Journal News - Sunday February 26, 2006

Fairfield ---- Pat and Brian Sauer owners of The Fire Place at 5413 Dixie Highway in Fairfield, cannot keep alternative fuel fireplaces on the self.


“One Bag of (corn) fuel is equal to three or four gallons of heating oil, “Sauer said, “And it’s renewable. That’s the big thing too.


Measured in British Thermal Units, a standard unit of energy, corn provides more heat than other fuel sources.


Heating oil costs about $1.30 a gallon and propane is $1.25 a gallon, buts out only 140,000 and 92,000 BTU respectively. Corn puts out 392,000 BTU per bushel, and costs about $165.00 per ton. Many patrons us a pellet/corn mixture, Sauer said.

Sauer six years ago decided to sell the alternative-heating source when a former employer said there wasn’t a market for them. Supplier representatives even doubted the market.


But during this relatively mild winter, Sauer has stoves on back order because of customer demand. 


Within two weeks of this winter season, one of Sauer’s suppliers, Quadra-Fire, was sold out, Sauer said.


The stoves are popular in his former home in Michigan, where he said “Once it starts to get up there, it stay cold.”


“It’s a good way to heat. A lot of people get the built-in versions. They can (add) equity to the house.”

Liberty Twp. resident Ron Price, of Price Farm in Mason, began selling dry corn as a fuel source for Sauer’s stoves.


Price said people are spending hundreds of dollars per month to heat their homes for the winter. He said one customer with a 2,000-square-foot home can heat a home with three tons of corn, or less than $600, for the entire winter.


Judy Schulte of Fairfield heats her 2,400-square-foot home with wood pellets. She saves about $115 per month with her stove, inserted into the fireplace where she once had a gas fireplace.


It’s partially the savings, but I have a warmer house,” Schulte said. “My thermostat was on 65 degrees and I was cold. Now I keep it on 62, 63 degrees.”


When it snowed two weeks ago and the temperature dipped into the teens, Schulte said her furnace didn’t kick on all day.


Her gas fireplace was only used about eight times in her nine-plus years living off Montsary Road. She said she could tell which month she used her gas fireplace because it was about $2 or $3 a minute to use.


She said her gas fireplace also didn’t heat her living room, with the majority of the heat escaping through the chimney.

Although there has been a 20 percent increase in the cost of electricity at CINergy, spokeswoman Kathy Meinke said that was the first rate increase in about 10 years.


“We had a rate increase effective Jan. 1 in Ohio that’s pretty reflective of that. We hadn’t had any increase in electric for some 10 to 12 years,” she said.


Currently, the typical electric uses for a residence for 1,000 kilowatts hours is about $103 for 2006, Meinke said.


Although electric customers saw a large increase at the beginning of the year, the price is stabilizing.


“As far as electric, we are not contemplating any rate increases in the upcoming years,” Meinke said.


However, CINergy’s natural gas customers aren’t as lucky. Meinke called natural gas a “commodity” with fluctuating prices.


“We anticipate the price of natural gas will continue to stay higher than it has been over the years,” she said.


CINergy serves about 565,000 gas and electric customers in Ohio.


Shana Eiselstein, spokeswoman for Public Utility Commission of Ohio, said Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are partially to blame.


“We have seen increases in the cost of natural gas primarily due to the hurricanes that occurred this summer,” she said.

Either with a freestanding or insert stove, there is nothing about corn that isn’t good for the environment, Price said.


He said there are no toxic fumes that are released into the air.


“We’ll never run out of corn, even in a drought year,” Price said. “It’s an annually renewable source. The nation grows billions of corn a day.”


Price said the burned corn, which is called a clinker, could be used as a fertilizer in home gardens.


Schulte said her wood-based pellets, which are made from sawdust, don’t give off the wood-burning odor like campfire. She called the gray ash created by the wood pellets nominal.

PHOTOS BY NICK DAGGY/ COX NEWS SERVICE

JUDY SCHULTE (above) sits next to her alternative fuel burning fire place at her home in Fairfield with a bucket of wood based pellets.

Fairfield Echo - March 2-8, 2006

PHOTOS BY NICK DAGGY/ FAIRFIELD ECHO

JUDY SCHULTE (above) sits next to her alternative fuel burning fire place at her home in Fairfield with a bucket of wood based pellets.

