How much is a unit of electricity?
James
Don't have a bill handy so I can't tell you what it cost me. Guess
it's high enough that most people have gas heat but low enough for
people to have electric range and stove instead of gas.
Logan Shaw
The question in your subject line is pretty ambiguous since there are
several different units related to electricity. For example, there
are volts, amperes, watts, and coulombs.
Probably you mean to measure the energy that electricity can provide,
in which case the scientific unit is joules (watt-seconds), but the
industry tends to use kilowatt-hours.
As for price, that depends on who you buy it from (and when), but for
me it's about 10 cents per kilowatt-hour.
And as for whether electricity is good for heating, it tends to depend
on the cost of the electricity and the amount of heat you need. I
happen to live in a fairly warm climate where electricity rates are
relatively low, and I have a heat pump (instead of resistive heating),
so electricity is a good option for me. People who live where snow
is not an oddity but a regular occurrence (a) may find that electricity
is not the best option for them and (b) are, in my opinion, gluttons
for punishment.
By the way, I'm not really sure what the main point of your post is. :-)
- Logan
Anthony Matonak
Around these parts (Los Angeles) it runs about 14 cents/kWh once you
add it all up. I don't know the exact breakdown of it's source but
I think most is from coal and nuclear.
There is more than just cost involved in how you heat and cook.
For instance, gas stoves are popular because they heat up fast
and provide quick, responsive control. Electric stoves are slow,
often lack high heat settings and are not as easily controlled.
Electric ovens, on the other hand, are popular because they don't
require constant circulation of air that drys out food and the
temperature is easier to regulate precisely.
For heating, gas is usually a lot cheaper but electric is easier
to install and somewhat safer.
Anthony
Jeff
Me too.
But I think the OP *may* be trying to compare electricity with other
methods of heating.
Electricity is sold by the kWhr (1000 watts / hour). There are 3413
BTUs in a kWhr or about 29 kWhr in a therm. At $0.10 kWhr that's
$2.90/therm.
Natural Gas is usually sold by the therm. One therm is 100,000 BTUs if
burned 100% efficiently.
I believe heating oils is sold by the gallon. One gallon is 1.385
therms if burned 100% efficiently.
Now, electrity can be "burned" 100% efficiently, a little less if you
have a fan. It can also be used in a heat pump (the reverse of AC) so
that it can move two to three times more BTUs than it consumes. But heat
pumps lose their leverage as the temperature falls.
I see heating oil is about $2.77/gallon. Ouch!
<URL: http://www.westchestergov.com/consumergas/oilprice.ASP/> That's
about $2 therm.
Natural Gas is about $1.34/therm (if you live in a deregulated market
you have to consider distribution costs, not just price per therm).
And in a cord of dry wood, about 195 therms. Wood stoves tend to be
less efficient than other heaters.
100 SF of vertical south facing sunshine in december is about 1
therm (if collected 100% efficiently, usually closer to 50%) at a cost
of not much.
Jeff
>
> - Logan
James
>
> - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
Christ!
I just wanted to know how much per kWH and the function of method of
generation. I want to know if Quebec, WA, TN are really cheap because
of big dams.
Guess I better not ask the price of gasoline. It might overheat your
brains.
Ron Peterson
> I just wanted to know how much per kWH and the function of method of
> generation. I want to know if Quebec, WA, TN are really cheap because
> of big dams.
Yes, hydropower is inexpensive once the dam is in place.
--
Ron
Jeff
You get what you get. Ask a better formed question in the first place
(go reread it) and you may do better. Or maybe you should just improve
your google skills, damn little isn't out there.
In the meantime, no one owes you an answer. We do this for our own reasons.
Jeff
Logan Shaw
> Christ!
>
> I just wanted to know how much per kWH and the function of method of
> generation.
Aha, so what you meant is "How much MONEY is a unit of electricity?".
You didn't say that; you just left everyone to wonder what quantity
you wanted to know how much of. There are a lot of different types
of quantities that "how much" can be applied to. For example, "how
much paint is needed to paint my living room" or "how much time does
a roast need to stay in the oven" or "how much time is needed to paint
my living room". Without any real indication that you had money in
mind as the quantity you were asking about, all I could tell is that
you were asking something related to both units and electricity, so
I took the shotgun approach and tossed out some random information,
figuring that that would either answer the question, whatever it was,
or you'd explain what information you were really after.
- Logan
E Z Peaces
> Is it from nuclear, hydro, gas, oil, or coal?
I was wondering the same thing.
>
> Don't have a bill handy so I can't tell you what it cost me.
I was just about to ask what it cost you. I see we think along the same
lines.