Consumers in the Northeastern U.S. who heat with oil may be facing substantial price increases this winter, according to the Energy Information Administration. The agency projects that heating oil prices will average $3.71 a gallon, or about 33 cents more than last winter.
According to EIA, the average price paid by homeowners in the region has more than doubled in the last seven years.
The continued increases in oil-based heating fuels is encouraging many consumers to switch to gas. But it also offers an opportunity for the renewable thermal-energy sector to raise awareness about biomass, solar thermal and geothermal heat pumps.
Currently, only 4% of the Northeast’s thermal energy comes from renewables. The Biomass Thermal Working Group issued a report last year looking at how New England and New York State can source 25% of their thermal energy requirements from renewables — mostly sustainably-harvested biomass — by 2025. The group calls on policy makers to recognize the trends in fossil energy pricing and make thermal renewables a part of the policy mix:
While US energy consumption is roughly divided into thirds across these sectors, existing public policy has focused almost exclusively on the transportation and electric sectors, recognizing the dependency of transportation on petroleum and the electric sector on coal. Billions of dollars in renewable energy subsidies currently flow to the transportation and electricity sectors, while the very substantial dependence of the thermal energy sector on the same problematic fossil fuels has not received comparable support either in the form of direct and indirect subsidies, or support for R&D.
The authors recommend creation of a national thermal energy target, funds for accurate assessments of sustainable biomass supply, establish consistent standards for biomass emissions, and extended state-level loan programs for renewable heating systems. With a comprehensive suite of policies in place to encourage a 25% penetration in the Northeast, the Biomass Thermal Energy Council estimates that over 140,000 jobs could be created in the region.
Thermal energy is a sorely overlooked sector of the renewable energy market. How many more years of record oil prices will we need to see before these technologies get the attention they deserve?
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Around upstate New York and probably other parts of the Northeast, heating oil affects mostly rural customers, while natural gas affects urban customers. Propane being the ‘other’ natural gas, one with rural customers.
“Biomass” can sound like a joking term for heating with wood or pellet stoves, although there has been a research effort for efficient biomass combustion for institutions.
Geothermal seems very elite and esoteric at this point. We have quite a variety of soil and geologic conditions, it costs to do a test well, needs very reliable electricity, but mostly it’s just generally unfamiliar.
The regional forecast is for another cold and snowy winter 2011-2012, so take those per therm estimates and multiply them by expected total therms needed.
There is no such thing as sustainably harvested biomass. There is no waste in nature, and intensively managed tree farms do not flourish over time. This is an excuse for logging Massachusetts forests, which are finally starting to return to a healthy state. It’s like the biofuel scandal- think Cargill and Georgia Pacific.
A quarter of the thermal needs could be met by renewable energy and another quarter could be reduced with improved insulation and efficiency.
My understanding is that installing a ground heat pump (often mislabeled geothermal) for an existing house is overly expensive. Instead I suggest solar hot water heaters (supplimented by utility supplied energy) together with an air heat pump (usually energized by electricity).