Facts and Figures

Fuel Cost Comparison

The easiest way to compare the cost of each fuel is to calculate the cost for one million BTU's. Then you must make an adjustment for the efficiency of the product you use to burn that fuel. Vent free gas appliances are 100% efficient along with electricity. Most new gas appliances are in the 75-80 % range. Newer solid fuel appliances can be as high as 80% but older non airtight ones can be as low as 10%.

Conventional fuels:

Oil has 144,000 BTU's per gallon. Therefore , multiply the cost of one gallon by 6.94 to get the cost for one million BTU's.
Here are some examples:
$.60 per gal oil costs $4.17 per 1,000,000 BTU's
$.70 per gal oil costs $4.85 per 1,000,000 BTU's
$.80 per gal oil costs $5.55 per 1,000,000 BTU's
$.90 per gal oil costs $6.24 per 1,000,000 BTU's
1.00 per gal oil costs $6.94 per 1,000,000 BTU's

Natural gas has 100,000 BTU's per therm.
Multiply your cost per therm by 10 to get the cost per million BTU's.
$.80 per therm would cost $8.00 per 1,000,000 BTU's
$.90 per therm would cost $9.00 per 1,000,000 BTU's
1.00 per therm would cost $10.00 per 1,000,000 BTU's

Propane gas has 91,000 BTU's per gallon.
Multiply your cost per gallon by 10.98 to get the cost per million BTU's
1.00 per gal would cost $10.98 per 1,000,000 BTU's
1.20 per gal would cost $13.17 per 1,000,000 BTU's
1.30 per gal would cost $14.27 per 1,000,000 BTU's

Electricity is measured and billed in kilowatt hours.
One BTU is equal to 0.293 watt hours. Multiplying that number by 1,000,000 gives us 293 kilowatt hours for 1,000,000 BTU's
Multiply cost per kwhr by 293 to get your cost per million BTU's
$.10 per kwhr would cost $29.30 per 1,000,000 BTU's

Wood Pellet fuel has approx 8000 BTU's per lb and is sold by the ton.
One ton (2000 pounds) contains approx 16,000,000 BTU's
Divide the price per ton by 16 to get the price for 1,000,000 BTU's
175 dollars per ton would cost $10.93 per 1,000,000 BTU's
200 dollars per ton would cost $12.50 per 1,000,000 BTU's
225 dollars per ton would cost $14.06 per 1,000,000 BTU's

Wood is sold by the cord. This is measurable but not as accurate as other fuels. The type of wood also affects the amount of BTU's in a cord.
Here are some examples:
Eastern Pine has about 15,000,000 BTU's per cord
Red Oak has about 28,000,000 BTU's per cord
We will use 23,000,000 BTU's per cord for an average. Therefore,
Divide the price per cord by 23 to get the price per million BTU's
$100 per cord would cost $4.34 per 1,000,000 BTU's

Coal has about 12,000 BTU's per pound. It is usually sold by the ton. One ton has approx 24,000,000 BTU's in it.
Divide the cost per ton by 24 to get the cost per million BTU's.
$200 per ton would cost $4.00 per million BTU's

ENERGY COST CALCULATOR
Example costs for illustration purposes
FUEL	ENERGY CONTENT		UNIT PRICE		HEAT CONVERSION EFFICIENCY	COST PER MILLION BTU
Oat Fine Pellets	7,500	BTU/lb	$55.00	/ton	85	$4.31
#2 Fuel Oil	138,000	BTU/gal	$1.50	/gal	80	$13.59
Propane	92,000	BTU/gal	$1.30	/gal	85	$16.62
Natural Gas	100,000	BTU/therm	$0.99	/therm*	85	$11.65
Electricity - Resistance	3,412	BTU/kWh	$0.09	/kWh**	100	$26.38
Electricity - Heat Pump	3,412	BTU/kWh	$0.09	/kWh**	200	$13.19
Shelled Corn	6,800	BTU/lb	$2.50	/bushel	60	$10.94
Firewood-Hardwood	25,000,000	BTU/cord	$135.00	/cord	60	$9.00
Wood Pellets	8,200	BTU/lb	$145.00	/ton	85	$10.40
Shelled Corn	6,800	BTU/lb	$2.50	/bushel	85	$7.72