I think the key is personal perception of being warm. The "house" and furnishings don't care if they are at 70 or 65 degrees where YOU do. So, if your heating system targets YOU like infrared heat, that seems like an efficient use of the power required. If you have to bring the whole room up to 70 degrees before you feel comfortable, you are going to spend a lot more money to accomplish that. Of course if you get up and move out of the infrared target zone, you will immediately feel colder since the rest of the house is not as warm. There may also be a real consideration to the feeling of being "cooked". Some may find it uncomfortable others may not care.
All in all, it seems like a personal preference. Maybe you can save a few bucks with infrared while you are sitting in the living room reading a book for a couple hours. If you tend to be moving about a lot, it won't work as well.
I am considering radiant floor heat for an addition. Because you are standing on the source of heat, evenly distributed across the whole floor, you feel it more directly compared to many spot sources of heat. Further, since it is a broadly distributed heat, there are no hot spots near a source. I'm still checking into it.
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