fuel price comparison

The Alberton Papers Vol. VI, #XVII
By Dick Darne 8-4-08
"Before you and Lars leave, there’s one thing that has been puzzling the folks around here and we’ve taken on the job of supplying the real facts." asked Bill.
"Oh, wunnerful, wunnerful", replied Sven. "We love questions, so what’s puzzling you boys?"
"Well, since prices have risen for all kinds of fuel, people want to know what’s the cheapest way to heat a house. I mean, which is cheaper now days, propane, electric, natural gas, oil or wood?" said Bill.
"Funny you should ask," said the Professor, I was just talking to Dick and while he was rooting through his almost fifty years of archives, he came upon the answers in one of the old boiler handbooks. It is a list of heating values for different fuels and the amount of each to equal one million BTU’s. all that’s left would be to use the current prices and compare."
"Of course there are many other factors, such as actual efficiency, insulation and the weather, so the only valid comparison could be made by using a particular house for a comparison and year to year can be different unless you factor in the actual weather conditions for each year. Fortunately records are kept for the amount of ‘degree-days’ per month per year, but that’s another lesson." added Lars.
"Here is the chart:" said Sven.
Fuel comparisons based on 1,000,000 BTU’s .
Nat. Gas = 1 decatherm
Propane = 10.89 gal.
#1 oil = 7.46 gal.
# 2 oil = 7.19 gal.
Wood = 286 lbs. (Approx. 1/14 cord)
Electric = 294 KW
"Now," said Sven, " there’s a few more things.. If we are considering one particular dwelling, and we have properly installed and operated equipment, then we are ‘apples to apples’.
Next consider that electric heat is 100% efficient, that is, all the KW goes to heat your home. All fossil fuels require that a portion of the heat energy be used to make the chimney operate, so we must use an ‘efficiency factor, which can be as low as 60% for some older equipment or as high as 90% or higher for some of the more modern equipment. This means that you divide the answer by the ‘efficiency factor’ to arrive at the true cost."
"Where do you find this ‘efficiency factor?" Johnny asked.
"All equipment made in the last 20 years has a sticker with an ‘AFUE’ rating, which stands for ‘annual fuel utilization efficiency’ which takes into account all sorts of factors which may affect efficiency. Your tax dollars fund the research, so use it." interjected Lars.
"So, now and a one and a two and an example coming right up." exclaimed Sven. "Using propane, electric or wood, we ran some calculations to see how they compare..
We used $2.25/ gal. for propane at 80% eff., 10.2 cents/ KW for electric at 100% eff. and $140/cord for wood at 70% eff. So, for one million BTU’s, the winner is........$30.63 for propane, 29.98 for electric and $14.29 for wood. If you were lucky enough to have Natural gas, it would have been a little under $20. See you boys next week. Keep cerebrating." dd