Comparisons between gas and electricity on the basis of coal economy

For some time it has been common practice to compare the application of gas and electricity on the basis of production efficiency and coal-economy efficiency. Figures stated by independent authorities and in recent report suggest that electric heating involves 60% to over 100% higher coal consumption than gas heating. The paper shows that such inferences are erroneous; that in the case of joint products¿such as gas and coke¿the promiscuous use of percentage efficiencies can be misleading; that a reliable method of comparison consists in estimaging the quantities of solid fuel, gas and electricity required to supply a given schedule of domestic heating by various combinations of means, and calculating the comparative total amounts of raw coal necessary. Applied to the principal combination of appliances put forward in the Egerton Report and to a combination chosen by the author, the method proves that, with present processes of electricity and gas production and utilization, no decided difference in regard to coal economy exists between gas and electricity for domestic heating purposes, and that this factor can therefore be eliminated from comparisons between the two rival commodities.