2 fuel oil is a medium distillate used in diesel engines as well as for heating. The energy content of No. 2 fuel oil is typically 140,000 Btu/gal (7 percent less energy per gallon than No. 6 oil).
A gallon of gasoline contains how many BTUs?
Natural gas is now the cheapest energy source among natural gas, fuel oil, and electricity…
First, a quick glossary of terms: The amount of heat required to raise the temperature of a pint of water by one degree Fahrenheit is measured in BTUs (or British thermal units). As a result, it’s frequently used to compare the energy content of various fuels. One BTU is generated by a wooden kitchen match, but 138,500 BTUs are contained in a gallon of gasoline.
The MBTU (or mmBTU for a thousand BTUs) stands for one million BTUs, making it easy to evaluate the energy content of various fuel grades and types.
Natural gas is now the cheapest energy source among natural gas, fuel oil, and electricity. According to John M. Reilly, senior lecturer at the Sloan School of Management, while the wholesale price for natural gas is around $8 mmBTU, the retail price is closer to $10 or $12 (and it varies a lot around the country). Fuel oil, which is now selling for roughly $4 per gallon, produces around 138,500 BTUs per gallon. This equates to around $28.80 per mmBTU.
And electricity costs roughly $32.25 per mmBTU at 3,412 BTUs per kwh and an average price of 11 cents per kwh.
According to Reilly, this gives electricity a bad rep. While comparing fuel oil and gas is more or less an apples-to-apples comparison, comparing electricity on a BTU basis is not. For example, the heat produced by a heat pump (in which energy is used to compress a gas that absorbs heat and then moves it into a structure) has nothing to do with the number of BTUs of electricity utilized. In a heat pump, a BTU of power can create more than a BTU of heat. Similarly, compared to gas lamps or steam engines, utilizing electricity for lighting and driving motors is a more efficient way to produce light or mechanical energy thus just because gas is cheaper per BTU doesn’t mean it’s more cost-effective to light our homes with gas lamps.
The School of Engineering is working on improving the efficiency of both traditional and unconventional energy sources.
In a pound of fuel, how many BTUs are there?
is relatively constant, but their density varies greatly as a result, the energy content of a liter, gallon, or other unit of measurement varies between gasoline, diesel, and kerosene.) (The above ranges correspond to 11,500-13,000 Btu/lb and 6,500-8,200 Btu/lb, respectively.)
Which has more Btu: propane or oil?
One of the most important considerations I had to make when building our new home was what sort of heating fuel to utilize. Should we rely on the traditional oil heat that over 90% of New Englanders rely on? Should we use propane instead? (natural gas is not available here in this part of NH).
Pros and Cons
When you sit down and think about it, the answer to that question is somewhat hard. For us, I knew we’d have propane in the house, both for cooking and for our direct vent fireplace. One of my major concerns about oil was having an oil tank in my basement that might spill at any time.
Another important factor to consider was venting the two types of fuel. A direct vent out the side of the house (which is unsightly, stains the house, and gets rather hot) or a regular chimney would be required for an oil-fired boiler. Modern gas boilers allow you to vent the furnace up through the roof or wall using normal PVC piping. I chose the gas heater to shorten a long narrative. The lack of an oil tank, the roof venting, and the opportunity to have a high efficiency boiler were the main factors in my decision.
A cost analysis of the two fuels was something I didn’t look into very much. So, after last winter’s quite hefty fuel expenditures, I did some study on fuel cost comparisons. It’s not as simple as comparing the cost of the two fuels per gallon. A gallon of fuel oil costs $2.69 where I reside right now (2007), whereas a gallon of propane costs $1.93. On the surface, gas appears to be a fantastic deal for the average person. The actual issue, though, is how much energy each fuel can create in a gallon. Fuel oil produces around 130,000 BTUs, while propane produces around 95,000 BTUs. Most oil boilers, on the other hand, have an efficiency of around 85% at most, but gas boilers have an efficiency of up to 95%.
Using this information, I calculated the cost per BTU for both types of fuel using the assumptions listed above.
As a result, propane is slightly more cost-effective in this case. Let me start with a large disclaimer. If you ask a group of heating experts, they’ll tell you that oil is usually a better deal. It is dependent on a number of factors, including the equipment used. What that tells me is that the two fuels are very close in terms of cost per BTU.
For me, the fact that I’m burning a cleaner fuel, my boiler requires almost no maintenance, I don’t have an oil tank to leak, I only have water vapor and carbon monoxide exiting my vent, and I required propane to cook with and heat my home still seems like the right decision for us. I recommend that you consider these points the next time you shop for a new heating system for your home.
Another advantage of propane over oil that is frequently neglected is tank size. Propane users typically have a larger tank than oil users. Most propane tanks are 500 to 1,000 gallons, while most conventional oil tanks are 275 to 400 gallons. This may not appear to make a difference at first glance, yet it can have a significant impact.
In the summer, when fuel prices are typically lower than in the winter, I choose to fill up my propane tank. I can buy more propane at a lesser price with the larger tank than I could with the smaller oil tank throughout the summer. If you have a 1,000 gallon propane tank, this can add up over the course of the year.
Would you want a spreadsheet with a propane vs. oil calculator? If that’s the case, check out our Fuel Calculator for Oil vs Propane.
In a gallon of propane, how many BTUs are there?
