Baseboard heaters used in residential applications have not changed in over 30 years. In either electrical or hot-water heating systems, the baseboard heater is a horizontal tube with closely spaced slip-on vertical aluminum fins. An extruded sheet metal shroud directs natural-convection flow of cool air near the floor over the finned tube. Consider alternative designs for this heat transfer device with the objective of reducing the purchase price per unit heat transfer. To that end, you should consider materials selection, manufacturability, and heat transfer performance. Clearly, any design that increases operating costs (e.g., a requirement for periodic cleaning), is to be avoided.