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 |
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