Electrical energy usage, as billed, is measured on-site at the consumer's residence, after all significant losses have already occurred. Transmission and production losses are therefore not relevant to the comparison being discussed. Such losses must simply be absorbed by the electric company.
What is relevant is the way in which units of gas volume are converted to units of energy. If this conversion does not take into account the (in)efficiency of real furnaces, relative to electrical heaters (which I assume are nearly perfect in efficiency), then the comparison will be unfairly skewed in favor of gas. --- Pat Naughtin <[email protected]> wrote: > On 2009/04/01, at 4:17 PM, Martin Vlietstra wrote: > > > What is the rationale for billing in kilowatt-hours? > > > > To create a level playing field with the electrical industry. > > Dear Martin, > > With respect, using kilowatt-hours to bill people for electricity and > for gas does not, In my opinion, create a level playing field. I think > that many people have difficulty distinguishing between kW and kWh and > between their related physical quantities power and energy. It seems > to me that power and energy are more clearly identified when power is > measured in kW and energy is measured in kJ (rather than power > measured in kW and energy measured in kW.h). > > Consider an example where natural gas is supplied directly to your > home with an energy content of (say) 53 MJ/kg compared to the same gas > supplied to an electricity turbine to produce electrical energy that > is then transmitted through the grid to your home. The gas that is > supplied to you directly should not be compared to the energy supplied > as electrical energy because of the production and the transmission > losses via this pathway. > > Cheers, > > Pat Naughtin > > PO Box 305 Belmont 3216, > Geelong, Australia > Phone: 61 3 5241 2008 > > Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has > helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the > modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they > now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for > their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many > different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial > and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA. > Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST, > and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See > http://www.metricationmatters.com > for more metrication information, contact Pat at > [email protected] > or to get the free 'Metrication matters' newsletter go to: > http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter > to subscribe. > >
