It's definitely a lot faster than 3G in most cases, and it generally uses less power than 3G because the transmitter in your phone doesn't have to send a signal as far. When you use wifi, it only has to transmit a few hundred feet at most to the wifi router, instead of a mile or more to the cell phone tower.
I have my phone set up to automatically connect to my home network when it's in range. I like it because the phone will automatically switch to 3G when it loses the wifi signal, so I can come and go without having to worry about manually switching between the two.
There are also programs such as Locale (available in the Market) which will allow you to automatically enable/disable various features on your phone depending on where you are. If it detects you're at home, it can turn on the wifi and turn off the GPS. It will set the phone to silent mode at certain times or depending on where you are. Etc...
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