The Efficiency of Portable Space Heaters

In many places, fossil fuels are often burned in order to produce heat, which in turn is utilized to boil water or create steam to turn turbines that turn generators to produce electricity. The efficiency of this process ranges from 20 to 60% while the other 5 to 15% is wasted due to transmission, depending mainly on how far the user is from the power plant. Portable space heaters on the other hand use the heat produced from combustion to heat the space directly through convection, which is way more efficient and cheaper than electric heating. In combined CHP (combined heat and power) plants, the energy lost in power plants driven by turbine is used for district heating. According to some research, the total energy efficiency of portable space heaters approaches 100%.