Electrification nonprofit says annual federal report on winter-fuels costs is misleading and leaves out critical nuance<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the holiday season underway in the US, how Americans heat their homes this winter \u2013 and how much that will cost them \u2013 is the latest focus of the gas v electricity climate culture war<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier this year, Republicans and the fossil fuel industry were furious at suggestions from US regulators that gas stoves could be phased out over concerns about dangerous indoor air pollution,\u00a0prompting<\/a>\u00a0president Biden to rule out such a ban<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now a\u00a0slew<\/a>\u00a0of<\/a>\u00a0publications<\/a>, including the\u00a0rightwing Daily Caller<\/a>, have reported that US households using electricity for heat this winter will pay hundreds of dollars more than those who use gas<\/p>\n\n\n\n The claim, based on new federal data, may spark concern among those considering ditching their fossil fuel-based heating systems. But it\u2019s highly misleading because it fails to address the efficiency of new technologies and the widespread uses of electricity in US homes, according to the pro-electrification group Rewiring America<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each year, the federal Energy Information Agency publishes a\u00a0winter fuels outlook<\/a>, forecasting how much households using different fuels will pay for heat from November through March. This year, it says heating-oil customers will face the steepest costs, at $1,856; followed by propane users, at $1,337; electricity users, at $1,063; and finally gas users, at just $605<\/p>\n\n\n\n But that number doesn\u2019t distinguish between older electric-resistance appliances, such as electric baseboard heaters and electric space heaters \u2013 which are much more expensive to run \u2013 and highly efficient\u00a0electric heat pumps<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBoth run on electricity, but they\u2019re fundamentally different machines,\u201d said Wael Kanj, a research associate at Rewiring America. \u201cIt\u2019s like averaging the top speed of a Power Wheels [toy car] and a Tesla\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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 inside during the winter. Because they transfer heat rather than generate it, heat pumps warm homes\u00a0very efficiently<\/a>, using\u00a0half as much energy as electric resistance heaters<\/a>, according to the Department of Energy, and two to three times less energy than oil- and gas-powered heaters, according to\u00a0recent research<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n That means heat pumps, championed as the best option for the planet, will probably cost much less to operate than the $1,063 that the Energy Information Agency estimated for electric heating in its winter outlook report<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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 electric appliances such as refrigerators and electronics<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other uses of the same fuel are also included in the agency\u2019s gas, oil and propane customers\u2019 projections \u2013 gas projections, for instance, also include fuel usage for stoves. But electricity has the widest range of uses in US homes, said Kanj<\/p>\n\n\n\n The federal report acknowledges the difference in fuel costs for heat pumps and electric resistance heaters<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTotal expenditures will vary from our forecasts in this outlook depending on the efficiency of the equipment, along with housing characteristics and geography,\u201d it says. \u201cFor example, heat pumps are more efficient than electric resistance heating\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also said that its expenditure projections represent all uses for each heating fuel. \u201cIt\u2019s not uncommon for users to miss this distinction in our forecast, so\u00a0we re-emphasized this point<\/a>\u00a0on social media last week to address confusion,\u201d Chris Higginbotham, the press officer for the agency, said in an email<\/p>\n\n\n\n