Buying your new home heating boiler is an important decision. First of all these are not cheap items, so you do not want to spend money unnecessarily. Then again the very last thing you want from a heating system is to leave your house cold.
What we need is a system that will work for us and our situation whilst at the same time being good value for our pockets and respectful for the environment. So portable kerosene heaters fulfill the value for money and the environmental criteria (this is debatable of course, but they use fuel quite efficiently and are usually only heating the living spaces rather than the whole home). Yet for many people they will not do the job of conveniently and evenly heating the home. It is probably not the best choice for people families with very small children or wayward pets, though some kerosene portables have very advanced safety features.
Nor is it really all that easy to compare efficiency of home heating systems. Electrical systems will register efficiencies close to a 100% whereas gas and oil systems are probably notching up around 80 or 90 percent efficiency. Yet electrically powered heaters do not have to count the efficiency of the electricity generation further up the line (before the supply reaches the home). This would change the equation quite a bit, and explains why electrically powered heating systems usually cost more to run despite their high efficiency ratings.
One thing that almost every home owner can benefit from is an energy audit. Many local environmental agencies can conduct these, sometimes for free. They will emphasize insulation and system maintenance and will give you a good base from which to ensure efficient home heating.