Hi Edwin,

You make good point but if you lived in New England you may change
your mind. Our winters are more severe and out electric rates are
more than double yours.

Yeah, I might have to rethink my position if my electric bill was
doubled. But, I would still have a hard time switching to gas. I'd
spend more time improving insulation and minimizing the space I have to
heat.

I chose individual electric wall heaters in our new house, partly because
the furnace in our old house broke down one year. We were without heat
for nearly two weeks in the middle of winter while waiting for a part to
be ordered! With the individual heaters, one or more can quit working and
we still have other heaters in the house to keep warm. For those rare
times when the electricity goes out altogether, we have a woodstove too.

Electricity is not truly 100% efficient. Those power plants making it
with fossil fuels are much less than that. You do pay for their waste.

True, but I'd rather the power plant deal with maintenance, efficiency,
polution, and all that instead of me.

I'd like to see more hydro power though.

Hydro is common around here, but it's not a perfect solution either. Fish
populations are on the decline, not only an environmental problem, but it
affects fisherman making their living by fishing too.

Wind power is gaining popularity, but I thought I read somewhere it has
negative side effects too?

Nuclear is nice, but has it's own risks and there's no where to store the
waste.

I guess everything is a tradeoff...

Maybe hydrogen generators or fuel cells will be the answer?

Anthony