Most effective/cost efficient way to heat a home.

[AdamsB]

So I've only been in Canada for 2.5 years and everywhere I lived had central air so I never worried about heating before. Now I'm in a new place with base board heaters and I'm not sure if we should use them or find some other form of heaters.

It's a basement suite and my main concern is losing heat when we take the dog outside to pee (not a fenced yard) and the only doors we have are on the bedroom and bathroom so that's a lot of potential escaped heat.

What are other people using? Is there a general wattage for base heaters per foot in length?