Space heating is the heating of a space, usually enclosed, such as a house or room. A space heater keeps the air and surroundings at a comfortable temperature for people or animals, or even plants in a greenhouse. Space heating generally warms a small space, and is usually held in contrast with central heating, which warms many connected spaces at once. Space heating does not include water heating, unless it is used for hydronic heating. http://www.truegreeninfraredheaters.com
While central boilers that heat buildings and houses heat space, the term space heater is normally used to refer to relatively small heaters, especially those that are portable or wall-mounted. These space heaters may use natural gas or propane, but they are most commonly electric. Electric heaters are safer because there is no danger of carbon monoxide poisoning. They are also cheaper to buy. However, they are often far more expensive to operate, because electricity is typically more expensive per unit of heat energy produced than gas or propane. However, a ground source heat pump operating with a coefficient of performance of more than 3 will be cheaper to operate than a gas heater.
In some countries district heating is a major source of space heating. This is especially the case in Scandinavia. District heating systems make it possible to distribute all of the energy for space heating as well as water heating from waste heat from industries, power plants, incinerators, geothermal heating and central solar heating.
In most areas, fossil fuels are burned to create heat, which is used to boil water and create steam to turn a turbine that turns a generator that produces electricity. The efficiency for the process ranges from about 20 to 60%. Another 5 to 15% is lost in transmission, depending how far the power plant is from the user. Gas heaters on the other hand, use the heat from combustion to directly heat the space through convection, which is much more efficient than electric heating.
