"The woodstove and fireplace inserts, which found increased interest for a short time in the late '70s early '80s, will have another spurt of popularity"
Wow, I remember that. Yes!
I think we eventually found out that fireplaces are more polluting than (I forget what); and of course the more wood seems like a good idea, the more expensive it will get. Butsee below.
- Charles
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ebuild.com
How much can you save? It depends on which fuel you choose, and how you burn it.
By far, the least expensive alternative is coal. A pound can produce about 13,000 British thermal energy units, or BTUs. At $175 a ton, delivered, the energy cost is about $6.74 per million BTUs.
By contrast, a gallon of heating oil contains 139,000 BTUs. At $2 a gallon, the cost is more than double that of coal: $14.39 per million BTUs.
A homeowner who uses 1,000 gallons of oil would pay $2,000 for the year; the equivalent amount of coal would cost about $937.
Coal has also become more attractive because of advances in coal stoves. Some of the latest "stoker" stoves don't require continual monitoring, Hyesko said. They have automatic feeders that keep loading coal into the stove as the fuel burns off. And the stoves don't require someone to shake down the ashes to keep the fire going, he said. You only have to remove ashes every second or third day. |
