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What It Will Cost To Heat Your Home
forbes.com — Buffalo, N.Y., gets cold during the winter. Really cold. Yet the typical Buffalo family will spend $333 less to heat a home this year than families in Boston do or ones in Washington, D.C. Read why...
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- Nathrat, on 10/05/2008, -0/+22It'll cost me a fortune, just like every year. Better start stacking up on ramen now.
- epadafunk, on 10/05/2008, -0/+6when you boil the ramen, you will heat your kitchen! it's a win win!
- cowsgonemadd3, on 10/05/2008, -0/+5It wont cost a thing with these things:
http://zedomax.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/02 ...
Cheap and easy to build. We plan to build one very soon.- nycmac247, on 10/06/2008, -0/+3explain and give more info if even only a name to use for searching!
- cowsgonemadd3, on 10/06/2008, -0/+1Solar air heater...sorry. I think its called passive solar heating but more results come up with solar air heater.
- RevAradia, on 10/05/2008, -0/+9Maybe I should pack and move to Buffalo? Ya think? So Sayeth the Crone.
- freefoodisgood, on 10/05/2008, -0/+4Or you could move to a lower latitude, one with an average temperature in the 60's and 70's.
- lisaawesome, on 10/05/2008, -0/+4Move to Oklahoma so you'll need both heat and air because it's ungodly hot and can get ungodly cold and icy. Just pray the ice doesn't kill your power. Almost everything here is electric.
- Phoenix478, on 10/06/2008, -0/+3Yeah you really, really don't want to move to Buffalo. Trust me.
- hiphoc, on 10/05/2008, -1/+21In other news: Banksters that have been bailed out will heat their homes with logs made of 100$ bills.
- lockr, on 10/05/2008, -0/+4well, the "good" news is that a lot of infrastructure was built during the great depression... maybe they'll find the money to lay the gas pipes now?
- ScottMitchell, on 10/05/2008, -1/+10Don't forget that the Great Depression also brought several very inefficient government programs that exist to this day, such as paying farmers not to grow crops.
- life38, on 10/05/2008, -0/+11I had to finally break down and turn on the heat today. The only reason is because of illness in the house and keeping warm is important to fight off the colds.
- spyd3rweb, on 10/05/2008, -0/+11Put on a sweatshirt, or do what I do, overclock your processor and have it run prime95 all day, it should be a good 10F warmer in your room.
- lisaawesome, on 10/05/2008, -0/+6My computer significantly heats up any room it is in. It's nice in the winter but it can be brutal in the summer.
- Typhoon2009, on 10/05/2008, -0/+4My room has a curse on it. Mainly cause it was built as an addition to the house I live in. So it's poorly insulated. In the winter it's freezing. Time to start wearing my PJ pants instead of boxers :(
- h0m3styl3, on 10/05/2008, -0/+6BRUTAL
- camiller, on 10/06/2008, -0/+2Why not run something useful like folding@home. It still keeps the CPU at 100% and maybe you'll cure a disease in the process.
- ScottMitchell, on 10/05/2008, -0/+8"For generations, parental wisdom has held that cold air is not good for children's respiratory systems. In particular, cold air has been thought to cause colds (thus the name). Earlier medical traditions have tended to agree with folk wisdom. Over the last fifteen years or so, the prevailing medical opinion has shifted to a different point of view. The more recent thinking is that cold air does not cause colds, bronchitis, pneumonia, or other respiratory infections. Scientifically designed experiments have been carried out to prove the theory that cold temperatures do not cause the common cold."
http://www.drgreene.com/21_55.html- krahzee, on 10/05/2008, -0/+5I believe it's less to do with the temparature outside, and more to do with our reactions, as humans, to the changes in climate. Most people go seal thier house up for the winter without ever opening the windows.
As a result, any germs brought home continue to linger in the air, unlike the warmer weather, when opening the windows to cool the house also exchanges it's air for fresh, germ free air.
Personally I try to change the air at least once a week. We have a whole house exhaust fan, so opening every window and kicking the fan on for five minutes does the trick. I do it right before I leave for work, so the house is still warm when I get back home. - ScottMitchell, on 10/06/2008, -0/+1krahzee: and part of it is because we're more apt to stay inside when it's cold out, which increases the chances we are infecting one another.
- krahzee, on 10/05/2008, -0/+5I believe it's less to do with the temparature outside, and more to do with our reactions, as humans, to the changes in climate. Most people go seal thier house up for the winter without ever opening the windows.
