Wood Pellet Boilers... for a New Era of Heating.
Compare Heating Costs
The best way to evaluate the economic impact of the heating alternatives available to you is with a side-by-side comparison. That's what you'll find in these two charts. The first chart shows how much you can save by switching to wood pellets. Multiply your current heating bills by the percentage to find your approximate savings. In the second chart, fuel costs for a typical American home in the "heating belt". The annual energy demand for heat and hot water for the home in this example is 110 million BTUs, net of system inefficiencies.You can see that there's a big economic incentive to heat with pellets.
| EcoBoiler Pellet Boiler | #2 Heating Oil | Propane | Geothermal Heat Pump | Electric Heat | |
| Annual Energy Delivered (Btu) (1) | 110,000,000 | 110,000,000 | 110,000,000 | 110,000,000 | 110,000,000 |
| Price for Fuel (2) | $220/ton | $3.86/gallon | $3.37/gallon | $0.176/kWh | $0.176/kWh |
| Annualized efficiency (3) | 82% | 82% | 90% | 222% | 100% |
| Annual Fuel use (4) | 8.2 tons | 972 gallons | 1,333 gallons | 14,522 kWh | 32,239 kWh |
| Annual cost for fuel (5) | $1,800 | $3,752 | $4,492 | $2,556 | $5,674 |
| Fuel price/MMBtu Net (6) | $16.36 |
$34.11 | $40.84 | $23.24 | $51.58 |
| EcoBoiler Savings | - |
52% | 60% | 30% | 68% |
The comparisons are made on a cost per unit of usable energy, in this case million BTUs (MMBtu). Your heating requirements may be more or less than in the example above. If your energy requirements are even higher than in the example, the cost of fuel becomes even more important. If your energy demand is lower, then the capital costs play a more significant role.
For an evaluation of your situation, including equipment costs, plus installation and payback estimates, please contact EcoHeat Solutions.
- Because boilers are less than 100% efficient, more energy is needed in the form of purchased fuel. Therefore, the energy content of the fuel consumed is higher than is actually delivered to the space in the form of heat. The figures in the table take these efficiencies into account so you get a true apples to apples comparison of heating systems. Because geothermal heat pumps are more than 100% efficient, less energy is purchased than is delivered by the heat pump, with the remaining energy coming from the ground. Typical annual efficiencies for new systems are accounted for in the table.
- These values are East Coast averages for December 19, 2011. Fossil fuel pricing obtained from the Energy Information Administration. These values are updated periodically.
Pellets: Lowest of two online wood pellet vendors located in Massachusetts.
#2 Heating Oil: http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pri_wfr_a_EPD2F_PRS_cpgal_w.htm
Propane: http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/ng/hist/n3010ma3m.htm
Electricity: http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/table5_6_b.html - Seasonal efficiencies are typical values for new systems. Efficiencies published by manufacturers in their marketing materials are often higher, and they represent efficiencies under ideal, steady operating conditions, not the cycling on and off that typically occurs many times every day during the course of a heating season. Cycling on and off lowers the efficiency of the heating system.
- These values across this row are all equivalent energy values, and factor in differences in the system efficiencies noted on the previous line. The energy content of the various fuels before accounting for efficiencies are:
Pellets: 16.4 million BTU/ton
#2 Heating Oil: 138,000 BTU/gallon
Propane: 91,690 BTU/gallon
Electricity: 3,412 BTU/kWh - These values are a product of the fuel price multiplied by the fuel use.
- This is an apples to apples comparison of the annual cost of energy divided by the annual energy consumption, factoring in system inefficiencies, and converting into MMBtu (cost per million BTUs).
