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EIA: Expect 20% Increase in Heating Bills for 2012/13 Winter

According to the EIA (U.S. Energy Information Administration), the average US home heating with fuel oil will spend almost 20% more this year on heating as compared to last year. In their annual Short-Term Energy and Winter Fuels Outlook Report, they indicate that the return of normal winter conditions and increases in fuel prices will spur the sharp the increase. The largest increases will be in homes using fuel oil (19%), followed by natural gas (15%), propane (13%) and finally electricity (5%).

The report also indicates that the use of wood fuel for home heating has increased over the last decade, reversing the trends of the 80s and 90s. The EIA estimates that U.S. households consumed approximately 500 trillion Btu of wood, which is only slightly less than the 600 trillion Btu of heating oil used during the same period.

The team at Biomass Magazine have dug deeper into the report and have uncovered some interesting data on the use of wood for heating — in summary, wood heat is not going away. Rather, more homes are being heated with wood than in the past with a 7.7% increase in the past year in New England where 20% of homes use wood for space heating, cooking and water heating. Across the United States EIA is estimates that 2.6 million homes will heat their homes with wood this winter, a 3% increase over 2011. For more insightful details please visit Biomass Magazine.

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