BEST ANSWER
FIRST ANSWER
Wow, you spent a lot to heat an adobe home last year!
Adobe is great at mantaining a constant temperature. You will be less efficient if you let it cool down, then come home from work, and heat it up such as is often done with forced air heat.
Radiant heat (baseboard), will be more efficient with adobe if you keep the thermostats set at close to the same temperature all the time. I personally prefer radiant heat, but electric baseboard heat or electric heat of any sort will have high utility bills. It is not as efficient at gas. Avoid electric baseboard heat!
There is no such creature as gas baseboard heat. You are probably refering to hot water radiant baseboard heat supplied by a gas fired boiler. These are extremely efficient, quiet, and reliable heating systems. My favorite! And, as I mentioned, great for an adobe home, if you don't try to re-heat a cold home every day. Installation will be more expensive than that of electric baseboard heaters.
Don't get sold on the in-floor radiant heat system which does not require the baseboard radiators because the coils are in the flooring. It is expensive to install, and the heat transfer is not as efficient due to the mass of the floor and ground beneath it absorbing heat. On the other hand, it does keep the floor nice and warm for bare feet if you have tile, (not so great for carpet), and can work well if you keep the thermostat set at one setting continually.
They do make a system which circulates hot water from your domestic water heater through baseboard radiators, but this system is only as efficient as your domestic water heater, which is not so great.
My vote is for hot water radiant baseboard using a gas fired boiler.
Sun Sep 20 2009, 11:28
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