100,000 BTU natural gas
3420 BTU per kilowatt hour
about 10 cents / kw hour
about $2.90 per 100,000 BTUs electric
> WHAT AM I MISSING???????
You are not missing anything. See my note above.
Electric heat in MO costs about 3x NG, even with NG having doubled in the last couple of years.
I’m going on an assumption of 10 cents winter usage per kilowatt hour, which we’re told by the greenies is unrealistically cheap.
Well those freaks wanted $5 gasoline in 1980.
“Electric heat to cost 77 percent more than natural gas, federal agency says”
of course, that assumes a reliable supply of electricity, which of course will be impossible as more and more building and vehicles are converted to electricity with zero increase in generation and transmission capacity ...
It is a small price for the poor to pay to satisfy moral postering of the elites.
Efficiency.
The rates quoted are from the utility and what's supplied to the home "raw", so to say.
What your particular system does with it is another story.
A gas furnace will have X percent efficiency depending on how clean the burn is. This only changes as the furnace ages.
However, the efficiency of heat pumps is dependent on temperature. The lower the temp, the less efficient it is and it's not linear. It gets noticeably worse if you drop below freezing.
“Since it’s about heating, one should think BTUs.”
BTU’s of heat ADDED!
For each BTU of gas used, less than one BTU of heat is added to the house.
For each BTU of electricity used, SEVERAL BTU’s of heat are added to the house.
“Electric heat in MO costs about 3x NG, even with NG having doubled in the last couple of years.”
Heat pumps can be cheaper to operate depending on region. Also, no extra expense of installation as reverse cycle AC does the job.
I guess they didn’t get the message from Biden-on-high about electricity being plentiful - enough to charge up all the EVs he’s forcing everyone to transition to. Magically, in his eyes electricity (for those EVs) is green friendly and plentiful. And, natural gas is a hydrocarbon no-no.
Georgia has that built-in cost rate from Atlanta Gaslight, regardless of bill. It’s for actually supplying the gas, maintaining lines, meters, etc. The other costs are from the various middlemen suppliers, many out-of-state to do billing etc. Most of them never even remotely touch the gas delivered.
I was against the cost-cutting, monopoly breaking transition to ‘competitive suppliers’ in the first place.
“..Magically..”
^THIS^ is the keyword when it comes to these moronic lib imbeciles.
That’s why in a bankrupt America, green energy will fail
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