Agriculture could be making a comeback in Butler and Warren counties. Just two decades ago, the townships and hamlets in Butler and Warren the two counties were known as farming communities. Eventually, development came and the farm became storefronts and backyards.


But corn could be in high demand once again during cold winter days and nights.
SEE STORY BELOW:

Pat and Brian Sauer owners of The Fire Place at 5413 Dixie Highway in Fairfield, cannot keep alternative fuel fireplaces on the self.


The most inexpensive fuel sources of those fast-selling fireplaces are wood pellet and corn.


Two-and-a-half gallons of heating oil are equal to 40 pounds of corn or wood pellets. According to Lykin’s Oil in Milford, heating a home needs about five gallons of heating oil per day. To heat the average home per day, it would take 80 pounds of corn.


Measured in British Thermal Units, a standard unit of energy, corn provides more heat than other fuel sources. Lykin’s heating oil costs about $2.34 a gallon and puts out 140,000 BTU. Corn puts out 392,000 BTU per bushel (56 pounds), and costs about $4.62 per bushel. Using this formula, a person could spend $11.70 on oil a day or $9.24 for two bushels, which equals more than $2 in savings a day.

Sauer six years ago decided to sell the alternative-heating source when a former employer said there wasn’t a market for them. Supplier representatives even doubted the market.


But during this relatively mild winter, Sauer has stoves on back order because of customer demand.


Within two weeks of this winter season, one of Sauer’s suppliers, Quadra-Fire, was sold out, Sauer said.


The stoves are popular in his former home in Michigan.


“It’s a real good way to heat,” Sauer said. “A lot of people get the built-in versions. They can (add) equity to the house.”


Many patrons use a pellet/corn mixture, he said.

Liberty Twp. resident Ron Price, of Price Farm in Mason, began selling dry corn as a fuel source for Sauer’s stoves.


Price said people are spending hundreds of dollars per month to heat their homes for the winter. He said one customer with a 2,000-square-foot home can heat a home with three tons of corn, or less than $600, for the entire winter.


Judy Schulte of Fairfield heats her 2,400-square-foot home with wood pellets. She saves about $115 per month with her stove, inserted into the fireplace where she once had a gas fireplace.


It’s partially the savings, but I have a warmer house,” Schulte said. “My thermostat was on 65 degrees and I was cold. Now I keep it on 62, 63 degrees.”


When it snowed two weeks ago and the temperature dipped into the teens, Schulte said her furnace didn’t kick on all day.


Her gas fireplace was only used about eight times in her nine-plus years living off Montsary Road. She said she could tell which month she used her gas fireplace because it was about $2 or $3 a minute to use.


She said her gas fireplace also didn’t heat her living room, with the majority of the heat escaping through the chimney.

Although there has been a 20 percent increase in the cost of electricity at CINergy, spokeswoman Kathy Meinke said that was the first rate increase in about 10 years.


“We had a rate increase effective Jan. 1 in Ohio that’s pretty reflective of that. We hadn’t had any increase in electric for some 10 to 12 years,” she said.


Currently, the typical electric uses for a residence for 1,000 kilowatts hours is about $103 for 2006, Meinke said.


Although electric customers saw a large increase at the beginning of the year, the price is stabilizing.


“As far as electric, we are not contemplating any rate increases in the upcoming years,” Meinke said.


However, CINergy’s natural gas customers aren’t as lucky. Meinke called natural gas a “commodity” with fluctuating prices.


“We anticipate the price of natural gas will continue to stay higher than it has been over the years,” she said.


CINergy serves about 565,000 gas and electric customers in Ohio.


Shana Eiselstein, spokeswoman for Public Utility Commission of Ohio, said Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are partially to blame.


“We have seen increases in the cost of natural gas primarily due to the hurricanes that occurred this summer,” she said.

Either with a freestanding or insert stove, there is nothing about corn that isn’t good for the environment, Price said.


He said there are no toxic fumes that are released into the air.


“We’ll never run out of corn, even in a drought year,” Price said. “It’s an annually renewable source. The nation grows billions of corn a day.”


Price said the burned corn, which is called a clinker, could be used as a fertilizer in home gardens.


Schulte said her wood-based pellets, which are made from sawdust, don’t give off the wood-burning odor like campfire. She called the gray ash created by the wood pellets nominal.