No electric heater is more energy-efficient than any other electric heater.
Mostly true True in substance, wrong in a detail.
Factual: Statements about the present or the past, checked against the record: did they hold up?
The second judge said mixed; the verdict shown is the first judge's.
What would count as true or false
Judge as of 2021-12-31, as a physics claim. True: physics sources confirm that all resistive electric heaters turn essentially 100% of electrical energy into heat, so their efficiency is the same, and the claim is read in that sense (resistive heaters). Mostly true: this holds for resistive heaters, but the claim as stated overlooks heat pumps (which count as electric heaters and deliver more heat per unit of electricity), or there are small differences in how the heat is delivered. Mixed: heat pumps fall clearly within 'electric heater' and so give a real exception, while the claim holds for most heater types. Mostly false: significant efficiency differences exist among common electric heaters beyond the heat-pump case. False: electric heaters commonly differ widely in energy efficiency.
Set before the research began.
Evidence (4)
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E1 Heating With Electricity Natural Resources Canada, Office of Energy Efficiency (EnerGuide) · March 2003
“Electric space heating equipment that uses electric resistance heating is typically 100 per cent efficient because all of the electrical energy used is converted into heat and there are no combustion losses through the chimney.”
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E2 Heat Pump HyperPhysics (R Nave), Georgia State University
“A typical CP for a commercial heat pump is between 3 and 4 units transferred per unit of electric energy supplied.”
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E3 M Y CO-OP Clark Electric Cooperative (Wisconsin Energy Cooperative News) · November 2017
“All electric heaters, except ultra high-efficiency heat pumps, provide 100 percent efficiency, and watt for watt, cost the same to operate.”
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E4 What are the best energy-efficient heaters for your home? OVO Energy · 26 November 2021
“Very! All electric heaters have a 100% efficiency-rating, because they turn all the energy they use into heat.”
Reasoning
Independent sources say electric resistance heaters convert essentially all of their electrical energy into heat, so they are typically 100% efficient (E1, E4). One source adds that they cost the same to run, watt for watt (E3). E3 makes an exception for heat pumps, though. E2 reports that commercial heat pumps deliver about 3 to 4 units of heat for each unit of electricity, so the claim as stated leaves out that case. The claim holds for resistive heaters, but that omission makes it mostly true rather than fully true.
Cite this claim
Eliezer Yudkowsky, “No electric heater is more energy-efficient than any other electric heater.” (said 31 December 2021). Verdict: mostly true. Reliability API, claim c_f1526e3bdcf3, method 0.1.0+c876030c, dataset release v1.1.2. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_f1526e3bdcf3
This claim is in dataset release v1.1.2, with the same verdict.
Reply to this claim
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Verdicts are made automatically; how verdicts are made.