The oldest areas on the east coast were settled before gas lines were a thing and electricity existed. So they use oil unless it’s a big city that paid to have gas lines installed.
This is why cities that grew a lot after gas was industrialized primarily have natural gas.
Remote areas will use oil, propane, or wood because they can be delivered by truck and heat pumps are a pretty new technology that hasn’t worked well in cold areas until recently.
The south has minimal heat requirements so they can get by with electric which is cheap to install but not efficient enough to provide primary heat in cold areas.
Also, southern homes generally have air conditioning so adding a reversing valve or set of heater coils is pretty easy.
One reason is bad laws. I would love to replace my natural gas boiler and steam radiators with an electric heat pump system. It would be more efficient, cheaper to run, be able use solar power, and keep my house more comfortable.
But state law requires that buildings meet a specific efficiency requirement, which my house does not meet because it is 170 years old. I understand why they have that requirement for new construction, but it is stupid to not have an exception for old buildings.
I was looking at what I’d need to get a heat pump installed yesterday, before the state website even started discussing the different types there were links to weatherization programs and efficiency requirements. My house is about 70 years old, even with insulation updates in the 00s it’s a drafty bitch
Our home is from the 19th century, but with modern insulation it’s still fit to be heated with ACs and a heat pump. We’ve opted not to since that’s a big ass unit and we’re limited on space, but it could work.
We did have to replace isolation basically everywhere and we still need to replace some door frames, but the total cost was just a few thousand euros, before govt funding.
Doing almost all of the work yourselves saves a fuckton of money.
Did you look into it though? Anything you can do to weatherproof your home is far cheaper than paying forever to heat or cool it.
I’m in a similar situation but less so. My house is only half the age but well built so not too leaky. My state strongly encourages efficiency measures and they’re not a bad idea. However since their criteria is “recommended” insulation, I’m “ok”. Basically since I have two layers of fiberglass in my attic, I’ve “done all I could”. However I did have to have an insulating contractor out to say “yep, can’t do any more”
Now my only problem was that I have functioning (but old) heating and a/c so wanted to save up a few years, but now I need to decide whether I have to try asap to get the incentive while it lasts
Climate. You’re not going to need gas heating in Florida when it’s cold for only a short time of the year.
Makes sense for Florida! I expected the opposite on the West coast though
Electric heating also works great basically everywhere else, too. Actually climate has very little to do with it in most cases and if there’s any non-manipulative reason(gas companies are really bad for this) it’s to do with what infrastructure makes the most sense.
In places like Québec we have electric heating because hydro makes electricity pretty cheap. Up north in Nunavut they will often have big tanks on the property and a truck will come by to refill them.
I’ve been told that not only does it occasionally freeze in Florida but that houses were essentially uninsulated. Before a/c, there was no reason to insulate in the south.
Electric heat also has the advantage of nothing to maintain. You can have your baseboard heating just sit there most of the time, but it will still come on the rare times you need it
Age of the city and sufficient infrastructure. Once the building is built to use [oil or gas or whatever] it’s never refit to use something else. Something something quarterly profits.
Market supply and demand I assume.
Age of home probably plays a factor as well.
