If you are like me then you have already worked on calculating the difference between the costs of different sources of heat. Often times what you think would be the cheapest form of heat is more expensive than another option. Providing heat can be a major drain on finances during winter, and life can get rough without a warm home.
At the bottom of this post I will have an Excel speadsheet that you can use to calculate the various methods of heat, and there cost per million BTU. This will make comparing options much easier. To adjust the pricing just click on the box and add your local price for that source of energy. I would gladly give credit to whoever made this awesome tool, but I don’t know who that is.
I have used wood heat for the majority of my adult life, but when I moved to the sawmill I didn’t have that option for awhile. My house was much too small to make room for a wood stove. I was going to work around that by building a greenhouse that would house a wood furnace, that was going to be built this year until we bought the farm.
Since wood heat was temporarily unavailable we did a rough test between kerosene, propane and electricity. In that test electricity was the least expensive, and later this energy comparison spreadsheat confirmed that finding.
Luckily I had not installed that wood furnace at the sawmill and we will be using it to heat our new home. Since it will take awhile to get it installed we will be using an old cast iron wood stove in the meantime. The good thing about old houses is they were built to be heated by wood.
Wood heat is the least expensive way to heat your home in my area, even if you purchase the firewood. I always have some tree that has fallen, or needs to be removed. There is also plenty of free firewood in most areas if you keep a lookout for it.
For some areas coal might be the least expensive source for heat. I have only seen coal for sale one time in my area, and cannot find anywhere to buy it currently. Coal has some advantages, like automated furnaces and ease of handling if you have the equipment.