Originally Posted by
Brian Elfert
Kinda veering off topic, but can anyone explain why much of the northeast uses fuel oil and much of the midwest uses natural gas? Was it because oil was first discovered in the northeast and fuel oil/diesel used to be dirt cheap? I perhaps incorrectly assumed there aren't natural gas lines in the street/boulevard so people can't get natural gas at all. I know that locally the gas utility doesn't charge to hook up to natural gas because they want to sell you the gas naturally.
I couldn't imagine spending $1,200 a month on heat. I probably spend right around $1,200 a YEAR to heat my 2,700 square foot home here in Minneapolis. It helps that my house was built in 2001 and is heavily insulated and sealed against air leaks.
Brian
Infrastructure.
The Northeast just doesn't have the infrastructure in place to distribute Natural Gas to anyplace other than larger metropolitan areas.
The people that do have Natural Gas are pretty happy right now.
I heat with a Quadra-Fire 5700 Wood stove, and my heating bill from October to April will be <$1000.00 in cordwood. My installed heating system is electric, and there is no way that is an economically viable source in Connecticut.
If I could switch to Natural Gas I would without hesitation. Propane is an option, but in Connecticut it's not much better than electric, and could be worse.
"The first thing you need to know, will likely be the last thing you learn." (Unknown)