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Lazy_Lemur_ t1_j6n3yim wrote

This is most of the continent.

Unless you're building a new house, chances are you're going to have gas heating.

Electric heating comes with a whole bunch of other stuff that's going to be very expensive.

First you've got millions of people that can't afford to replace their gas heating unit with an electric one.

Then you've got a lot more people that can't afford to actually use electric heating as the cost is so much greater than gas.

Then you've got the problem that electric heating doesn't offer as much power as gas heating and many buildings are poorly insulated and draughty, often problems that people can't afford to fix.

Then you need to upgrade the infrastructure to handle the huge increase in electrical demand that switching over from gas will cause.

Switching from gas heating to electric heating isn't as simple as just replacing the heating unit iself, theres a whole bunch of other associated costs and work that needs performing as detailed above, which people often forget about.

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CrimsonShrike t1_j6n7pxe wrote

Heat pumps should be cheaper to run at this point. But installation costs are the highest

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danbert2000 t1_j6oaw92 wrote

Electric heating is cheaper than gas if you use heat pumps. Gas heating is not a long term strategy. Yes, the cost to switch is a problem, but if a gas furnace needs to be replaced it makes sense almost 100% of the time to switch over to a heat pump at this point. I switched, and my heating bill is the same this year whereas my neighbors all have bills that are 50% higher or even double.

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