It depends on the price of a therm of natural gas, the price of a kwh of electricity, the efficiency of the gas furnace, and the efficiency of the heatpump. I am assuming you are talking about a heatpump when you say "electric". We can make a few assumptions:
1) $0.14 per kwh (assuming fees, fuel charges, taxes, etc.)
2) Heatpump efficiency of 3. This is the COP or the "leverage" that a heatpump provides.
3) 80% efficiciency gas furnace
4) Same ductwork is used.
5) I don't know what a therm of natural gas cost
Therefore, a heatpump will provide 10,236 BTUs per kwh or 73,114 BTUs per dollar.
A therm of of natural gas is 100,000 BTUs. Assuming an 80% efficiency gas furnace, if a therm of natural gas is less than $0.91 then a gas furnace would be cheaper to run than a heatpump. When looking at the price of natural gas, be sure to include all fees, taxes, etc. In other words, take the total bill and divide by the number of therms used.
I have ignored any differences in the cost to buy the equipment. A heatpump is an AC that can run in reverse and the incremental cost of a heatpump over an AC is pretty small. A more efficient gas furnace would change the numbers - there are 96% gas furnaces available. This is rough estimate.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spikearoni
Does anyone know approximately how much of a savings I can expect utilizing gas heat instead of electric in a 1500 square foot home in TV?
|