Hi David:
I may have made a mistake in my metric to US conversion but I believe
that the 1900 litres we used last year is close to 500 US gallons. As I
mentioned, it was an unusually cold winter here so this might not be a good
indicator. A local fuel oil supplier would be able to give you a better
idea. Just call and tell them that you are considering an oil furnace and
you wonder about the operating costs.
We just had an energy audit done this summer and there are some very
significant areas where we can improve the efficiency of our house, which as
it turns out is not very efficient. This was expected. The house is a
story and a half double-brick construction built in 1952, an era when energy
costs were not a concern. So I believe that with a little work and not too
much money we can significantly lower our fuel usage which will be
beneficial regardless of the fuel.
With respect to the price of fuel oil, right now I'm paying 75 cents per
litre or about $2.85 per US gallon (about $2.45 US) so there is not that
much of a price differential. Many of my neighbours use natural gas and pay
a fair bit more (15-25%) for winter heating.
I'm not sure about the total cost of creating BD because you have to get
the NaOH (which is a relatively small portion of the cost) and the methanol
(much higher percent of the total cost) and there is some energy added to
the process, but BD makes sense from an environmental stand-point,
particularly if you are using WVO that would be discarded anyway.
As for the house temperature, it's a little low by North American
standards but we have friends who have immigrated from Europe and they find
it quite pleasant. Just buy a few extra sweaters and eat more :)
TTYL
Doug Turner
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Marquis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <Biofuel@sustainablelists.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2006 11:30 PM
Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Intro / Question
Hi Doug,
I am pretty sure that it is probably cooler here in
Minnesota. I call it the great tundra wasteland. :-) I
did some searching on the internet for #2 grade
heating oil and it is running in the $2.00-$2.30 a
gallon range. Eeek! Well I believe that I can use/make
BD of less than that. Even if I had to buy WVO from
the local BD co-op (not a bad thing) at a 1.00 a
gallon, I think I would still be under the going rate
for #2 heating oil.
500 gallons? That's a lot. I would have thought that
it would be a lot less... maybe I am not in the know.
>For example, my wife and I have our house thermostat
set
> at a fairly low (at least according to our friends)
17 degrees >C.
WOW! that is 62-63 F. I keep it at 66F or 19C.....
What are your thoughts?
Dave
--- Doug Turner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Hi Dave:
>
> I live in Hamilton, Ontario, which is on the
> western end of Lake Ontario
> and about the same latitude as Rome. Last year,
> which was somewhat colder
> than normal, we used approximately 500US gallons of
> #2 Fuel Oil to heat our
> house at a cost of $1,400 CND.
> You should probably talk to a fuel oil
> distributor to get an idea of
> what the average usage in Minnesota will be. I
> suspect that average usage
> in your area will be somewhat higher then it is
> here. You live further
> north than I do and I suspect that you also have a
> more continental climate.
> But as I'm sure you are aware, there are a lot of
> things that can impact
> your fuel usage. For example, my wife and I have
> our house thermostat set
> at a fairly low (at least according to our friends)
> 17 degrees C.
>
> Hope this helps,
>
> Doug Turner
>
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