Link to news article about heating fuel sources

gyrfalcon

https://digg.com/data-viz/link/the-geography-of-heating-us-homes

Personally , I have propane , wood and electric.  

Hot_water_fan

I’m in MD, and the electricity share is only going to increase - BGE just got another huge gas price hike approved. It’s uneconomic to use gas here. 

leonz

The American Community Survey fails to take into account the number of coal users in the nothern states and Alaska. The number of households and businesses that burn, lignite coal, Sub Bituminous Coal, Bituminous coal and Anthracite coal are growing.

Jamie Hall

What was that quote about statistics? There are lies... etc. Nothing wrong with the map. Nothing wrong with the percentages. In completely ignoring differing climates, the variability of access and differences in regional pricing, misleading at best.

Take the northeast and Alaska and their concentration of oil burning vs. other sources. Could it possibly have something to do with no or very limited access to natural gas? Sky high propane prices? Astronomical electricity rates? Consider the concentration of electricity in the south. Coud it possibly have something to do with a remarkably benign winter climate and a need for air conditioning instead? How about propane in the mid-west? Maybe it's favoured by low prices due to extensive agricultural use and no natural gas availability?

And so on. You have to look at the whole picture...

Hot_water_fan

It’s a picture! It shows regional variability. It doesn’t explain it, because it’s a fun little picture. 

ethicalpaul

Coal is increasing, just like vinyl surpassed CD sales (both of which are slivers compared to streaming)

CLamb

leonz said:

The American Community Survey fails to take into account the number of coal users in the nothern states and Alaska. The number of households and businesses that burn, lignite coal, Sub Bituminous Coal, Bituminous coal and Anthracite coal are growing.

Did they just not ask or were the numbers too low to report? Is there a survey which shows the results for coal?

leonz

They did not bother to include coal of various types and the regions where they are mined as a residential/commercial heating fuel.

WMno57

"47 percent of American homes are heated by natural gas, 40 percent by electricity, five percent by propane, four percent by oil, two percent by wood and two percent by other sources."

leonz

Massive coal use for ships was replaced by oil when the Spindletop
oil field outside of Beaumont, Texas was opened in 1901.

The decline in the use of coal for fuel in steam locomotives followed
shortly after this starting with the Southern Pacific Railroad converting
it's coal fired locomotives to heavy fuel oil.

I am happy to be part of the "two percent by other sources" as I would be
burning a tank of oil a week and running out because of an inept supplier
that let me run out of oil 4 times.

I use 60-80 pounds of Anthracite Rice Coal per day to heat my old home and
heat my domestic hot water.

Coal for heating home heating use is increasing.

Hot_water_fan

Coal for heating home heating use is increasing. 

Sure! To what %? 

leonz

I do not know what the percentage increase is in the UNITED STATES for coal heating in the United States, Western Canada and the State of Alaska BUT every Anthracite mine sells its entire inventory of crushed bulk and bagged coal every year for heating coal and Anthracite Coal used for activated carbon for water purification.

The Sub Bituminous Coal and Lignite Coal mined in the Western United States and Alaska is much less expensive per ton than Anthracite Coal due to its lower carbon content and it has a greater percentage of volatile gasses that increase its ability to burn hot quickly.

The Bituminous Coal mined in the east has a high percentage of volatiles but does not burn as cleanly as the Western Sub Bituminous Coal mined in Alaska, Wyoming or Montana or Anthracite Coal.

The retail and wholesale cost of Anthracite Coal mined in the East for heating and the activated carbon market worldwide has increased in price due to many factors including the cost of diesel fuel, hydraulic oil, consumable drilling and mining shovel supplies, personal protective equipment like work gloves and safety glasses.... and the increased demand for activated carbon for water purification.

The worldwide market for activated carbon has increased as it requires an Anthracite Coal with a very high carbon content to create the activated carbon used to manufacture the activated carbon water filters you use in your homes and the large carbon filters used for water purification where a large number of bagged activated carbon is used in large CALGON and other brand filter housings.

Anthracite coal has the highest BTU per pound for heating fuel compared to other fuels.

If I could buy Montana mined Sub Bituminous coal it would cost much less (1/30th) per ton than Anthracite Coal but the cost of transportation is the main issue as coal delivered by rail in small carloads is more expensive but still much less expensive than Anthracite Coal. Sub Bituminous Coal from Alaska, Wyoming and Montana creates much, much, much less fly ash and dead ash per ton and provides excellent heat.

The last time I checked norfolk southern was charging $56 dollars per net ton for carloads of freight delivered to the siding not including interchange cost, demurrage and car storage rates per day.
It is still less than the cost of Anthracite Coal. I am sure the switching charge it has increased as the Watco Company is leasing the existing single track dark territory line that we have here that ends in North Lansing, New York now and it has only one customer for 200+- carloads weekly now that the power plant is closed.

CLamb

Here are the figures for home heating fuel usage by state for 2000. Pennsylvania has the highest percentage for coal use at 1.4% followed by West Virginia at 1.1% and Wyoming at 0.9%. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial/tables/time-series/coh-fuels/fuels2000.txt