TLDR: Minneapolis uses 3.5x the energy of Miami for climate control.

But isn't electricity much more expensive per energy unit than natural gas? I don't have an ax to grind on this, but it seems like comparing apples to oranges if cost is a concern (which it may not be).

"Efficiencies of power plants for the energy used for cooling relative to heating" is included in the number above. The factor is 0.5 for heating.

I wasn't referring to efficiencies. I was referring to dollars per unit of energy, as paid by the end consumer. That "study" explicitly says it didn't take that into account. Electricity is expensive, as anyone who has ever lived in an apartment with electric radiators knows. Natural gas is cheap. My electric bill exceeds my natural gas bill every month of the year, and I live in Minneapolis with electric AC, a high-efficiency natural-gas-fired furnace and boiler (the latter for in-floor), and a modern well-insulated house. My anecdotal experience led me to question whether that study actually showed what it suggested it did. On careful reading, it turns out I was right. People with an ideological ax to grind are bad at research, and bad at analysis. Data should lead the way.

>People with an ideological ax to grind are bad at research, and bad at analysis.Data should lead the way.

So why speculate and not use data instead?

Look at your bills and use the price of kilowatt of electricity and the price of CCF or MCF of natural gas to calculate the cost of MBTU. The above study came to a conclusion that you will use 3.5 MBTUs in MN for each 1 MBTU spent in FL.

In my case 1 kWt cost ~10c, 1 MCF of natural gas costs ~$12. At these prices 15 SEER AC will require ~$6.67 for 1 MBTU of cooling 95% Efficient Nat gas furnace will require ~$12.63 for 1 MBTU of heating.

Can you do the rest of the math?

Someday, preferably soon, we need to cut GHG emissions by 80% or more. That future is not compatible with widespread natural gas heating.

That future is exactly compatible with nuclear power, which when done correctly (almost never is) is cheaper.