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We have another reader wishing to share experiences/knowledge with the community. Please join us in welcoming Tony Groothuizen to the life of a column submitter with the Uniacke Newsletter. Tony's article and future articles are well explained in this, the first of several articles. Enjoy this new "slant" on our world around us and hopefully learn from someone else's experiences and suggestions.
Enjoy!
Coping with Rising Costs and Lower Incomes
The past three decades have been years of plenty for most Canadians. copared to the rest of the world, our costs for housing, food, and transportation were relatively low. Many of us have little idea of how to handle the lean times which appear to loom in our future. I'm writing this series of articles to help cope with the rising costs of virtually everything, and the shrinking value of our incomes, especially those of us with fixed or low incomes.
You may want my credentials. I have no University degree. My knowledge comes from the school of hard knocks. What experience do I have in reducing costs, and getting the best values for the dollar? My experience started in my childhood. I was first-born in a fairly well-to-do family in the Netherlands. My parents, and maternal extended family, wanting more for thier children, immigrated to this country in 1959. My father's occupation was incorrectly translated, and instantly we went from the haves, to the have nots. Life became a matter of do it yourself - or do without!
I started working part time at the age of fourteen, and worked on a unionized assembly line, then joined the military, serving our country for over twenty years, after which I worked as the head systems geek for a startup company in Ottawa. Life for me, has been boom or bust. I've had money to burn, and have had to pinch pennies to make ends meet. Along the way, I've learned to do much with very little, and to become self-reliant. I'll draw on this experience, and research I've done along the way, to give you some ideas for coping with the not-too-distant future. I'll present options; not recommendations.
Let's get started with energy usage at home. No, I'm not going to get on an environmental high-horse. Some environmental choices make sense - others just take money from your pockets. Choosing those that made sense has earned me the title of "The Economic Environmentalist". Gtting back to home energy, there are two major requirements for energy in our homes. These are heat, and electrical energy.
Home Heating:
Current Energy Costs:
The greatest increase in home energy pricing has, not surprisingly, occurred in home heating oil. From a price of 77.8 cents per liter in September 2007, it has jumped over 60% to $1.259 as of June 22, 2008. One of the fuel companies will cap the price for the next heating season at $1.699. This poses a huge problem for many in our area. For this reason, and the fact that I've heated with oi for the past 20 years, I'll compare other heating options to oil, and give conversion costs to other heat sources for my home. Wilson's states that 2500 liters of oil is required to heat the average home for a year. To level the playing field, I'll convert all energy to the equivalent amount of heat, including typical furnace efficiencies. A liter of furnace oil contains 30,200 btus of heat energy. As the typical oil-fired furnace is between 80 and 85% efficient, thetotal heat energy delivered to the home is (30200*.825*2500) or about 62.25 million btus.
Home Heating Energy Costs as of June 22, 2008
Energy Source Unit btu/unit Efficiency #Units Cost/Unit Annual Cost
heating oil liter 30,200 82.5 2,498 1.25900 $3,144.98
electricity
* direct KWh 3,412 100 18,317 0.10670 $1,954.42
* ETS 100 18,317 0.05335 $1,024.56
* heat pump
** air source 200 9,122.2 0.10670 $ 973.34
** geothermal 400 4561.1 0.10670 $ 486.67
Propane liter 22,444 85 3263 0.74900 $2,443.98
Natural Gas GJ 788,220 85 92.91 6.86600 $1,567.06
Hardwood
* cut & split cord 21,500,000 45 6.46 240.00 $1,485.80
* 8 foot logs 132.740 $ 857.52
Notes:
1. Annual costs are prior to taxation. Annual cost excludes fixed charges such as electrical service, and the fixed monthly connection charge for natural gas.
2. Electrical cost does not include the 12.1% increase requested by NSPI. If granted, this would increase the cost per KWh to $0.1196, and the various electrically powered forms of heat will need to be adjsuted. ETS costs are based on units capable of storing enough heat during low tariff times to heat your home throughut the day. Under-sized units, or extremely cold weather will increase heating costs.
3. Wilson's is offering this discounted price for propane used in hot air or hot water baseboard systems. The price is $0.949 if used in appliances such as space heaters and fireplaces.
4. Natual gas will not be available throughout the Mount Uniacke area for several years. Figures are given for comparison purposes only. For those considering changing to propane then natural gas, fuels can be changed by simply switching the orifice in the furnace.
5. From my experience, a wood boiler is 30-50% efficient. Wood stoves used as space heaters can be up to 90% efficient. Figures given are for a wood boiler. Divide #units and cost by two for wood stove space heaters.
Converting from Oil Heat
A conversion from oil to electricity usually involves the installation of baseboard heaters, or radiant panels, and the associated wiring. The cost of retro-fitting these heaters can skyrocket if wiring must be run through finished walls or ceilings. There are electric boilers, adn hot air furnaces available which will drastically reduce installation costs, for the increased expense of the furnace. Your electric service and power panel may also have to be upgraded to handle the extra load.
There are other electrically based systems on the market. Heat pumps, both air source where heat is extracted frm the air outside; and geothermal where heat is extracted from the ground, multiply the heat you get per KWh of input pwoer. Air source heat pumps lose efficienty as the temperature drops, and you may require supplemental heat when outside air falls below -10 degrees C. Geothermal systems are generally very expensive to install, as digging or drilling is required to place pick-up loops below the frost line. There are efficiencies of scale involved with geothermal heat pumps, and if you have a dry well, this may be able to be used for a geothermal installation, lowering its cost.
An electrical heating solution relatively new to Nova Scotia is Electric Thermal Storage, or ETS systems. These work by storing heat that is later recovered from the storage medium. Think of a fireplace, radiating heat long after the fire has gone out. Used in conjunction with NSPI's time-of-day tariffs, ETS systems can cut the cost of power used for heating your home in half. ETS systems are available both to replace your current furnace, or as room-sized units. If you don't have a 200 Amp service to your home, you'll need to upgrade, as all the pwoer required to heat your home for the day is drawn from NSPI during the eight hours when rates are lowest.
Conversion to propane or natural gas involves replacing your furnace with one capable of using these fuels. Existing hot water baseboard, or ducting systems can be used, thus reducing installation costs. Propane requires rented tanks to be located on your property, on a concrete pad for the larger tank sizes. My family's experience with propane in Ontario indicates that less heat is delivered by teh system when temperatures dip below about -25 degrees C.
Conversion Costs:
eqpt installation rebates installed 5 yr total ROI (oil heat)
price
Heating oil ----current installation------------- $15,724.90 baseline
Elecrical
-baseboard
-space heaters
-ETS *hydronic)
-ETS (room units)
-heat pumps:
- air source
- geothermal $15,500 $5,500-$65,000 $3,500 $37,000 $39,433.35 13 yr 11 mth use $25,000
Propane $3,000 $2,000 $600 $4,400 $16,719.90 6 yr 4 mth
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References: http://www.aps.org/policy/reports/popa-reports/energy/units.cfm
http://www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/fuels/properties.html
http://www.nspower.ca http://www.steffes.com/offpeak/index.aspx
http://www.wilson.ca http://www.heritagegas.com
http://www.homeerformance.com/en/library/grants_rebates.html
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