Although I was born and raised in Fort Kent, Maine, and experienced countless numbers of frigid winters and limited daylight hours, I was never concerned about how our home was kept warm and the financial and environmental cost associated with doing so. I was a child after all, not concerned with real-world problems and how they directly impacted me, my family and the environment. As I returned to Fort Kent to raise my family, I came face to face with the stark realization I was so oblivious to as a child; energy costs and their potential environmental impacts.
In 2007, my wife and one year-old boy moved into a large cape built in the 1940s; our first ever home. I had yet been responsible for paying for heat but soon found out the financial burden that comes with heating an old home in Fort Kent, Maine, climate. We had no choice but to conform to the norm of heating a home with oil. Our oil furnace was new in 2006 so we had that going for us but regardless of the heating source an older home will most certainly will have poor insulation and air infiltration leading to a greater heating load. This was our situation. We wanted a change towards greater efficiency and in a way that was environmentally responsible.
Grade #2 home heating oil is the most common heating source in Maine homes, heating a staggering 80% of Maine homes. UMaine Cooperative Extension Publications-2012 It's a fairly efficient, readily available and convenient heating source that is still abundant in Maine, throughout the United States and other developed countries. A huge infrastructure exists throughout our nation to provide customers with easy access to fuel oil and provide services to maintain simple and safe residential/commercial oil systems. Getting set up with oil is relatively inexpensive, with an oil furnace running nearly half of what a wood pellet boiler goes for, making it attractive for new home construction. Furnace efficiency standards are improving, as a decade ago, Mainers consumed 1,000 gallons per year and now are consuming approximately 850 gallons (worth noting that Maine mean low temperatures have been steadily on the rise in the past 10 years). Portland Press Herald-2011 One big problem with oil is its volatility in the energy market which makes it very unreliable in terms of price consistency, not to mention its general trend of its value to increase over time. Is is susceptible to supply and demand (as is any consumer product), natural disasters in even far reaches of the world (which are increasing in frequency, size and economic impact) wars and even forecasts and predictions on the trading floor. For example, historical data shows a dramatic rise in price since 1993 to the present (November 2012) when a gallon of #2 heating oil in Maine cost on average $0.85 per gallon and $3.84, respectively; a rise of ~450% in the last nine years (northern Maine prices are typically $0.15 more per gallon than the state average). U.S. Energy Independence Administration Despite this, Maine continues to be addicted to this form of energy with new homes surprisingly being outfitted with oil furnaces for their central heating means. Home owners are essentially locking into escalating/unpredictable energy costs for the life of their home not to mention using a non-renewable energy source.
Another common energy source used in Maine residences is firewood. Wood is now offered in a more convenient form including the increasing popularity of wood pellets with their high efficiency boilers and stoves. They produce greater BTUs per volume than their firewood counterpart and burn considerably cleaner, not to mention ease of delivery, storage, handling and cleaning. Home owners insurance premiums are higher in homes with wood-burning appliances as fires are a concern from creosote buildup in the chimney. It is typical to smell burning wood throughout our town and see a shroud of smoke blanketing the valleys during cold winter mornings.
Within the past several years coal has become another popular heating energy source as it is widely available, relatively inexpensive and provides superior BTUs per volume as compared to wood, pellets, heating oil, propane and natural gas. Carbon emissions are considerably higher than oil and wood, therefore it's not an acceptable green energy option.
Some sun/electric talk on the next post.
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