- spyd3rweb, on 10/05/2008, -0/+11Put on a sweatshirt, or do what I do, overclock your processor and have it run prime95 all day, it should be a good 10F warmer in your room.
- Richandler, on 10/05/2008, -0/+8Hurray for living in California where putting on a jacket can suffice.
- badenglishihave, on 10/05/2008, -1/+7True... but I've lived in New England my entire life and I would really miss the snow on Christmas.
- Namakemono, on 10/05/2008, -2/+2Californians go to the mountains when they want snow.
- badenglishihave, on 10/05/2008, -1/+2I've been out west to snow covered mountains; it's not the same.
- metalpres, on 10/06/2008, -1/+0sure not having to heat your house is nice, but when your paying atleast double to live there it certainly evens out. Unless ofcourse you live in the ghetto of california
- badenglishihave, on 10/05/2008, -1/+7True... but I've lived in New England my entire life and I would really miss the snow on Christmas.
- crescentia, on 10/05/2008, -0/+6I have lived in places without heating during the winter. Cold enough to see my breath and wear three layers of clothing. I now live in a 100+ year old house without central heating, or heaters of any kind and I have been told that it gets down to the high 30's in the winter here. I guess I will be investing in long johns since I can't afford a higher electricity bill.
- ScottMitchell, on 10/05/2008, -2/+4Move to San Diego. I don't have a heater or air conditioner, just a couple of ceiling fans.
- nycmac247, on 10/06/2008, -0/+1city will be under water in 20 years
- cowsgonemadd3, on 10/05/2008, -9/+5It wont cost a thing with these solar air heaters:
http://zedomax.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/02 ...
Cheap and easy to build. We plan to build one very soon. - Erowid, on 10/05/2008, -0/+6My apartment building is full of retired old people... I find that even in the winter with the heat off, it's too damn warm a lot of the time........
- lisaawesome, on 10/05/2008, -0/+3I've been thinking of moving to Chicago and was wondering what they used for heating up there. This answered my question. I love you Digg.
- TheSabre, on 10/05/2008, -0/+5FTA: "Buffalo residents will likely spend less this winter than those in Washington, D.C., who right now are complaining about the oppressive heat in the Potomac River Valley. "
B.S. It is gorgeous here in DC right now. It is about 65-70 F. I don't think there is a single person here complaining about "oppressive heat". Also, my winter bills down here are lower than my summer bills...- Typhoon2009, on 10/05/2008, -0/+2Aye, I think winter bills aren't as high as summer around here. In the summer it's hot and humid... perfect weather for Pepco since everyone wants to run their ACs. In the winter, just bundle up.
- karokeking, on 10/05/2008, -0/+3(Laughs bitterly...) In the UK the price of Natural Gas has gone up 50% in two years.......
- bbqribs, on 10/06/2008, -0/+0We have so much of it here that they're worried about a serious market oversupply, and drillers are cutting the numbers of rigs. Check out the Barnett Shale near Fort Worth, TX.
- bachflomid, on 10/05/2008, -0/+2High heating costs is the reason I bought an heated mattress pad for my bed. Watt for watt, it's the most efficient way to keep warm when you drop your thermostat down 10'f degrees at night.
- mpobri, on 10/05/2008, -0/+7What am I missing? Each city lists an "average monthly heating cost", but instead these look like annual figures. I live in St. Louis, have a 3500 sq ft house and have never spent more than $300 to heat my house in February (coldest month). My average is around $2000 per year/$166 month.
- neonfunk, on 10/05/2008, -0/+3I was thinking the exact same thing; I live in portland OR and the highest I've ever paid in my house was ~$140 or so, but usually more like $90 in the winter months-- nothing like $1,313! they must mean annual
- Typhoon2009, on 10/05/2008, -0/+5"who right now are complaining about the oppressive heat in the Potomac River Valley. "
The *****? It's been like 70 degrees every day for the past week and it's not getting any higher. Stop making us Washingtonians sound like pussies :( - DifferentAngle, on 10/05/2008, -0/+2Heating costs also depend on average wind speed in the area
- josepablos, on 10/05/2008, -0/+3me is enough.
- carlosos, on 10/05/2008, -0/+4Just move to the south and you won't have problems with the heating bill (now if we can just find a cheap solution to cool homes in the summer).
Don't we see those articles every year? Every year it gets more expensive.- fuzzybeard, on 10/06/2008, -0/+2What about the electricity bill for running the A/C in the summer? I want my own Mr. Fusion, dammit!
