07-12-2008, 05:59 PM
Almost all electricity is generated by running what is called a heat engine. You burn fuel to heat up a working fluid which then expands, doing the work that runs the generator. You then throw out the warm working fluid if it is air as in a turbine or diesel engine and take in fresh cool air or recondense it if it is water as in a steam plant. The most efficient systems are not even 50% efficient. Lets call it 33% efficient. Your car is only 20% to 25% efficient.
Where I am going with this is that when electricity is made from fossil fuels 2/3 of the fuel is literally thrown away into the atmosphere as heat. Only 1/3 gets turned into electricity. I don't know how electricity can be competetive with propane for heating. Most of the time it isn't. If you take a strongly pro environment or anti-global warming view, you should not care, either. If you advocate making decisions based only on what is reasonable consumption there is no possible way that you can justify using an electric dryer or electric resistance water heater if the electricity is generated from oil because, cost per unit energy aside, you would be generating three times the thermal and chemical pollution by making electricity first than if you burned the fuel directly to make the required heat.
I myself have an electric resistance water heater and an electric dryer. I live in a townhouse and I haven't yet found workable alternatives. I do hang my wet laundry around the house to dry instead of using the dryer. I literally feel like I am comitting a crime or a sin when I do use the dryer. I never run an air conditioner. I ventilate the house at night when it is cool outside. The only electric water heater that is not an abomination is a heat pump. It takes heat from the air and puts it into the water, making both cool air and warm water.
Where I am going with this is that when electricity is made from fossil fuels 2/3 of the fuel is literally thrown away into the atmosphere as heat. Only 1/3 gets turned into electricity. I don't know how electricity can be competetive with propane for heating. Most of the time it isn't. If you take a strongly pro environment or anti-global warming view, you should not care, either. If you advocate making decisions based only on what is reasonable consumption there is no possible way that you can justify using an electric dryer or electric resistance water heater if the electricity is generated from oil because, cost per unit energy aside, you would be generating three times the thermal and chemical pollution by making electricity first than if you burned the fuel directly to make the required heat.
I myself have an electric resistance water heater and an electric dryer. I live in a townhouse and I haven't yet found workable alternatives. I do hang my wet laundry around the house to dry instead of using the dryer. I literally feel like I am comitting a crime or a sin when I do use the dryer. I never run an air conditioner. I ventilate the house at night when it is cool outside. The only electric water heater that is not an abomination is a heat pump. It takes heat from the air and puts it into the water, making both cool air and warm water.