Heating Oil: We’re No. 2!

home heating oilHeating oil used in homes and businesses is the second most used petroleum product after gasoline. Reducing its use would mean that the price for it would go down and there would be more petroleum available to be made into gasoline.

Gasoline’s infrastructure and transportation is standard across the board. There are certain size nozzles for pumping gas. And there are even specifications for gas tanks in cars and for gas cans to bring home for your John Deere. But heating oil has a completely different delivery infrastructure. Unlike natural gas or electricity that is pumped or wired into your home, a truck comes by and fills up a tank. And also unlike electricity and natural gas, heating oil is not a utility. You call around for the best price. If you time it right when you buy, you could get a high or low price for a season’s worth of heating. Though there are also services to help you hedge your bet there.

To add to the complexity, there are Underground Storage Tanks, Aboveground Storage Tanks, and tanks in the basement. My grandmother’s home had a coal-fired furnace and they had a chute that was used for coal delivery. I remember playing in the hard coal as a kid. My mom has memories of picking up coal that fell from trains to help heat the house when money got tight. Unfortunately, heating fuel, when it falls off the truck, is not easy to pick up. It can pollute the soil and groundwater

Furthermore, all the talk of low sulfur diesel has a dark side, high sulfur diesel is what heating oil actually is. As I research this, I have a question I do not even know who to ask: Where does all the sulfur go that is not in the low sulfur diesel? Is it just being moved to heating fuel? Has the sulfur content for heating fuel raised as the standards for low sulfur diesel have been made more stringent? Has the sulfur just moved and there is really no difference in the amount of sulfur being released into the environment?

And what about heating efficiency? I have been in the basements of a lot of homes with old furnaces. Aren’t most of the furnaces used with heating oil much older and thus less efficient than a heat pump or a gas furnace? And a less efficient burn means that there are more particulates and more compounds in the exhaust. I say it is time we move away from heating oil all together. Just like with alternative energy products for the home, I think improving a home away from heating oil should make one eligible for tax credits.

Even modernizing your oil heater should be worth something. After all, just as one badly maintained car can pollute more than a hundred new cars, one badly maintained oil heater can pollute more than many heat pumps.

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About the author

free electron

Simply, I want the world to be a better place, for my kids and for all the other children in the world. I am in IT, understand technology, believe in the scientific method, and have made a lot of mistakes.

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2 Comments

  • Using the power of their numbers, consumers save an average of $275 – $500 a year on their home heating oil costs by purchasing fuel as members of a group. Home heating oil prices are subject to supply, demand, geography, politics, weather conditions and other factors. During cold weather, oil prices rise; but through negotiations with oil heat suppliers, you can get the best prices for oil group members year-round.

  • very interesting piece of information can u pls send us the specification of number -2 home heating oil,if possible because I have a very good enquiry