What is the Most Efficient Form of Electric Heating?

Most electric radiators will produce two-thirds of their warmth as convection, but also offer one-third as radiation. This provides a lasting background warmth, so even if you do keep moving from room to room, you won’t lose as much heat from air movement.

For maximum efficiency, look out for ceramic radiators which are able to produce much more radiant heat. As ceramic has excellent thermal properties, these radiators offer up to 50% of their warmth as infrared heat. If you need fast-acting warmth, its convection abilities are still there to deliver, but with a much slower cooldown time to keep running costs low.

Electric resistance heating is 100% energy efficient in the sense that all the incoming electric energy is converted to heat. However, most electricity is produced from coal, gas, or oil generators that convert only about 30% of the fuel's energy into electricity. Because of electricity generation and transmission losses, electric heat is often more expensive than heat produced in homes or businesses that use combustion appliances. 

If electricity is the only choice, heat pumps are preferable in most climates, as they easily cut electricity use by 50% when compared with electric resistance heating. There may be some exceptions, such as in climates with so few heating days that the cost of heating with electric resistance is not significant.

Electric resistance heating may also make sense for a home addition if it is not practical to extend the existing heating system to supply heat to the new addition.