what is the price per ton of pellets vs natural gas?

[magsf11]

I have seen many people compare the price of heating oil to pellets, but I have not seen the price difference with natural gas. Here in this part of NY most homes are heated by gas and I would like to know how to figure out if i am saving any $ by using pellets. at the end of today gas was selling @ 3.87 per 10,000btu and a ton of pellets are going for 280/ton. any help with this would be great.

 

[bwoy]

http://energy.cas.psu.edu

you can compare fuels there

 

[imacman]

Mags, did you mean $3.87 per 100,000 btu's (1 Therm)? If so, then the pellets are less than half the cost.

www.pelletheat.org/3/residential/compareFuel.cfm

 

[Wet1]

$3.87 per therm/ccf seems VERY high for NG, are you sure that's correct?

 

[dac122]

Best way to figure your local per therm cost is take your most recent bill and divide the total cost by number of therms used. That will give you your true cost, including taxes.

 

[exoilburner]

This one is a little involved but provides for appliance efficiencies as well as the BTU/$ for each type of fuel. It's based on an MS Excel spreadsheet so if you invest a little time with it its flexible for various situations. It is from the US Energy Information Agency.

www.eia.doe.gov/neic/experts/heatcalc.xls

 

[Kenny1]

This one is a little involved but provides for appliance efficiencies as well as the BTU/$ for each type of fuel. It's based on an MS Excel spreadsheet so if you invest a little time with it its flexible for various situations. It is from the US Energy Information Agency.

www.eia.doe.gov/neic/experts/heatcalc.xls

Interesting - notice that Hearth.com is listed as the source for wood, pellets, corn, and coal pricing?

Cheers

Kenny

 

[packerfan]

That does seem high for natural gas. My cost last month was 1.22/therm.

 

[magsf11]

i was just going by the price on the stock exchange. when that price is high the gas bill goes up. i will stick to heating the house with pellets and injoy my $25 gas bill in the winter. thanks foe the info you all gave me.

 

[Wet1]

i was just going by the price on the stock exchange. when that price is high the gas bill goes up. i will stick to heating the house with pellets and injoy my $25 gas bill in the winter. thanks foe the info you all gave me.

I dont think I'd just assume pellets are cheaper to burn than NG. In fact, there's a very good chance your gas is actually cheaper and you'd be saving money burning NG. Check your price per therm/ccf, if it's less than about $1.80/therm (likely), then it's probably cheaper to burn the NG.