Electric heat costs way less than reports say, new data suggests | Technology

With the holiday season underway in the US, how Americans heat their homes this winter — and how much it will cost them — is the latest focus of the gas-vs-electricity climate culture war.

Earlier this year, Republicans and the fossil fuel industry were outraged by proposals from US regulators that gas stoves could be phased out over concerns about dangerous indoor air pollution, incentive Joe Biden to rule out such a ban.

Now a defeated of publicationsincluding the right Daily callerreported that American households using electricity for heat this winter will pay hundreds of dollars more than those using gas.

The claim, based on new federal data, could raise concerns among those considering ditching their fossil fuel-based heating systems. But it is highly misleading because it fails to address the effectiveness of new technologies and the widespread uses of electricity in American homes, according to the pro-electrification group Rewiring America.

Each year, the federal energy information agency publishes a winter fuel outlook, which predicts how much households using different fuels will pay for heat from November to March. This year, it says heating oil customers will face the highest costs, at $1,856; followed by propane users, at $1,337; electricity users, at $1,063; and finally guest users, at only $605.

But that number doesn’t distinguish between older electric resistance devices, such as electric baseboard heaters and electric space heaters – which are much more expensive to operate – and highly efficient electric heat pumps.

“Both run on electricity, but they’re fundamentally different machines,” said Wael Kanj, a research associate at Rewiring America. “It’s like averaging the top speed of a Power Wheels [toy car] and a Tesla.”

Electric heat pumps, which are installed outside buildings and can both heat and cool homes, push warm air out of the home in the summer and draw it in during the winter. Because they transfer heat rather than generate it, heat pumps heat homes very efficientuse half as much energy as electric resistance heatersaccording to the Department of Energy, and two to three times less energy than oil and gas-fired heaters, according to recent research.

That means heat pumps, considered the best option for the planet, will likely cost far less to run than the $1,063 the Energy Information Agency estimated for electric heating in its winter outlook report.

Another issue, Rewiring America says, is that the agency includes all uses of each fuel in its cost estimates, meaning cost projections for electricity customers include energy used to power other electrical devices such as refrigerators and electronics.

Other uses of the same fuel are also included in the agency’s gas, oil and propane customer projections – for example, gas projections also include fuel consumption for stoves. But electricity has the widest range of uses in American homes, Kanj said.

The federal report acknowledges the difference in fuel costs for heat pumps and electric resistance heaters.

“Total expenditures will vary from our forecasts in this outlook, depending on the efficiency of the equipment, along with housing characteristics and geography,” it says. “For example, heat pumps are more efficient than electric resistance heating.”

It also said its spending projections represented all uses for each heating fuel. “It’s not uncommon for users to miss this distinction in our prediction, so we have re-emphasized this point last week on social media to address confusion,” agency press officer Chris Higginbotham said in an email.

He added that the report also included a graphic to underline the issue.

“We take every possible step to help our data consumers understand the full message of our reports,” he said, inviting readers to contact the agency with questions.

Yet the report’s top-line numbers don’t reflect these subtleties, and neither do many articles about the report. This is a problem, Kanj said.

Addressing these issues will produce a very different picture. With the help of data of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, which guides state administrators of federal energy assistance programs, the group did just that.

It found that heat pump users can expect to pay just $639 for electricity from October to March – more than 60% less than homes with electric resistance heaters.

The Biden administration has been pushing heat pumps as part of its push to decarbonize American homes. The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act included millions of dollars to accelerate heat pump production. Last week, Biden A Cold War-era law invoked to pour taxpayer funds into the domestic manufacture of the devices.

Despite these efforts, the Energy Information Agency repeatedly underestimated the potential savings that heat pumps can bring to American homes, Kanj said. “We really need to make sure the agency catches up with the times,” he said.