Heat Your Home For Less Than 0 This Year
The recent sharp decline in the price of natural gas has really shaken up the pecking order of home heating fuel prices. For the first time since I started tracking fuel prices in 2005, the cost to heat with natural gas is actually less than the cost of heating with corn.
Based on the cost to produce 1mil Btu, and before factoring in heating system efficiency, it now costs .83 for natural gas versus .26 for corn.
This means the average household heated by natural gas should spend less than 0 this heating season.
According to a report in the New York Times, “The sharp price decline of natural gas…has been caused by a drop in demand from factories and homes because of the recession, coupled with a big expansion of domestic production over the last few years.”
I can’t predict how long this windfall to gas consuming households will last, but the resurrection of natural gas prices won’t occur anytime soon unless gas producers shut down wells, the economy rebounds, or we’re subjected to an abnormally cold winter.
In the meantime, any natural gas heating system will be 70% less expensive to operate this year than last.
Besides the well know conventional gas furnace, two other heating appliances also stand to benefit from the recent retreat of natural gas prices.
The first of these is the wall mounted gas heater. Although this type of heater is not allowed as a primary heating system, a 30,000 Btu unit will heat almost 900 square feet and costs around 0. The unvented models are inexpensive to install and also work well as garage and workshop heaters.
The other heating appliance that stands to benefit from reduced natural gas prices are the new, super efficient condensing boilers. These boilers are used for hydronic (water based) applications such as radiant baseboard or radiant infloor heating.
In addition to being 93% efficient, a condensing boiler is actually cheaper to operate than a geothermal heat pump.
Home Improvement with Alternative Energy Heating Unique alternative energy information for wood and pellet stoves, outdoor furnaces, radiant heating systems, wind, solar and geothermal power.
Related Home Gas Heaters Articles
