In Maine, 'a lot of fear out there' as heating oil prices keep rising

[jpak]

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=147368&ac=PHnws

Nowhere in America, it seems, are people more apprehensive about the prospect of a $3-a-gallon winter than in Maine.

Motorists nationwide may grumble about gasoline prices now hovering around $3 for a gallon of regular, but home heating oil that soared this month to $3.09 a gallon -- breaking the $3 barrier for the first time -- is the focus of concern in Maine.

The reasons for Maine's vulnerability are clear:

-- It tops the list of states most dependent on oil heat, with 80 percent of homes relying on No. 2 oil or kerosene.

-- It's one of the nation's coldest states, with the northern city of Caribou often singled out by the National Weather Service as having the lowest temperature among the Lower 48.

-- In terms of per capita income, Maine is generally ranked as the poorest state in the Northeast.

-- And lots of older homes lack adequate insulation, making them harder to heat.

<more>

[MADem]

1. As I said on another thread, the odds are that folks who heat with oil will save money

using the oil to just take the edge off, and spot heating with electric heat. Those E-heaters (econo heaters) are probably the most economical option.

[MountainLaurel]

6. That's an idea

Mr. Laurel and I are among the Mainers mentioned in the OP. We've done everything we can to help the situation. But we rent, and the insulation (particularly upstairs) is bad. Add to that the fact that we have no drapes on the many windows (too expensive for us to provide what the landlady will not), and it gets cold in here easily. I'll be sure to look into the E-heaters, since we presumably can move them from room to room. We're hoping to move in February or March, so that'll save a couple months of heating bills.

[MADem]

7. You actually attach them to the wall, but you could take them with you.

I've heard nothing but raves about them--there's a thread in the Frugal/Energy efficient forum about them.

For drapes, you might want to check the Salvation Army or other thrift store --no kidding--they may not be fancy, or matchy-matchy in terms of theme, but I'll bet you can find something to 'do the trick' at a very cheap price.

[MountainLaurel]

14. About the drapes

There aren't even rods to hang them from. On none of the windows. When we first moved in, my husband actually asked the neighbor if people in Maine just didn't use curtains or blinds, because there was nothing up at all. Then he asked the landlady, and her response was "I guess I'm the sort of person who doesn't mind getting dressed in front of a thousand people."

[MADem]

16. Honest ta God--screw being fancy.

Grab some clothesline or other sturdy but cheap rope or thick wire, bang two good sturdy large nails on either side of the window, and tie the damn thing good-n-taut--then hang your curtain from it. If it sags, bang a nail in the middle as well!!

That's a tip from the mists of time, back in the college years, many, many , many decades ago!! Hell, it worked!

If your landlady is a cheap shit, follow her lead!!! It's more important for YOU to stay warm, and if you get two to five buck curtains at the Goodwill or what-have-you, you can leave them and note quite self righteously that you "improved" her shitty joint!

[jpak]

9. You should really look into plastic window insulator kits

They are nearly invisible, easy to install, removable, REALLY work - and they are *cheap* - about $7 a window IRRC.

If we have an "old fashioned" Maine winter this year, they will be a Goddess-send...

http://www.acehardwareoutlet.com/(v1lx21ybc1gfq2vfrn5i0yj5)/ProductDetails.aspx?SKU=54697

http://hardware.hardwarestore.com/learning/how-to-insulate-windows-and-doors.aspx

[MADem]

19. In Northern ME, they have plastic FOUNDATION insulator kits as well.

They go all around the house foundation, and make a big difference, too.

[jpak]

21. That's a new twist on the old practice of "banking" your house for winter

When I was young, people banked their foundations up to the sills with fir boughs or canvas then shoveled snow on top of that...

[MADem]

22. That would work brilliantly--and it's quite renewable, too!! nt

[eShirl]

2. I think most, or a very large minority, of homes here have secondary wood heat

Since the 70s Oil Embargo days, my folks have had a wood cookstove in the kitchen, and a large woodstove in the cellar which also preheats water piped to the hot water heater. Their woodshed is full, so they're all set for this winter.

