Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Re: Electric Resistance Heating

[Roger Diggle (diggle]

> Any consideration of the efficiency of electric resistance heating 
> (I despise the term "radiant heating" applied to coils of wire)
> must include the 16% to 25% transmission losses.  So, any resistance
> heating device is at most 84% efficient, unless you collect the
> electricity yourself with your own wind mill, PV cells or hydro.
> -Chas

I agree witht the efficiency argument here...  The power company loves to
talk about  electric heat being "100% efficient" because they start measuring
at your meter rather than at the power plant.

However, I have to disagree with the complaint about  "...the term 'radiant
heating' applied to coils of wire".  In the appropriate circumstances,  a
radiant source of any kind, electric or not, delivers more
comfort-units-per-energy-unit than other methods.  For instance, in a
bathroom, it will take fewer watt-hours to make your bare skin (or the
surface of your toilet seat) comfortable using an radiant electric heater
than using a fan-forced electric heater that heats the air directly. 
Electricity is a crappy fuel to heat with in most instances.  But if I can
keep my entire house 10f cooler in the morning by using a radiant heater in
the bathroom for 10 minutes, it's a good trade-off energy-wise.              
          Roger Diggle

- via BulkRate 2.0

***********************************************************************
Mac Line BBS: (608) 233-9487  -  A FirstClass System in Madison, WI USA
**********************************************************************