From: DrLith 
Newsgroups: misc.rural sci.energy misc.consumers.house alt.home.repair misc.consumers.frugal-living
Subject: Re: Home Heating Options for Rural Midwest Residents?
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 2005 17:12:56 -0400

Jonathan Grobe wrote:
> Currently I heat with heating oil with an old, inefficient
> furnace and with the massive increase in energy prices I
> am looking at alternatives. Natural gas is NOT available 
> in my small town. Any thoughts on the various alternatives
> which are available and which is the best?
> 
> Thanks.
> 

You might want to look into the corn furnaces. I think they are among 
the more pricey alternatives in terms of initial layout, but they're 
inexpensive to run. One bushel of corn produces about the same amount of 
BTUs as 4 gallons of fuel oil, so you can use that to compare the actual 
fuel costs based on prices in your area. Wood pellet stoves are another 
similar alternative (a lot of corn burning stoves are basically slightly 
modified pellet stoves), but seeing as your in the rural midwest and 
all...well, you get the picture.