- eightyd, on 10/05/2008, -1/+3Average January Low temp in my town (Duluth, MN) is 1 degree Farenheit. One degree. 8F in February. Buffalo is a tropical paradise.
- ShyGuy91284, on 10/05/2008, -0/+3One of the reasons I hunted for an apartment near Boston that used gas for heat (It's almost impossible to find a decent place that includes heat in the rent). The electric/gas company estimated It would save me $700/yr over the more common electricity-powered heat.
- Disturbedsavio, on 10/05/2008, -0/+4It's costing us 500 every winter to heat our home, and even then we have to conserve when we put the heat on. I have to have an electric blanket, a heater in my room, and the heat turned on just to stay warm. It costs a ***** of money.
I might have to give up my new pet bearded dragon soon because our house gets so cold (she'll freeze to death if it falls below the 60's, which it does sometimes). While banks get bailed out we freeze to death. Maybe they could instead just burn that money to heat our homes?
This is ridiculous, and I live in just southern Michigan! - sajuuk, on 10/05/2008, -0/+3Article's lying. I go to school in Buffalo and it only gets down to about -10 C usually (14 F for those crazy English System users). Granted, thats pre-windchill. But all I wear is khakis, a sweatshirt and a windbreaker at that point.
- Brows, on 10/05/2008, -0/+3This is all very relative, just taking an average is a stupid way to get a cross section of how much people pay for heat. I live in Boston, and my worst month can be around 225. This article say Boston is at 1900 bucks! that just nuts.
- Hosalabad, on 10/06/2008, -0/+2$120 for (hybrid gas/electric heat pump) power and $25 a month for propane. Long live the South.
- slayernine, on 10/06/2008, -0/+2Yeah I an live in Edmonton, AB. It gets all the way down to -40 degrees Fahrenheit here around January through February.
I have no idea how our homeless people manage to survive. - lexeme, on 10/06/2008, -0/+1I am in far northern California--behind the Redwood curtain about three miles from the Pacific. While I do have a natural gas furnace, the total energy cost per month is about $90. Most of that is electricity for the computers, and I'd guess most of the natural gas is for heating the water heater rather than heating the air of the house. The winter rainy season gets down to the 40's. Almost never to freezing, but often to the 50's.
What helps is that while the house is a simple tract frame home on a slab built in the late 1970's, for whatever reason it was pretty well insulated with about R19 fiberglass above the ceiling and this 1/2 felt stuff in the walls. The windows are double-glazed as well.
It is nothing like Cambridge, say, in the late 1970's where I remember windy days when it dropped below 0. Brrr. - Namakemono, on 10/06/2008, -1/+2Huh? Snow is snow, isn't it?
- slapthemonkey, on 10/06/2008, -0/+2Interesting
- Phoenix478, on 10/06/2008, -0/+2I grew up in Buffalo. Yeah, with the wind chill it gets cold enough that you worry your balls are going to freeze and snap off. Lake effect snow is also a delight, and it doesn't help that the plow drivers there can't seem to be bothered, ya know, plowing the roads.
Everything seems cheaper in B-lo, and with good reason. It's a god awful place to live. The city has been on the decline since 1950 or so with no end in sight. It's nice being able to get an apartment for $400 that in NYC or Boston would probably cost you around $1500, but those cities are worth living in. It's also one of the most corrupt and mobbed up cities in the country. And don't even ask about the waterfront (they've been talking about that for the last 30 years.)
Still though, there's a pretty great Olmstead park system there (before the highway ruined it in the 60's) and there are some pretty amazing Frank Lloyd Wright houses there. And Duffs has the best Chicken Wings on the planet (Anchor Bar invented them but Duffs perfected them.) I also miss Ted's hot dogs. And go Sabers. - bincoder, on 10/06/2008, -0/+1Not much. I live in Arizona and have a heatpump powered by a few hydroelectric dams (and a tad of new-clear power as icing on the cake)
I am now prepared to be down dugg for gloating. - camiller, on 10/06/2008, -0/+1When I built my house I had all the exterior walls made with 2x6 lumber framing rather than 2x4 lumber with correspondingly thicker insulation. The programmable thermostat automatically lowers the temp at night and when I go to work and raises the temp when appropriate. When we do the siding next year I'll add another inch or so of foam insulation under it.
- ScottMitchell, on 10/06/2008, -0/+1San Diego - even coastal San Diego - has plenty of places that rise several hundred feet above sea level. And if you go inland you hit mountains in the 4,000 ft. range within 20 miles.
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