The cost of propane and electricity has become so expensive in California that we use our wood burning fireplace insert during the winter whenever possible. It's the kind that has a blower that will heat up the whole house quickly while exhausting all the fireplace gasses up the chimney. If you want to encourage environmentally friendly behaviors amongst us regular folk, make electricity cheap and plentiful, and sourced from non-greenhouse gas generation itself. Modern, safe nuclear as a primary, stable source backed by wind and solar, or eliminate the nuclear component if battery storage is sufficiently advanced and plentiful. (it's getting there...) We like our fireplace but would prefer to use it only when we want to feel cozy once in a blue moon, not consistently to save money.
When the price of owned solar comes down, that is an option as well. (leased solar is a scam) We plan to include owned solar in our next home, whether if it comes with it or we leave out money from the down to purchase it. We are in the process of selling our current home and it's easier financially to do that transaction when changing homes.
There are two camps out there, people who want artificial scarcity and a lower quality of life for no good reason, and those of us who think that energy can be both environmentally friendly AND abundant. Contrary to what you have been led to believe, those two things are not mutually exclusive. But the whole nature of how semi-public utilities (at least in California) are run needs to change, and decentralize. It's a huge mess.
