Keeping Warm with Clean Energy

By Fred Horch, Principal Advisor, Sustainable Practice.

According to Efficiency Maine’s online comparison tool, electricity (with geothermal heat pumps) is the cheapest way to heat your home. One reason so many people are switching from oil boilers to heat pumps is that electricity is efficient. Another reason is that electricity is clean: you don’t have to worry about fuel leaks, fumes, or ashes. But is electricity clean at the power plant?

Every year we get more electricity without burning any fuel.

Some environmentalists hesitate to switch to electric heat because they have a false belief that most power plants burn coal. In fact, every year North America is generating more of its electricity without burning any fuel at all. Switching your heating system from fuel to electricity saves money, prevents pollution, and taps growing sources of renewable power.

We are generating more of our electricity from clean energy sources. Data Source: EIA

The United States produces between 300 and 400 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity per month. Hydropower was our first source of electricity; as a clean, renewable resource it will never run out. For the past several decades, flowing water has provided a small fraction (between 18 and 32 TWh per month) of our total energy needs. But recently…