[One_Life_To_Give]

10. Secondary or Primary Wood Heat?

I thought all you folks only took time out to use the oil heat when us flatlanders showed up. :7

on edit: Whats a Seasoned Cord going for up there?

[jpak]

11. $225 a cord in southern Maine

(but wood pellets are cheaper and less work and we make them here in Maine)

http://polarbearandco.com/mainedem/pel.html

(assuming 3 tons per home per year, that plant alone will produce enough pellets for 46 thousand homes)

[One_Life_To_Give]

12. I should have known, give a Mainer some bailing wire

and they are bound to build a better mousetrap.

[kilesimon]

3. hot town

I live in California -- i have the opposite problem..

I cook in the summer, but can't afford to turn on my AC

[Javaman]

4. Pray for a mild winter. nt

[The2ndWheel]

5. Cheap energy gave us the ability to live anywhere

Our sedentary lifestyle required that cheap energy be available. Whether it's too hot, or too cold, you don't have to do a damn thing except flick a switch. You don't even have to make the switch that you would flick.

I don't know what answer people want these days. Other than to be able to flick a switch(and in the future, think about flicking a switch), completely mold the environment to your needs(which won't help in our efforts to "green"), and stop evolution(isn't that the point of all this?).

Why are you a pessimist they say. Why??? Because we're not going to stop. We can't stop. The things that we would need to stop doing, are the things that have given our species all our modern luxuries. Yes, they have all come at an increasing environmental cost, but that hasn't stopped us, isn't stopping us, and will not stop us. How could it? Who is anyone to tell someone else they can't have this medicine, or can't use this to travel, or can't go here and do that. If it's possible, how can anyone say no? You can't. The only way you can say no is through force. The more organized that force, the more effective.

It's just so damn tiring waking up each day and hearing or reading about how this or that doesn't work. No kidding, we've only become more efficient at what didn't work before. We're getting better at unsustainability.

[razzleberry]

8. fuel oil is a poor and foolish choice ...

for heating air from 0F to 70F.

people who choo$e to live in a non-natural-gas-hookup area,
need to under$tand the choice they are making.

[GreenPartyVoter]

13. For some of us there is no choice. We live where we can afford to and heat with whatever the home is

set up to heat with.

[MADem]

17. I got news for you. Maine is HUGE. And rural. There aren't nice little gas hookups everywhere.

Some people need to live where their family farms are, their JOBS are...they can't always "choo$e" to live where the frigging gas company decides to run lines.

:eyes:

[NNadir]

15. Um...um...isn't Maine a renewable paradise?

Mainers could save energy by not driving en masse to organic "locally grown" dinners with lots of yuppies I guess.

I hear lots and lots and lots and lots about how Maine doesn't need dangerous fossil fuels. Is it, um, fraudulent?

Couldn't everyone just hook up their heaters to the Maine Solar House?

If Maine is scared now, just wait until Sable Island collapses.

[MADem]

18. Who said that ME was a "renewable paradise?"

I know they're trying like hell to find alternatives, but I don't think they're snobby or self-satisfied about it at all.

I really like Mainers--great folk, especially in the rural and farming areas. They're pretty sensible and frugal, too--they don't waste and they aren't ostentatious. There are a lot of folks who moved to Maine, mostly to the south, who are into the conspicuous consumption bullshit, but that's not characteristic of the average Mainer.

[NNadir]

20. I'm quite sure you're right.

But there are, on this website, though people who don't quite fit the bill.

I am personally acquainted with one Mainer who sits around opposing the world's largest source of climate change gas free energy while bragging of his conspicuous consumption.

My gut feeling is that the person in question didn't earn this life of privilege but was born with it.

It would be unfair though, to characterize this person as typical of Mainers.