I would say most people live in a world where they can ' t vote in the American election . <| sep |> Electric is less efficient because you change the form of the energy an additional time i . e . the generation process goes fuelheatelecheat , rather than just fuelheat . So it ' s definitely less efficient . I actually think one of the most efficient systems is an electric system with solar preheat . This means you use a solar panel system to heat your water as much as you can . So from 20 Cish mains water to hopefully around 4045 C preheated water , then the electricity heats it up to 60 C for use and to purge it of bacteria . Then it ' s mixed with some cold water again just before it comes out of the tap to go back down to ~ 38 .