1,000 Watts is 1,000 Watts is 1,000 Watts...

Sun question: Which creates more heat? A 1,000 watt heater or a server with so many hard drives that it drains 1,000 watts?

The answer is that both 1,000 watt items end up giving off 1,000 watts worth of heat. It's just that the ridiculous server is more fun! Not to mention that the server is less likely to cause a fire than the heater. The trick is you get a lot of data storage and CPU speed, but as chips run and hard drives spin, the power eventually becomes heat.

What this means is that if you need an electric heater you may as well have some fun with the electricity as you make the heat. Like the crazy server above, if you take 1,000 watts worth of sodium vapor bulbs, you'll get the heat, but you first get a lot of light, including some ultraviolet light, so you too can have color if you normally don't. (assuming you do tan)

A laser printer would make for a dandy heater. These printers have an "energy saver" mode that shuts off a heating element, so if you align a print job, it takes the couple minutes to heat up, the print job ensues, and when done shuts off that heating element. But that mode can be aligned to be engaged or disengaged. All the better is if you can align it on or off remotely with your computer. If your computer has Linux, all the more fun. You can automate your dual-use heater! If you work in an office, you will want to lobby for putting that printer underneath the thermostat. What this does is fool the thermostat into thinking the room is too hot. If you are like a Matthew Henson (or polar bear) and like it cold, you can now stealthily control the room temperature to taste. And have a sodium vapor bulb in your cubicle to get your color.