New England residents stay loyal to heating oil

January 10, 2012

Homeowners heat their houses with different fuels in each region of America, recent data from the U.S. Department of Energy shows.

The department's latest four-year survey of our energy habits shows that nearly 85 percent of American households heat with natural gas or electricity, compared to about 10 percent who burn heating oil or propane.

Residents of Vermont and New England might find that statistic surprising, however, since this corner of the country has a different spin to its energy habits. More than 80 percent of those homes that choose heating oil for their furnaces and boilers are located in the Northeast, the government's 2009 Residential Energy Consumption Survey reveals.

Another characteristic of heating oil and biofuel burners is that they reside in older homes, with about one-half of all those structures have been built before 1950.

Likewise, the survey found that oil-burning homes frequently use older heating equipment than houses heated with other fuels. Despite their age, those classic furnaces are often surprisingly efficient, since oil customers stick to more regular maintenance schedules than their neighbors.

Propane customers also have a distinct profile, focused heavily on rural areas that are removed from the piping networks of urban utility providers. Those country residents comprise just 3 to 8 percent of households in every region, but their share is rising fast in the Northeast.