Home heating Cost by Fuel Type

Getting a good handle on heating costs is not easy because the different types of fuels all use different metrics.  How do you compare the cost of something in one metric such as fuel oil which is measured in gallons with something like corn pellets which are measured by the ton.  Fortunately the government has made this easy for you.  They have created a chart which shows heating costs using a common measure, British Thermal Units (BTU's). By using this chart you can determine the cost of heating in Millions of BTU's.  That then allows you to compare costs between all fuel types. 

What's particularly nice about the chart below is that it also takes into account the type of home heating appliance you use.  For example, it compares the cost of heating using electricity for both a furnace or for a geothermal heat pump.  Since the geothermal heat pump is far more efficient it has much lower costs. 

(updated 2/25/2008)