Mr. Electricity is your guide to saving energy in your home.
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rechargeable and alkaline batteries to show you what's hot,
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now)
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The
Military Budget as Cookies
This excellent animation from TrueMajority shows in
graphic detail (using Oreo cookies) how ridiculously, large
the military budget is, and how we could solve many domestic
problems with a modest 12% cut. A must-see. (watch
it now)
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Natural
Gas vs. Electric
appliances
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Electric
vs. gas ovens/stoves
The answer to the
question of whether gas is
cheaper than electric
depends on the cost of gas
and electricity in your
area. It varies widely
from state to state, and even
within states -- and even
significantly throughout the
year. The examples I give
below are just that:
examples. Your mileage
may vary.
Of course, the best way to
find your exact cost of energy
is to look at your utility
bill or check your utility
company's website. In the
examples below we'll use the
U.S. average
cost of electricity and
average cost of gas from
spring 2006.
Electric
vs. gas ovens/stoves
|
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Gas
|
Electric
|
|
Model
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Kenmore 30",
#73052
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Kenmore 30",
#93052
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Price
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$350
|
$360
|
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Avg. fuel
price
|
0.0013¢/BTU
($1.30/therm)
|
9.86¢/kWh
|
|
Burner
|
|
Energy used
|
9,000
BTU
|
2,500
watts
|
|
Yearly
cost
|
$14.24
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$29.99
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|
Oven
|
|
Energy used
|
18,000
BTU
+ 350 watts
|
2,600
watts
|
|
Yearly
cost
|
$27.93
($24.34
+
$3.59)
|
$26.66
|
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Burner
+ Oven
together
|
|
Total yearly
cost
|
$42.17
|
$56.65
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Prices
from Sears.com in
July 2006. Fuel rates
are U.S. national
averages in spring
2006; see more on
electricity
prices
and gas
prices.
Yearly costs assumes
using two burners for
ten minutes a day
each on high, and the
oven for two hours a
week.
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What this means is that
under normal conditions you
won't save much money by
cooking with gas vs. electric.
And gas has other big
downsides, such as that gas
combustion is unhealthy to
breathe, and gas-based homes
are way more likely to
accidentally burn to the
ground or blow up. See our
full
report on energy used by
cooking.
Electric
vs. gas clothes
dryers
|
|
Electric
|
Gas
|
|
Energy
used
|
4
kWh
|
0.22 therm
for heat, +
0.5 kWh to spin the
drum
|
|
Energy
rate
|
11¢/kWh
|
$1.42/therm
($0.31)
11¢/kWh
($0.06)
|
|
Cost per
load
(assumes
45 minutes per
load)
|
$0.44
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$0.37
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The
table uses
average
prices; use your
actual prices for
a valid comparison.
Electric component of
gas dryers from
Multi-housing
Laundry
Association.
Gas
cost per load from
Lawrence
Berkeley
Labs.
Note that MLA gives
3.3 kWh for an
electric dryer cycle
and 0.17 therm for a
gas dryer cycle. Note
that you can't use
the label on an
electric dryer to
figure the amount of
energy used, because
the heating element
isn't on the whole
time during the
drying
cycle.
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See our full report on
energy
used by clothes
dryers.
Electric
vs. gas heat
I don't have
comparison tables for electric
vs. gas heat specifically, but
I do have quite a bit of info
about saving
energy on heating.
Cost
of Natural Gas
Here's the average
price of residential natural
gas in 2003 by state, in
dollars per MCF. Don't
assume the state rates are
accurate for you, because
rates vary even within a
state.
U.S. Dept of
Energy
In October 2008 the
national average was estimated
to be $14.23 Mcf, or
$1.42/therm.(source)
This is the figure we'll use
throughout the site, although
the price could be very
different in your area, and
can change rapidly in a short
period of time.
Gas is measured in therms,
Mcf, or BTU. Therms are used
on customers' gas bills, and
Mcf is used in the industry
and financial markets.
- Mcf = thousand
cubic feet, or 10.31
therms
- BTU = British
thermal unit = 1/100,000
therm (1 therm=100,000 BTU)
(Source:
American
Gas
Assoc.)
Some gas bills measure the
gas in cubic meters instead of
therms. One therm is 2.75
cubic meters, and 1 cubic
meter is 0.36 therms.
The U.S. Dept. of Energy
shows historical prices for
gas in both table
and chart
form.
Cost of
Electricity
The average cost of
residential electricity was
12¢/kWh
in the U.S. in June 2008. The
average household used 920
kWh/mo. in 2006 and would pay
$110.40 for it at the
12¢/kWh average rate.
(Dept.
of
Energy)
Like gas, the cost of
electricity varies by
location. Don't assume the
state rates are accurate for
you, because rates vary even
within a state.
We have more info
about electric costs on our
cost of
electricity page.
Comparing
the operating cost of electric
vs. gas appliances
Above we provide
tables comparing the cost of
gas and electric appliances,
but you may wish to do your
own comparison. To make such a
comparison you'll need to
know:
- The price of
electricity in kWh.
- The amount of
electricity used in
kWh.
- The price of gas in
therms.
- The amount of gas used
in therms.
#1 and #3 are easy to find,
just look at your bill. For
electricity, make sure you add
all the kWh costs for
electricity, since some
utility companies have
separate charges for delivery
and fuel. (More
on electrical
charges.)
#2 is also pretty easy,
using the tables and methods
described on this site. For
starters, here's our page of
electricity
used by typical
appliances, and how
to measure electrical
use.
#4 is usually the hardest,
because the amount of gas used
by appliances for a given task
or amount of time is usually
not so easy to find. But I'll
make it easy by listing those
figures for you now, and throw
in the electric version for
comparison:
|
Appliance
|
Therms
per hour
|
kW
per hour
|
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Range pilot
light
|
0.0035
|
n/a
|
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Range burner,
small
|
0.05
|
0.6
|
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Range burner,
large
|
0.09
|
1.0
|
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Oven
|
0.25
|
3.0
|
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Clothes Dryer
|
0.23
|
5.4
|
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Water Heater pilot
light
|
0.0075
|
n/a
|
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From
Wisconsin
Public
Service,
Okaloosa
Gas,
and the Sears
catalog. 1 therm =
100,000
BTU
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