A house is maintained at steady state (closed system) at 300 K while the outside temperature is 275 K. The heat loss (Q⋅C) is measured at 2 kW. Two approaches are being considered: (A) electrical heating at 100% efficiency and (B) an ideal heat pump that operates with Carnot COP. The price of electricity is $0.2/kWh.
(a) Determine the cost of option A.
(b) Option B over a 10 hour operating period.