Thursday, January 11, 2007

Gas Math

The question of the month is whether or not to upgrade to Natural Gas. To help with the calculation, I've discovered that Dorothy's Folder of Receipts contains receipts for filling the gas tank as well. It seems that during the winter months, Dorothy used an average of 2.6 gallons/day of heating oil, at an average cost of $2.89 per gallon.

A simple Google search gives me some handy information:
1 gallon fuel oil = 138,000 BTUs
1 Therm = 100,000 BTUs

Converted to Therms, Dorothy would have used an average of
[ (2.6 gallons/day) * (138,000 BTUs/gallon) * (1 Therm/100,000 BTUs) ]
= 3.59 Therms/Day

Now, I have my Puget Sound Energy gas bills from Ballardia Classic, and I can see that during the winter, we averaged 4.1 Therms/day, at a cost of $1.25/Therm. While Ballardia Classic is not Ballardia II, and has obvious differences such as size, insulation, and furnace efficiency, it does have one thing in common: its residents. I think we can safely conclude that as a fixed income retiree, Dorothy probably Conserved Energy. She probably closed doors and heated minimal areas of the house. She probably used the Trusty Wood Stove to supplement her fuel oil.

We would like to be as Energy Conscious as Dorothy, but well, we're not. So failing any other useful data, probably the bigger Therm number (ours) is more relevant.

Conveniently, PSE bills also break out consumption by month, and I can actually find all of the bills from last year in Ballardia Classic. At a glance, it looks like we have 6 months averaging 1 Therm/day, 4 months of 3.5 Therms/day, and 2 months of 4.5 Therms/day. So that all adds up to around
[(6*30*1+ 3*1)+ 4*30*3.5+2*31*4.5] fudging a bit on the # days per month =
882 Therms/year

To get the cost of Therms for oil, I get to do more math:
$2.89/gallon * 1 gallon/138,000 BTUs * 100,000 BTUS/Therm = $2.09/Therm.

Which, assuming equivalent efficiency, would be $1102 for natural gas, and $2090 for oil. Of course, I know that a new furnace would be 93% efficient, vs. my current relic which, the oil company has told me, is 83%efficient, so I really pay more like $2.30/Therm, or $2300 for oil

The cost of the Gas Project appears to be around $7000-8000; at this rate, it'll take almost 7 years for the project to pay for itself in fuel savings.
Makes me want to just get out the level and a couple of screws and just fix the Original Charming Mercury Thermostat.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Heу there I am so glad I found your blog,
I really fоund уou by acсіdent, ωhile I was lοoking on
Aѕκjeeѵe fοr ѕomethіng else, Regarԁless I am herе now and would
јuѕt like to sаy thаnk you for a tremendοus ρost and
a аll round thrilling blog (I also loνe the themе/design), I
ԁon’t have tіme to look over it all at the mіnutе but I hаve book-marked it and alsо added in
your RSS feeds, so when I have time I wіll be back to read much mоre, Please do keep up the еxcellent b.


Look іnto mу site :: Cherry pickers
my web page: altec bucket truck

Anonymous said...

Hі thеre! This ρoѕt could not be written anу bettеr!
Reading this post reminds me оf my good old гoom mаte!
He alwаys kept talking about thiѕ.
I will fоrward this pοst to him. Fairly сertain he ωill have a goоd гeаԁ.
Τhаnkѕ for shаring!

Take a look at my webpage bucket truck sales
Also see my webpage > used bucket truck

Anonymous said...

Ӏ have been eхplorіng for a little for any high-quality articles οr
blog ρosts in this sort of аrea . Explοring in Yahoo
I at lаst stumblеd uρon this website.
Rеaԁing thіs informatіon So i аm happy to exhibіt that I've a very just right uncanny feeling I came upon exactly what I needed. I such a lot surely will make certain to don?t put out of your mind this web site and give it a glance regularly.

Visit my site ... tens unit
Also see my webpage: Tens Machine

Anonymous said...

It's appropriate time to make some plans for the future and it's time tο
be happy. I've read this post and if I could I wish to suggest you few interesting things or tips. Perhaps you could write next articles referring to this article. I desire to read more things about it!

my website irving tx taxi
My page :: irving tx taxi

Anonymous said...

It's hard to come by well-informed people for this subject, but you sound like you know what you'гe talκing about!
Тhanks

Also visіt mу hоmepagе - www.dallasseospecialists.com

Anonymous said...

An excellent hint for anyone seeking to take out a cash advance, is usually to avoid obtaining a number of loans at the same time. Not only will this help it become more difficult for you to pay out every one of them back again by your up coming salary, but other businesses will be aware of when you have applied for other financial loans. [url=http://www.ss12w12ws.info]Spidfdbs4ny[/url]