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Consumers again aim to beat the heating game |
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Written by Administrator
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Wednesday, 22 November 2006 |
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By Jessica Soule / The Citizen
Sunday, November 19, 2006 12:22 AM EST
With memories of last year's fuel price hikes still fresh in their minds, people aren't waiting around to see if this year's winter heating bills will continue their upward climb.
Chad Peek, sales manager for E&V Energy Co., recommends people explore replacing older furnaces for more efficient appliances.
“Anything not 90 percent efficient, I would take a hard look at replacing,” Peek said. With energy prices rising, the payback time is sooner than before because the price of furnaces has not increased in proportion to oil.
He estimates the payback at 200 to 300 times sooner. The same furnace that costs $3,200 now, had a price tag of $2,800 five years ago. During that time, fuel costs have tripled.
The federal Energy Information Administration says the heating costs for both natural gas and fuel oil users averaged about $1,000 for last year, which was a 35 percent jump for natural gas from the winter of 2004-2005.
Fuel oil heated homes paid an increase of 23 percent more last year.
As long as new furnaces undergo
regular maintenance, they will remain efficient. As technology progresses, however, furnaces may not have to burn as hot, can recover air going out of chimneys and have two speeds to save electricity.
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Geothermal heating easy on environment, wallet |
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Written by Administrator
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Wednesday, 22 November 2006 |
By Angela Mettler
American News Writer
Imagine paying less than 10 cents per square foot to heat and cool your home.
Those are the savings that U.S. Department of Agriculture officials found when a geothermal heat pump system was installed when the building was built two years ago. Heating and cooling the 8,640-square-foot building cost $799.84 in a year - or about $66.65 per month.
A geothermal heat pump system brings heat from the earth into a building in the winter, and puts heat from a building back into the earth in the summer.
Bill Hinds, co-owner of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's building in Aberdeen, said he's glad a geothermal system was installed when the building was built two years ago.
"We've never been happier that we've tried it," he said.
Hinds said the decision to install the system was prompted by rising energy prices. He hesitated at first because of the system's initial cost, but he expects a payback in six to seven years due to the money saved. Write Comment (0 Comments) |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 22 November 2006 )
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Behind the Bottom Line: Power crunch fix no further than nation's backyards |
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Written by Administrator
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Saturday, 02 September 2006 |
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It was a turning point for me. No doubt about it."
Peter Baker is talking about the first waterless geothermal system he installed two years ago. At that point, he had been in the heating business for some 26 years, 10 of them as the owner of a heating/refrigeration business. Later, he headed a Lennox-owned company, and, after five years with Dearie Contracting, he was at a crossroads in his career.
"I had some concerns about Lennox as a corporation in terms of businesses in Canada being guided from the U.S.," he says, "and I was thinking that it was time for me to move out and run my own business again."
He worked regularly with local custom builders and was asked to install a geothermal system in one client's home. That introduction to waterless geothermal systems put him on the road to creating a company in 2004 that specialized in installing such systems. Write Comment (1 Comments) |
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