"Andy Champ" wrote in message
...

There _are_losses with using electricity for heating............

The losses are all in the generating plant and the transmission system.
These losses come to maybe 2/3 of the energy used. This is likely to be a
lot less than the losses in your gas boiler - so it's better to heat with
gas.

Indeed. But this illustrates the point I've been trying to make: switching
"off" instead of to "standby" does, often, save energy, but HOW MUCH energy
is a complicated matter and it is rarely anything like as high as the green
pundits claim.

Standby electricity turns into heat, which is valuable except during the
summer months. That is a subtlety many greenies don't understand. Two
thirds of the energy entering the power station never makes it to your home,
so electricity for heating is arguably a poor choice. But don't forget that
your domestic gas boiler wastes maybe half the energy going into it, so
again we have a complex and subtle situation, which in any case will vary
greatly from house to house. And, of course, gas production and
distribution also has a CO2 overhead.

I just wish the green pundits would acknowledge that their claims are
questionable and rely upon several massive over-simplifications. Yes,
savings are there to be had, but not of the scale they claim. It would
actually INCREASE their credibility.

SteveT