> Electric heat is 100% efficient. None of it is wasted > going up the chimney. But the powerplant is not. The waste heat goes up the stack at the powerplant. That's one reason that electric heat always costs more to operate. A plant burning natural gas, after transmission losses, might deliver 20-30% of its energy to you, to turn into heat. However, a gas furnace will use 80% to 96% of the gas's energy to heat your_home. No contest. (I don't know where propane fits into this equation, however.) That said, RN is spot on about the heat_pump. Not many have a COP (Coefficient of Performance; the ratio of heat it can produce per kWh compared to plain resistive heat) of 4, but 3.5 isn't uncommon. Conventional air heat_pumps are most efficient and economical where the climate is mild; their COP falls quite a bit as the outside temperature falls. If you have harsher winters consider a ground source heat_pump ("_geothermal") system.

What about a clip-on, battery operated spotlight that you could tuck in the branches to upshine? I think I'd like that better than the intertwined ones. I found this one (there are many others, just google) and just have to post it because the text attached is just so darned funny to read. Have no idea what this website is - I don't think they are selling the light, just describing or reviewing it. "Battery Powered Led Spotlights is a superb craft which may carry us to the world filled with artwork and fantasy. Some folks wish to have an excellent and an exquisite artistic factor as the decoration, particularly for celebrating the essential and particular occasions. The room’s decoration must be embellished nicely and brings the beautiful reminiscences for them. For the reason that guest all the time come, why don’t you attempt to add some lovely things on your decoration?" Battery powered LED spotlight Another idea would be some of those teeny tiny battery operated fairy lights on a single wire.

The bad news was that it was impractical to bring a gas line to the island (more of a penninsula really) in our kitchen where the cooktop is located. Yes, we tried everything we could think of, but we have a slab foundation (common for Southern California) and our roof design prevented running a line to the roof and down to the wall next to the cooktop. Only option was to knock a 10 foot long hole in the kitchen wall, which we didn't want to do. Thus we had to continue using electric. After a lot of soul searching, we decided to replace the Thermador units with a new Kitchenaid downdraft and black glass cooktop. The age of the existing units (which I've had to repair on my own on occassion) were major factors in the decision. I found the installation to be surprisingly easy, though I did have to do a lot of cutting of the interior of the island to make it fit. The downdraft is superior to the old Thermador (much taller when extended) and while it does have an internal fan I also kept the original Thermador external blower on the roof (I cannibalized the controls and built an auxillary switch under the cabinet). This gives me the option of running the roof blower when I want quieter operation. As for the cooktop, well, I'll probably never get used to a new style black glass type. Far more maintenance that the old Thermador coil radiant unit, and I find it nearly impossible to see where the cookrings are without strong light. Coil units are obvious where the hot places on a cooktop are, glass radiant are not, as my many burnt pot holders will now attest. I'll live, but for you folks deciding to move away from coils, then do whatever you have to do to get a gas line to your new cooktop. Selling your first born child might not be too high of a price.... Cheers, Nick in Palm Springs

We had an electric cooktop in our island replaced with gas cooktop. We already had gas service to the house for the fireplace insert and hot water heater, so it was a matter of tapping into one of those lines. It was easier to do as our house is over a crawlspace. I believe it ran us about $1800 to run the service over to the kitchen island. It'll be more expensive if your house is on a slab or a finished basement with a drywall ceiling. We had a 30" electric, so we got a 30" gas cooktop to fit into the same opening in our counter. We already had a downdraft vent, so that remained. In our area, gas appliances are considered an upgrade, so we're confident it was money well spent in terms of re-sale value. Besides that, I really like cooking with gas.