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Heating Oil & Natural Gas Going Up For Winter
October 12, 2011

Just what your paycheck needed.  Higher energy costs as the cold arrives.  The prediction for this winter is

Delivering Fuel Oil In Dead of Winter

that heating oil costs could rise as much as 8%, and natural gas, 2%.  Other than stock up on wood, what can you do to try to control usage and expenses? We found a TV station in Oklahoma, KJRH,  that has some terrific ideas to help everyday homeowners reduce their heating bills.  Check it out!

http://www.kjrh.com/dpp/news/problem_solvers/take-steps-now-to-save-money-this-winter

Also try this at E-How.  This post teaches you how to estimate what your usage will be this year, and budget for the rising costs of energy:

On average, homes in the Midwest use between 60 and 80 million British Thermal Units (BTU) each winter. Each form of heating, whether electric, fuel oil, natural gas or propane, produces a set amount of BTUs per standard measuring unit. Determining your home’s heating oil usage allows you to develop an estimate of

Stay Warm This Winter!

total heating cost per winter. Such estimates allow you to compare other heating options and may even be useful in establishing a ballpark budget for your heating costs.

 

Instructions:
1

    • Approximate your heating needs in BTU per winter. Using your home’s square footage, insulation and climate, you can arrive at a ballpark figure for heating needs. There are many calculators on-line that can help you determine the BTU range required to heat your space.

    • 2

      Determine total BTU requirement. No furnace operates at 100 percent efficiency. Each gallon of fuel oil has 140,000 BTUs, but a furnace that operates at 50 percent efficiency requires 280,000 BTUs worth of fuel oil to produce 140,000 BTUs of usable heat. With that furnace, a room that requires 140,000 BTUs to heat needs two gallons to keep comfortable. To determine total need, divide total BTUs required by percent efficiency (expressed as a decimal, such as 50 percent equals .50). Percent efficiency can be located on the heating system.

    • 3

      Divide your total BTU requirement, adjusted for your heating system’s efficiency, by 140,000. The result provides you with the total number of gallons needed to heat your home based on the approximate heating need. For a better idea of average usage, repeat the same equation for high and low BTU-need estimates. Weather can vary greatly year to year and drastically impact your total heating usage.

Read more: How to Estimate Home Heating Oil Usage | eHow.comhttp://www.ehow.com/how_7786733_estimate-home-heating-oil-usage.html#ixzz1aaDp1ztq

       


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Filed under: Economy, Education, Featured, Inside The KC, Sonja Eddings Brown by Sonja Eddings Brown, Oct 12, 2011

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