When we bought our house it had an electric furnace with in floor radiant heat (basement), hot water rads (main floor) and electric baseboard (top floor).
It also had a cheap *ss gas fireplace and les than stellar electric appliances
Where we live (North Vancouver) we get frequent power outages (less outages now 8 years later) but the generator runs 5 or 6 times a year and we have run a lot of crock pots for the neighbourhood families over the years.
We tore out the electric furnace and hot water tank, replaced the lousy gas fireplace with an efficient one and bought a semi commercial stove with an electric oven and a gas cooktop.
We run a gas hot tub heater and have a gas line for BBQ and firepit.
When we did the rewiring for the generator we put in 30 Amp circuits inside the single car garage and outside for future electric car charging.
Our Hydro Bill fell by70% and our gas bill went up about 30% (only a gas Fireplace before).
We are still paying far less than the prior owner paid for power and heat. With Gas we are far ahead cost wise
I had tried to buy a Mach -E but even ordering one became a headache, now they seem to have some real QC problems.
My wife's car is a 2010 Lexus RX 350 with 90,000 K on it and changing it to electric makes no sense. I have done the calculations on the little she drives and if we drive her car till we are 80 an electric car would be just at the break even point. Plus we can afford to service and maintain our cars. If she sold hers, it would be a polluting monster in 3-4 years.
The same for my car it is fine, drinks gas a bit but I hardly drive besides to work 25 K round trip and I commute more on my motorcycle these days.
The push for more hydro use and less Natural gas use will allow the cost of electricity to increase based on demand.
I also expect that our neighbourhood will go in a big land assembly in 10-15 years and turn into a series of towers and townhomes.
Three different heat sources! I'm guessing multiple renovations?
General basics on electric and gas heat in terms of energy potential turned into heat:
- gas furnace: 85-90% efficient
- condensing gas furnace: 94-95% efficient (ie, "high efficiency furnace")
- electric resistance heating: 98-100% efficient (baseboard, in-floor radiant mat, electric kettle)
- electric air source heat pump: 300-400% efficient (because it doesn't directly create heat, it moves heat from one place to another)
- natural gas hot water tank: 50% efficient
- natural gas instant water heater: 85% efficient
- electric immersed element hot water tank: 95% efficient
- solar hot water heater (vacuum tube): 180% efficient
- electric heat pump water heater: 350% efficient
So the simple plan for new homes is go with heat pumps for water and space heating, an efficient envelope with best quality windows and doors. No brainer in BC where we are already 95% renewable energy and prices are directly controlled by utilities commission. Yes there will be some increases as time goes on, but no reasonable person would argue that they'll be more predatory than the oil and gas industry.
Even in Alberta and Sask where they're under 40% power from non FF sources, electric heat pump HVAC and HWT still offers lower carbon footprint over their lifetime than FF fixtures. Plus as those grids gradually de-carbonize, the equation gets better. But natural gas appliances will be full GHG emitters forever. Even RNG is barely better, might be renewable but still produces GHG.
Renovation of existing homes is another story. Many more restrictions and existing conditions, and of course it burns to decommission working furnaces and HWTs in favour of new. For many, restricted electrical service will present significant upgrade costs even before new mechanical units are purchased. That was the case for me, a solid 20K when I estimated it a year ago, plus a lot of disruption with driveways, lawns and retaining walls dug up to bring in new conduit. Compromises have to be made.
electric air source hot water heat pump: 200-250% efficient