ALTERNATIVES TO BIOHEAT FUEL

As Main-Care Energy leads the way on the transition to Bioheat® Fuel, we are confident that you will be impressed with its quality and the warm comfort it offers. But we also understand that you may want to know more about the other options for heating your home or business. Here are some key points to consider.

Electricity

• Electricity is one of the most expensive ways to heat your home, and that’s on top of the expense of replacing your oil-burning heating equipment with an electric heat pump system, which can cost $10,000 or more.
• Electric heat pumps are typically inadequate heat sources in cold-weather climates like ours, requiring a back-up heat source at temperatures below 25°– 30° F.
• Additionally, the nation’s electrical grid, which is still generated by smog-producing fossil fuels, has insufficient capacity for the peak heating season.

Solar or other renewables

• Did you know that the manufacture of solar panel cells uses toxic materials and produces greenhouse gas emissions?
• Solar power works with electric heaters. Take the cost of installing a solar panel system (which typically won’t produce adequate power in winter) and a new electric heating system, plus a high electricity bill, and this option just doesn’t add up.
• It will be years before our nation produces adequate renewable energy (hydro, wind, or solar) across the power grid to meet demand.

Natural gas

• Don’t get burned in the wallet. As with a switch to an electric heat system, converting your home or business to a natural gas furnace or boiler is expensive, costing $10,000 or more.
• Not all residential or commercial properties have access to natural gas as a fuel source.
• Another consideration with natural gas is its environmental impact. While it is clean-burning and typically extracted in the United States, it is nevertheless a fossil fuel, and thus it is non-renewable.