When I first started writing about housing 50-plus years ago, the public utilities in my Washington, D.C., market were going toe-to-toe trying to win the hearts and minds of local builders. Electric heating and cooking were king, but natural gas was making big inroads.
I don’t know who won the battle, if there ever was a clear winner. But fast-forward to today and the all-electric house is making a comeback. The reason? Climate change: The heating and cooling of buildings accounts for roughly 10 percent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.
“Millions of our homes use outdated, energy-guzzling technology dependent on natural gas or oil,” said Matt Power, editor of trade publication Green Builder.
Nearly half operate with natural gas, but not in the South. There, electricity is more prevalent – in the form of woefully inefficient baseboard heating.
As Power writes in the fall edition of his magazine, “The shift has begun, but we all have to move faster. Every new home should have fossil fuel independence built into its design.”
What Is It?
A fully electric house is defined by Guidehouse Insights, an energy-sector marketing and advisory firm, as one in which space heating, water heating and cooking are electrified through the use of air-source heat pumps, heat-pump water heaters and induction cooking technologies. Not included are insulation and energy-management systems, but many all-electric houses have both.
Right now, some 70 million houses burn natural gas, oil, propane or a combination to warm their interiors and heat water, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Together, they generate 560 million tons of carbon dioxide every year – one-tenth of the total for the entire country. (There is no equivalent data for all-electric houses.)
Natural gas is the preferred heating source by almost half of all U.S. households, according to the Department of Energy. The owners of the 50 million houses powered by gas are likely to stick with it, particularly because it is still the least expensive source of home energy.
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