This question is becoming more and more relevant as energy prices continue to rise and in particular that of gas. Another cause for concern is over the finite nature of gas supplies and our current reliance on them as a country. The case for electric heating has always been undermined in the past by a belief that it costs so much more than gas and is therefore not a viable option.

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Whatever our political views I think we can all agree that the demand for gas will continue to rise sharply as the emerging economies of China, India and Brazil continue to grow and put ever more pressure on natural resources such as oil and gas. The laws of supply and demand dictate that the price will have to increase considerably in years to come and for this reason ( as well as environmental concerns ) most of the world’s economies are increasingly looking at using electric as the main form of heating.

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The source of this electric will increasingly be generated by clean technologies such as wind, hydro, solar, tidal and nuclear and this change has also driven technological advances in heating appliances that use far less electric than traditional systems such as storage or panel heaters.

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Two very interesting and exciting developments are those of infrared heating and Air Source Heat Pumps both of which deliver incredible energy savings but crucially at very affordable costs unlike certain green technologies such as turbine, photovoltaic and ground source pumps, all of which are financially out of reach for most people.

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Both of these technologies consume less than a third of the energy that gas uses and as such makes them far more attractive to everyone. For example the average 3 bed home uses around 50,000 BTU for hot water and heating whereas  an Air Source Pump uses around 2kw ie 6825 BTU . If electric costs are an average of 3 times the unit cost of gas then you are still making considerable savings of up to 50% of your heating costs.

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An infrared system in a typical 3 bed house will use around 4.5kw per hour ie 15,354 BTU compared to the 50,000 BTU average of gas heating. Again, a huge reduction in energy useage and a cut in your heating bills that can only grow in future years.

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The cost savings become even larger if the electricity that is used is generated in part or whole by another green technology such as solar or wind turbine. Also if you take advantage of the numerous off peak electric deals offered by all the major Utility companies.

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I would recommend you find out from your energy supplier the cost of your gas and electric per unit and work out how much you could save by switching to either infrared or Air Source. To help compare the two differing rates you need to know that 1kw of electric  = 3412 BTU of gas so if the cost of your electric is less than 3.4 times the unit cost of gas you would save money by changing your heating system.

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For more information about infrared or Air Source please call us now on 08456 345866

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