Which is Better: Gas or Electric Heat?

There's nothing more comforting than walking into a warm house or apartment after being outside on a cold and blustery day. And there's nothing more shocking than getting your gas or electric bill a month or two later. Let's face it -- it costs money to stay warm! But HOW you decide to stay warm is different matter altogether. Which will save you more in the long run -- a space heater or gas?

According to the Federal Trade Commission, nearly half of our utility bills go to heating or air conditioning. SO in theory, if we can reduce our use of heat we can cut our bills in half.

For starters, try a cost-comparison of what it takes to generate one million BTUs of heat via gas or electricity.

A furnace with a seasonal heating efficiency of 80% will use 12.5 therms to produce the million BTUs. "Therms" are the unit of measurement that utilities companies use for natural gas consumption. One "therm" = 100,000 BTU's. For the sake of argument we'll say that 1 therm costs $1.50 (a pretty accurate figure by the way). So, at a cost of $1.50 per therm, heating with gas would cost $18.75 (12.5 therms x $1.50).

An electric heater would consume 293 kilowatt hours to produce the million BTUs. At a cost of $0.11 per kWh (again, an accurate enough amount), that's $32.58.

So right of the bat, you can see that heating with electric is more expensive than natural gas. And, that's usually the case since a lot of electric is generated by burning natural gas.

Could heating a smaller area (kitchen/family room) with a higher cost fuel (electric) be a good idea? Break out your calculator again:

In our example, electric generated heat is 70% more expensive than gas generated heat ($32.58 / $18.75). As long as her kitchen/family room area is less than 30% of the cubic footage of her house, she'll save money by using the space heater to heat it and turning down the thermostat on the furnace.

But hey, this is just an example. We've made some assumptions. For instance, furnaces are measured based on their AFUE rating (Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency). It's also known as "seasonal heating efficiency." For the sake of our example we're pegging our efficiency at 80%.

The selection of space heaters will make a difference, too. There are a number of types available.

For example, radiator-type heaters generally get high marks. It works well in a room that gets constant use. And, since the surface area isn't extremely hot, there's less danger of someone (think children) getting burned.

And guess what -- there's also a formula to figure the cost of running a space heater. According to a study conducted by www.smeco.com, you need to know the size of the space heater in watts. Divide that by 1,000 to get kilowatts. So a 1500 watt heater is 1.5 kilowatts. Multiply the answer by the number of hours per day the heater is in use to determine how many kilowatts are used per day. Suppose that it's running from 8am until 10pm. You'd multiply 1.5 kilowatts by 12 hours and be using 18 kilowatts per day.

Your electric bill will show how much you pay per kilowatt. Let's use our $0.11 rate. The 18 kilowatts per day multiplied by $0.11 costs so you're paying $1.98 per day to run the heater.

According to the National Association of Home Builders (www.nahb.org), the furnace is the most efficient way to heat the entire house. The average home is 2,200 square feet. That's a LOT of space to heat no mater what type of fuel you use.

The good news is that if you'll study your home, you'll notice that you not have someone in every room 24 hours a day. Each family has a pattern of use. One or two rooms might be in use for much of the day. Other rooms rarely are used except for sleep. You can easily lower the thermostat on the furnace to 60 degrees and use space heaters to raise the temperature in occupied areas.

If you're like most people, you probably don't have the patience or inclination to do all these calculations that were just mentioned. That's o-k. Just remember, if you only have one or two rooms occupied, it will almost certainly be cheaper to keep your thermostat lower and put a space heater in the occupied rooms. Just remember to take the appropriate safety precautions when using space heaters.

And because it IS the season for giving, here are some other heat-generating/cost-saving tips. Check these out (and more moneysaving tips at the DollarStretcher website (www.stretcher.com) :

- Use the sun and get free heat: On days when there is sun, open up the shades and curtains on south facing windows to get some passive solar heating.

- Use heavy drapes and window coverings (especially on the north windows) to insulate those windows and help keep the cold air from getting in. Old quilts work wonders. And a little creativity will prevent them from looking like you have a bedspread hanging up on your wall.

- Stop wind in its tracks: A rolled up towel placed along the bottom edge of a door will block a lot of cold air from seeping in.

- Caulking around windows and doors (outside) will reduce drafts.

- Heat only the rooms you use. Adjust the dampers or radiators to heat the rooms you use most. Let the others run colder. And use lots of blankets at night.

- But using a small space heater to "blow the chill" off of a room is more efficient than

So there you go. You CAN save money on your heating bill this holiday season and beyond by using a little common sense....and maybe an extra sweater or two.