Eli5 if electric vehicles are better for the environment than fossil fuel, why isn’t there any emphasis on heating homes with electricity rather gas or oil?
In: Physics
The useful output of a car engine is kinetic energy (to rotate the wheels), and these engines can transfer ~30% of their input energy (from the gas) to motion. The rest is lost as heat.
The useful output of a furnace is heat, this means that what was previously wasted is actually useful.
So there isn’t too much of a difference in efficiency between electricity and gas heating. The biggest impact to overall efficiency for heating a house is making sure it is insulated as well as possible, so that heat isn’t lost to the outside.
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