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A comment on Thousands trapped on Pine Ridge burn clothes for warmth in wake of storm. Parent comment

Re:Thousands trapped on Pine Ridge burn clothes for warmth i... by maria2 on Monday December 26, 2022 @11:12AM (#34138868)
Very few places use electricity for heat. It’s super inefficient unless you use a heat pump, and residential heat pumps typically don’t work too far below freezing.
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Re:Thousands trapped on Pine Ridge burn clothes for warmth i... by vitaflo on Monday December 26, 2022 @11:16AM (#34138926)
Most furnaces require electricity to run even if the heat isn’t generated by electricity.
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Re:Thousands trapped on Pine Ridge burn clothes for warmth i... by xyzelement on Monday December 26, 2022 @11:23AM (#34138997)
Exactly
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Re:Thousands trapped on Pine Ridge burn clothes for warmth i... by astura on Monday December 26, 2022 @11:26AM (#34139039)
Very few? Maybe for single family homes, but electric heat is very common in apartments - Every apartment I've ever lived in had electric baseboard heaters.

Apparently it's #2 is the US with 37% of homes.

https://www.climatecentral.org/news/your-heating-fuel-depend...

Now that I live in a single family house I use oil to heat the house - but the boiler requires electricity.

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Re:Thousands trapped on Pine Ridge burn clothes for warmth i... by Scoundreller on Monday December 26, 2022 @11:41AM (#34139241)
37% makes sense. When you live in a moderate climate and minimally need heating, low capex and high opex makes sense.

Too bad so many air conditioners don’t have reversing valves. One day I want to install a window-shaker “the wrong way” and see how well it works as a heater.

As an alternative, one could put water containers in their freezer and throw the ice outside as it freezes as a rudimentary sneakernet liquid<-> solid phase change heat pump.

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