Electric fireplaces?

I do not have one, but a close friend DOES. His experience is somewhat lacking. He misses his regular woodburning fireplace. And, is considering going back to what we both had before, a fireplace upstairs and a airtight Franklin woodstove insert in the downstairs fireplace. The thing is, an electric fireplace is great at generating heat, almost 100% efficient (if it does in fact generate heat and not simply a decorative light thing). The problem is that some or maybe most of the heat generated goes up the flue, which is totally wasted heat. With wood, the same heat loss applies, but I get an added benefit, the wood fire crackles, and pops, and does what wood does when it burns. It comes down to personal preference and the heat loss of each. I like the actual fire in my upstairs fireplace even though it less energy efficient.

I have one. It doesn’t put out much heat, but it really looks great. I don’t use it very often so I can’t tell you how expensive it is to run. I was "told" by my electric supplier that the flame uses $.07 cents per hour, and with the space heater, $.09.