What is BTU?
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There're several factors that usually can be considered when selecting the type of a stove you want to buy; some people want it to be more efficient, some care about environment more than about cost, and some value convenience before anything else. The price and efficiency of particular fuel types can be significant factors when deciding which type of a stove you prefer more and that's where our Fuel Comparison Table can come in handy. Comparing heat output and efficiency of different types of stoves cannot be 100% accurate due to many factors affecting the final output, and the Fuel Comparison Table below has the only purpose to give you an approximate idea.
Dollar figures listed in the Fuel Comparison Table are calculated for production of 1,000,000 BTU (you can read about BTU here); the number of various units and the cost of them can vary for different locations and will depend on many other factors, such as particular models, quality of the fuel, and particular conditions your stove is going to work in.
| Fuel Type | Efficiency | Units to Produce 1,000,000 BTU |
Unit Cost | Cost to Produce 1,000,000 BTU |
| Wood | 60% | 0.08 cord | $180.00/cord | $14.40 |
| Wood Pellets | 80% | 0.08 ton | $220.00/cord | $17.60 |
| Natural Gas | 80% | 12.5 therm | $1.50/therm | $18.75 |
| Propane Gas | 80% | 13.5 gal | $2.00/gal | $27.00 |
| Coal | 75% | 0.05 ton | $200.00/ton | $10.00 |
| Fuel Oil | 80% | 9.0 gal | $2.00/gal | $18.00 |
| Electricity | 100% | 293.1 kW | $0.10/kW | $29.31 |
As you can see from the Fuel Comparison Table, the cheapest fuel is coal, but it also requires most maintenance, it's dirty, and it makes the biggest impact on our environment, emitting the largest quantities of carbon dioxide. The most expensive type is electricity, but it's most convenient as well: it doesn't require any installation expenses, nor it needs any actual supply of fuel, the operation is as simple as it just can be, and no cleaning required. Electric stoves though are not used for continual heating of bigger spaces, as it would burn a hole even in a fireproof budget.
The most optimal type of fuel might be wood pellet as they're affordable enough and very efficient. Another type of fuel that is not our Fuel Comparison Table is biomass, which is getting more popular by a day. It can be hard to place a figure on cost of running a biomass stove as price of fuel can vary greatly, but it can be 70 to 80% cheaper than using wood pellets or even wood. Efficiency of biomass fuel is very high and close to wood pellets and they're also very environment-friendly making almost no impact and emitting no particulate elements into our atmosphere.
We hope that this Fuel Comparison Table will help you in making the best decision for you.
