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I have kept accurate records of
my propane deliveries for my workshop so that I can track the efficiency of my heating system.
Below is an annotated chart showing propane use, cost and notes. I am
rather pleased to see that I am continuing to reduce my fossil fuel consumption
as I learn to optimize my heating systems.
The building is abut 1260 square feet and the propane is used to automatically
augment the solar heating system. As the heat output from the 80 gallon
solar storage tank drops below 140F a Bosch Aquastar
propane heat on demand unit ramps up it's flame to maintain a 140F feed to the
ground floor radiant slab and 2nd floor 10 ft. baseboard radiators. The design goal for the
solar heating system is that it can heat the building down to 32F on sunny days
and below that I use propane and the wood stove.
I also use a small electric heater to augment the 10ft. baseboard radiator in my
160 sq. ft. office on the 2nd floor. I have calculated that if propane
goes above $4.00/gallon that it will then be more cost effective to heat with
electricity at our local cost of $0.18/kWh. I may not have long to wait as
prices hovered near $3.00 in 2010/11!
I light a fire in the wood stove
most days in the winter to reduce the cost of purchasing propane. By burning
wood in a clean burning wood stove I am just shortening the carbon cycle of the
wood that would naturally decay and release carbon eventually. So this is
basically carbon neutral. I harvest wood from our property using my
electric chain saw and split it by hand. I mostly harvest standing dead
wood and a small amount of fresh cut hardwood. I use an electric chain saw
because gas ones are gross polluters and just plain nasty noisy machines, the
power for my electric saw comes entirely from our
solar power system so is carbon zero
power.
| SEASON |
GALLONS |
$/GAL. |
$/SEASON |
NOTES |
| 2010/11 |
444.1 |
$2.99 |
$1331.75 |
Long cold winter! Propane price spiked again. |
| 2009/10 |
267.5 |
$1.99 |
$534.82 |
Warmer year, and burned a lot of free
firewood |
| 2008/09 |
301.7 |
$2.75 |
$832.69 |
Colder winter, and definitely burned more
firewood due to propane price surge of .84 cents/gallon. |
| 2007/08 |
409.57 |
$1.92 |
$786.38 |
Warmer winter, but probably burned more wood this season |
| 2006/07 |
441.5 |
$1.99 |
$878.58 |
Propane price jumped 50 cents! |
| 2005/06 |
412.9 |
$1.49 |
$615.22 |
installed wood stove and saved 147 gallons! |
| 2004/05 |
559.9 |
$1.41 |
$789.45 |
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| 2003/04 |
658.5 |
$1.29 |
$849.46 |
A cold winter |
| 2002/03 |
691.25 |
$1.24 |
$857.16 |
Added 2 more collectors + bulk buy on propane |
| 2001/02 |
771.52 |
$1.29 |
$995.27 |
Californian adapting to Maine and setting the
heat high! |
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