Anyone who has ever switched an empty propane barbecue cylinder knows how hefty propane is, but how many people realize that one gallon of liquid propane weighs 4.23 pounds? Perhaps you recall the propane formula from high school chemistry (C3H8), but for the engineers and technicians who develop and install propane heating and cooking systems, this is merely the tip of the iceberg.
In fact, understanding some of propane’s physical features helps to clarify some of the safety standards that we follow and that everyone should adhere to.
At -44 degrees Fahrenheit, propane transforms from a liquid to a gas (its boiling point).
This is one of the reasons why, when installing new equipment, our experts use safety gear such as gloves and face shields.
The low temperature would rapidly freeze skin if they were splashed with liquid propane, which is known as a burn because of comparable effects.
Propane is a heavier gas than air.
This is referred to as its specific gravity, which is 1.52; air has a specific gravity of 1.0.
This means that propane gas can collect in dips and low areas on the floor, which is one of the reasons why you should leave your empty barbeque cylinder outside of the store when exchanging, just in case there is any propane remaining in the cylinder and it leaks.
The energy content of propane is one of the important elements that engineers must consider when designing heating systems. Homeowners and grill masters alike should be aware of the amount of propane they will consume for heating and cooking. The BTUs in a gallon of propane are 91,502. (or British thermal units). Heat system designers must factor this into their calculations when sizing HVAC equipment and propane tanks to achieve the desired heat output. But how about a brand-new 60,000 BTU-per-hour barbeque grill (which I want was mine)? It would take an hour and a half for all of the burners (there are six on that model) to burn through a gallon of propane (60,000 BTU/hr x 1.5 hours = 90,000 BTUs). Larger HVAC systems, Combined Heat and Power (CHP) systems, and Gas Heat Pumps are frequently specified in Therms or per thousand cubic feet of natural gas. One Therm equals 100,000 BTUs, or 1.1 liters of propane. 1,000,000 BTU is equivalent to 11 litres of propane in 1 MCF of natural gas.
Is diesel fuel evaporating at a faster rate than gasoline?
Petroleum fuel begins as crude oil, which is found naturally in the earth. When crude oil is refined, it can be split into a variety of various fuels, including gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene, and, of course, diesel.
If you’ve ever compared diesel and gasoline, you’ll notice that they’re not the same. They definitely have a distinct aroma. Diesel fuel is thicker and oilier than gasoline. It takes significantly longer to evaporate than gasoline, and its boiling point is actually higher than that of water.
What is the highest energy-dense fuel per gallon?
Adapted from C. Ronneau, Energy, Air Pollution, and Long-Term Development, Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses Universitaires de Louvain, 2004.
Different fuels have varying degrees of energy density, which can be assessed in terms of equivalent energy released after burning. The quantity of energy released by a given mass or volume of fuel is referred to as energy density. It can be measured in terms of gravimetric energy density (energy density per unit of mass) or volumetric energy density (energy density per unit of volume) (per unit of volume). When evaluating the energy efficiency of different fuels, the gravimetric energy density is important. At the same time, when comparing transportation modes, volumetric energy density is important since storage space (a fuel tank) is required to hold the fuel pushing a vehicle. Fuel quality is inversely related to its chemical complexity, hence the higher the energy density, the higher the fuel quality. Gases are high-quality fuels, while solids are low-quality fuels, with liquids in between. Hydrogen has the highest energy density of any fuel and is also the simplest chemical component known to man.
Gasoline, which is made by refining crude oil, has far more energy than coal (which is twice as low-grade as bituminous coal) or wood (three times). Methane makes up practically all of the bulk of liquid natural gas (LNG), whereas methane makes up around 85% of the mass of natural gas. Jet A-1 is the standard fuel for commercial jet planes, and it’s largely made up of kerosene with a few additives (antifreeze, antioxidant, and antistatic) because it’ll be exposed to high altitudes and cold temperatures. Bunker C fuel, on the other hand, is the primary fuel used in marine shipping and is one of the lowest grade liquid fuels available, although it is appropriate for the great majority of ship engines.
Despite the fact that methane and hydrogen have higher energy densities than gasoline, their gaseous state makes storage challenging. Furthermore, hydrogen must be created, which necessitates the expenditure of energy. In comparison to a conversion rate of 100 percent, capturing the solar energy equivalent of 1 kg of gasoline on a one-square-meter surface would take 100 hours. The lithium battery, which is one of the most efficient energy storage systems, can only store roughly 0.5 MJ per kilogram, highlighting the difficulty of manufacturing electric vehicles.
Which fuel has more energy: gasoline or diesel?
1 GGE contains 97100% of the energy contained in 1 gallon of gasoline. The standard fuel consists of 90% gasoline and 10% ethanol. Due to the higher energy density of diesel fuel, 1 gallon of diesel has 113 percent of the energy in 1 GGE.
In a gallon of waste oil, how many BTUs are there?
A gallon of waste oil typically contains 163,000 to 240,000 BTU, which is more than twice as much energy as a gallon of low-pressure gas (propane or natural gas).
What does 12000 BTU stand for?
When we say that air conditioners remove heat from your home, we’re referring to the fact that they move energy. BTU is a measurement of how much energy your air conditioner uses to achieve all of this. So, if your air conditioner has 12,000 BTUs, it implies it absorbs 12,000 British Thermal Units of heat every hour and moves it outside to make your inside environment feel better.
