My house is heated by electricity.  More specifically, it's heated with electric baseboard heaters.  Think of a toaster.  That's essentially how it works.  A heating element gets some electricity pumped into it.  This creates heat, which is dissipated through a series of metal fins.  Natural convection (as opposed to forced air [e.g. fan, blower]) moves warm air around the room, making it warm enough to live in. 

When we were looking at buying our house, this was a major downside.  Electric heat is known to be pretty expensive, so it was obviously frowned upon.  But we went with it anyway because we didn't have many other options.  On the plus side, there's no chance of an oil tank leak (like a house we almost bought), and there are no bills for gas or oil, just electricity. 

After living in the house for a year and a half, I'm convinced electric heat is the best way to economically heat a multi-room house.  Here's my reasoning: 
  1. Cost.  Because of various wars, natural disasters, and stupid dictatorships, oil and gas are just as expensive as electricity.
  2. Simplicity.  We only pay an electric bill.  It gets larger in the winter and smaller in the summer, but it's a single bill, making life a little simpler.
  3. Control.  Every room has its own heater and thermostat, meaning that the rooms we don't use are never heated, and the rooms we do use are heated to the exact temperature we want.
  4. Efficiency.  When we only want heat in a specific room (such as our bedroom at night), there's no need for an oil or gas burner to turn on.
#science