- The two cheapest and also environmentally sound home-heating options are firewood in a modern woodburner and wood pellets in a pellet burner.
- Electric heaters of some kind are the best overall choice for people who rent. Heat pumps are the cheapest-to-run way of electrically heating the whole house.
- Reticulated natural gas is still a good option for those who have access to it - but if you take the connection charges into consideration it's not cheap any more. LPG is more expensive than reticulated gas.
- The capital cost may make some heating options uneconomic, depending on your circumstances. (see below).
Capital costs
There's often a trade-off between running costs and the capital cost of the heating system. It's rather like the eco-friendly and economical car, which costs more to buy than the thirstier model.
Fifty dollars or so will get you an oil-column heater that costs you over 20 cents per kWh to run. Spend between $2000 and $3000 on a gas heater or a wood burner and the running costs will be about 10 cents per kWh. But spend $10,000 or so on a central-heating plant, and the running costs will drop only a cent or two - although the capital cost of the central-heating plant could well increase the marketability (and value) of your house.
Useful links
For more details on heating options, and tests of various types of heaters, see our other reports:
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