Fuel Comparisons

Environmental and Economic Fuel Comparison

An average house in the Northeast uses less than 700 gallons of fuel oil for heat and hot water for one year. The chart below shows the cost of other fuels providing the same.

The same home with either a System 2000®, 90+ Resolute™, Resolute RT™, Ascent™ Combi, Ascent™ Combi Plus or Accel CS™ uses considerably less.

One Year Fuel Cost

Air Pollutants (Smoke & Soot)


Compare Natural Gas

– sold in therms (100,000 BTU/therm)1

  • Multiply the oil heat price per gallon by 0.72 to give the equivalent price per therm of natural gas
  • Multiply the propane price per gallon by 1.087 to give the equivalent price per therm of natural gas
  • Multiply the electricity price per kWh by 29.3 to give the equivalent price per therm of natural gas
1 Figure out your price per therm by dividing your total fuel bill by the total therms of natural gas consumed. This is your price per therm.

Compare Propane Gas

– sold in gallons (92,000 BTU/gallon)

  • Multiply the oil heat price per gallon by 0.663 to give the equivalent price per gallon of propane
  • Multiply the natural gas delivered price per therm by 0.92 to give the equivalent price per gallon of propane
  • Multiply the electricity price per kWh by 27.0 to give the equivalent price per gallon of propane

Compare Heating Oil

– sold in gallons (138,700 BTU/gallon)

  • Multiply the propane price per gallon by 1.507 to give the equivalent price per gallon of heating oil
  • Multiply the natural gas delivered price per therm by 1.387 to give the equivalent price per gallon of heating oil
  • Multiply the electricity price per kWh by 40.6 to give the equivalent price per gallon of heating oil

Compare Electricity

– sold in kilowatt hours (3,413 BTU/kilowatt hour)2

  • Multiply the propane price per gallon by 0.037 to give the equivalent price per kilowatt hour of electricity
  • Multiply the natural gas delivered price per therm by 0.034 to give the equivalent price per kilowatt hour of electricity
  • Multiply the heating oil price per gallon by 0.024 to give the equivalent price per kilowatt hour of electricity
2 Figure out your price per kWh by dividing your total fuel bill by the total kWh of electricity consumed. This is your price per kWh.

Compare Wood Pellets

– sold in tons or pounds (approximately 8,000 BTU/lb for dry pellets)

  • Multiply the oil heat price per gallon by 115 to give the equivalent price per ton of pellets
  • Multiply the natural gas delivered price per therm by 160 to give the equivalent price per ton of pellets
  • Multiply the propane price per gallon by 174 to give the equivalent price per ton of pellets
  • Multiply the electricity price per kWh by 4688 to give the equivalent price per ton of pellets

 

Sources:

Fuel Prices: Energy Information Agency (EIA), Dept. of Energy residential price averages for the North-East in March, 2020 except as noted below (PADD district 1A includes states CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT). Reporting from the Energy Information Agency does not include non-heating months for fuel oil or propane and some weekly heating season data was not available; averages represent available EIA data and market based survey for fuel oil and propane.
Pollutants: Pollutant level measured in particulates (pounds per million BTU of heat delivered). Data from Dept. of Energy, Energy Information Agency, and Pace University “Environmental Cost of Electricity”, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Emissions Characteristics of Residential Gas, Oil and Wood Pellet Fueled Heating Systems Brookhaven National Laboratories (2008). Heat pump and electric heat based on generating plant emissions.
1 Geothermal heat pumps, in this case are ground source heat pumps (GSHP) that use moderate earth temperatures in the winter to boost efficiency in the heating cycle. These calculations reflect a published coefficient of performance (COP) of 4.0 adjusted down to 2.9 to compensate for pump energy for the geoexchange loop which is not included in the COP calculation method. Some utilities offer lower electric rates for GSHP applications. Field installation conditions can contribute to further wide variations in actual COP vs. published values. Due to low electricity generation and distribution efficiency, GSHPs deliver net fuel use efficiency that is comparable to high efficiency furnaces. Note: “After accounting for differences in source energy, [GSHP efficiency] is comparable to the rated performance of a high-efficiency (90+% annual fuel utilization efficiency) furnace.” US Dept. of Energy EERE Report “Residential Ground Source Heat Pumps with Integrated Domestic Hot Water Generation: Performance Results from Long-Term Monitoring” November 2012.
2 When electric resistance is used to supplement the heat pumps output in cold weather, heating costs will increase toward “Electric Heat” figures above. High efficiency Heat Pump heating seasonal performance factor of 8.2 in Hartford Connecticut indicates efficiency of 1.73 from the Energy Information Agency spreadsheet.
3 MiniSplit performance referenced from on Dept. of Energy EERE report “Laboratory Test Report for…Mini-Split Heat Pumps” November, 2011. Calculations based on coefficient of performance of 2.0 for weather consistent with winter months in New England.  Anecdotal energy bill reductions based on limited space heating and maintaining lower temperatures throughout the balance of the conditioned space, reducing heat loss.
4 “Low Sulfur Heating Oil Demonstration Project Summary Report”, Energy Resources Division, Department of Energy Sciences and Technology, Brookhaven National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC02-98CH10886. 2018 requirement for 0.0015% sulfur in fuel oil in most oilheat states is 1/27th the amount demonstrated in 0.0400% sulfur fuel oil and is comparable to the sulfur content found in residential natural gas.  https://www.bnl.gov/isd/documents/30441.pdf
Data used in table: Fuel Oil ($4.40/gallon with 138,700 BTU/gallon and .0027 lbs./MMBTU particulates) December 2022; Natural Gas ($2.89/therm with 100,000 BTU/therm and .0030 lbs./MMBTU particulates)  September 2022; Propane ($2.80/gallon with 92,000 BTU/gallon and .0040 lbs./MMBTU particulates) September 2022; Wood Pellets ($335/ton with 7450 BTU/lb and .0582 lbs./MMBTU particulates low ash premium dry hardwood) September 2022 New Hampshire Office of Strategic Initiatives; Heat Pump ($0.270/Kilowatt hour with 3,413 BTU/kWh and .0168 lbs./MMBTU particulates) and Electric Heat ($0.270/kWh with 3,413 BTU/kWh and .0290 lbs./MMBTU particulates) September 2022.
Notes: Wood Pellet data is limited and not centrally reported.