More bad news for the oilman

[jmcp]

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/01/midstaters_increasingly_switch.html

 

[jtakeman]

provided there’s a gas line nearby.

I think there'd be more switching. But seems the lack of lines in rural area's will keep ol oilman pump his crued.

 

[PJPellet]

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/01/midstaters_increasingly_switch.html

Interesting story, thanks for sharing. I live in an area without natural gas. When I bought this house in 2001 I put in a new propane furnace. It was 1.09 a gallon for propane then, now it's right around 3.00 a gallon for propane in this area. I have no love loss for the oil and propane companies.

 

[jtakeman]

Im sure once big NG has lured us all in the game will begin. ;-)

Big Corps just get too greedy IMHO.

 

[PJPellet]

Im sure once big NG has lured us all in the game will begin. ;-)

Big Corps just get too greedy IMHO.

I had this same thought.

 

[Jack768]

I have NG and, while I enjoy it, the economics of burning wood are marginal if that's your other option. If you're in an area where oil is the alternative, as in much of New England where I grew up, whole different story. It isn't a matter of luring anybody in, it's that we've discovered huge NG reserves that can be exploited via fracking, and are now the world's largest producer. But I don't look forward to coming home and relaxing next to a forced air vent from an NG furnace -- wood is so much more satisfying.

 

[katman]

Propane is about $4.00/gallon here; oil is at $3.85. New pellet boiler should be running next week.

 

[gitmo234]

South East PA, propane is $3.44 a gallon. Natural gas isnt available in my area. LOTS of houses use only wood or supplement with wood. My property doesnt have any wood on it, so I opted for a pellet furnace and soon an additional stove. If I had woods I would opt for wood. I look forward to fires. My neighbors let me collect small wood for my fireplace, but they dont want me taking entire cords at a time. I can take smaller oak and burch at will.

 

[h2ochild]

Propane here $4.10 lb, fuel oil $3.85...No natural gas lines in this area and I'm fairly certain they won't be coming this way anytime in the future. According to a study I recently saw, natural gas has the largest share of heating methods in this state. I heat with pellets and my supplier has informed me that their price is also impacted by fuel oil prices as the diesel trucks used to transport are using that fuel also. I wonder what the cost of fuel oil would be if this wasn't such a mild winter? I'm glad we converted to pellets! Good article,thanks to the OP for sharing.

 

[Weird tolkienish figure]

Im sure once big NG has lured us all in the game will begin. ;-)

Big Corps just get too greedy IMHO.

Yep. I think the best bet is to have a variety of ... means to heat your house with.

If pellets were to get too expensive I could just start turning up the oil heat.

I would like to switch over to gas but I just can't see getting rid of a perfectly good furnace just yet. And switching to gas costs $$$.

I can live with a $100 dollar a month oil charge, for now. Just use it as sparingly as possible.

 

[jtakeman]

Im sure once big NG has lured us all in the game will begin. ;-)

Big Corps just get too greedy IMHO.

Yep. I think the best bet is to have a variety of ... means to heat your house with.

If pellets were to get too expensive I could just start turning up the oil heat.

I would like to switch over to gas but I just can't see getting rid of a perfectly good furnace just yet. And switching to gas costs $$$.

I can live with a $100 dollar a month oil charge, for now. Just use it as sparingly as possible.

From what I have been told. You can get the gas company to do a burner swap. No need to change the whole furnace. Burners aren't all that expensive.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Im sure once big NG has lured us all in the game will begin. ;-)

Big Corps just get too greedy IMHO.

Yep. I think the best bet is to have a variety of ... means to heat your house with.

If pellets were to get too expensive I could just start turning up the oil heat.

I would like to switch over to gas but I just can't see getting rid of a perfectly good furnace just yet. And switching to gas costs $$$.

I can live with a $100 dollar a month oil charge, for now. Just use it as sparingly as possible.

Switching to gas does not always mean you have to replace your furnace.

If your heating system uses a gun burner there are replacement gas fired gun burners.

 

[katman]

I'm anxious to fire up the pellet boiler so I can relegate my oil boiler to back-up status. I have propane in the fireplace so that is next on my hit list. No natural gas in my area, so I expect to put in a pellet insert. Only question for me is how long is it going to take for the pellet supply/distribution network to develop in my area. Sure would be nice to see bulk distribution and the range of pellet options it seems is available in the colder states. We appear to be a bit behind other areas, but that should change as prices for the other heat options create the incentive. I have heat pumps for the shoulder, but they don't do the job when it gets cold. If pellets get too high or scarce, I have an EFM coal boiler sitting in my barn ready to be hooked in to the central heating system. I'd look seriously at solar but I want to move in three or four years so I'll resist unless I see a change in the payback.

 

[jimbom]

Once all the reasonable investments to cut heat movement through the envelope are complete, I agree with the above posters about diversification. One caution about natural gas.

Our city installed a municipal natural gas system in 1992. Shortly thereafter, the EPA started forcing electric generation by natural gas not coal. Predictably, the price of electricity and natural gas went haywire. Gas tripled at the hub. Thousands of jobs were lost in industries that relied on natural gas. Prices have come down with the new supplies on the market which is good. However, new regulation will soon force more electric plants to use natural gas. Don't put all your eggs in natural gas. The government do-gooders will soon make natural gas expensive once again in the unrelenting drive to kill coal. I hope I am wrong, but the prudent man rule applies.

Strive for more than one source for your energy. Utilize the second hand market to minimize capital investment. Wait for the deal that will work in your situation. I have passive solar, natural gas, wood, and electricity right now. Also, piping and hot water heat for propane that is unused, but could be put back into service. I am creeping up on solar hot air following ideas of Nick Pine. And I have the materials on hand to get solar hot water built. Solar electric is coming down in price. Always keep an eye out to diversify.

 

[Jack768]

Propane is about $4.00/gallon here; oil is at $3.85. New pellet boiler should be running next week.

If you run the energy cost calculator offered by DOE (and others), propane is the worst option available other than (in most places) electric. Oil is cheaper than propane -- keep in mind that propane contains fewer BTUs per gallon than oil. Wood or pellets are MUCH cheaper than propane. Natural gas, where I live, is about on a par with c/s/s wood and it's cheaper than pellets. As others have noted, it was not always so -- before the new supply came on-line as fracking developed (and industrial use dropped due to the recession), the increasing use of NG for electric generation pushed prices to quite a high level.

 

[Como]

Propane here is just over $2 a gallon, wonder why there is such a big variance.

 

[katman]

I don't know why it is so cheap in Colorado. One variable in propane pricing is transportation costs. I also have a place on the eastern shore of maryland. The entire community is served by propane through an underground system administered by the local utility, which in turn draws from a pipeline. No pipeline near my residence on the other side of the Chesapeake Bay so the propane is trucked in.