Smart Energy Choices for the Winter Months

 Smart Energy Choices for the Winter Months

Al Ritter

At the risk of sounding like Chicken Little and claim the sky is falling, one has to prepare for the winter months ahead. The media is calling for a massive increase of energy prices and one has to be prepared rather than scared.

Let’s look at all the energy prices to see what we have to deal with.

They are saying massive increases in natural gas, fuel oil, and electricity.

Shall we investigate each on their respective levels?  Natural gas: please understand that natural gas coming into your house is priced on a monthly basis, you have no way to renegotiate its cost on a monthly basis.

However, although propane is not as efficient as natural gas based on its BTU output, the amount of money you’ll be able to store in your bottle may offset the inefficiency between the two gas prices.

I also have a fuel oil fired hot water heating system. I have already topped it off, and that will be one of my reserve systems. The 275 gallon tank will last me all season. If you use this type of heat as your primary source and have to refill multiple times a winter, it may be in your best interest to install additional tanks. The savings by doing this could be substantial, because the fuel oil is always cheapest in the fall, not during the season.

Now let’s view electric power, although you may have locked down a price per kWH for the year, it’s still high. Hedging your cost for electric may be based on solar power production, if you can afford it. Now I’m not talking about one of those leased systems, but rather one you purchase outright. Please don’t even consider a leased system because the leasing companies steals not only your government rebates but also your SREC sales. Just don’t DO it! My solar system is called an on grid system and the way it works is simple. If my panels produce more electric than what I am using, the meter runs backwards. By running backwards it creates a “bank account” if you will that you can use during the winter months when your solar production isn’t as much. At the end of the year the electric company settles up with you if you still have electricity in your so called bank account. I have solar on my house and my electric bill is $9 a month year round. The $9 is a transmission fee.

Now the next idea is for heat pumps, depending on your electric source is solar this could be the most cost effective way to heat your home as it is with mine. In the last year I installed two Mr. Cool units in my house, a 12K unit on the base floor and a 12K unit upstairs. I have been amazed at what these units can do vs the energy consumption. My house is just 1700 sq. ft. though.

I installed the first unit last fall and the second unit in the spring. They say that these units are not very efficient as heat units, but I was totally blown away how little energy it used in the fall/winter era, even on days where the temperature was in the single digits.

Because the SEER rating for the A/C mode was far more efficient I installed a second unit in the spring, so now this is the system I will fall back onto in the late fall/early spring.

Let’s look at wood/coal stoves. Depending on how you get firewood and if you have to pay someone for it, this could be very cheap for you to use. Don’t forget to factor in the gasoline to power your chainsaw,  wood splitter, and chimney though. Last year I had just about given up on coal because of the cost, so this year I will have to figure out if an increase would make it worthwhile, I've heard price already at close to $700 a ton. Pellet stoves although useful are plagued with additional problems. If your electric goes out, you would have to find another electric source or the stove wouldn’t function. Storage and cost of the pellets is yet another drawback. The wood/coal stoves don’t have the problem with electricity.

What do you do when the electric goes out? That is a very real concern in the freezing months. This summer my electric went out 3 times for a total of 58 hours. My on grid system doesn’t produce when the electric goes out. It was a real headache for sure and I made a decision to finally purchase an Inverter Generator. I am in the process of wiring a manual cutoff switch panel to power up the essentials during a future outage.

I also have an off-grid solar system that I use when burning my coal/wood stove to circulate hot water to heat my basement.

It pays to have redundant systems in the winter to heat your house. The unprepared will suffer this winter, me….not so much.

Very informative video from last year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLtCRS75YNU&feature=youtu.be

Another comparison on fuel costs:

https://coalpail.com/fuel-comparison-calculator-home-heating