home heating - gas vs. oil?
Help!
My unscientific Google research has been totally unhelpful. I'm looking for a new apartment, and stand right now at choosing between two which are both lovely and perfect and wonderful and all that. However, one is heated with gas, and the other with oil.
I've always had a knee-jerk reaction of NO to oil, but I want to really know what it's all about (...maybe because I really love the apartment that happens to be oil-heated). I want to know about the price factor, of course; but also the environmental impact and the global ethics.
Here's what I think I know:
- Gas burns cleaner.
- Gas is more likely to be from the US, which seems to me to mean three things: 1) more likely to be stable in price, 2) less likely to leave me supporting Hugo Chavez, and 3) less fuel being burned in having my fuel transported to me.
- Oil tends to be more expensive.
Here's what I don't know:
- I've read some things saying that as long as your furnace is serviced regularly and you change your filters regularly, oil burns just as clean as gas. Is this true?
- What is the risk of ground/water pollution with oil?
- Gas and oil are both petroleum products. When oil prices rise, wouldn't gas prices? Are they percentage-wise significantly lower?
What to do?? Please confirm my knowledge, answer my questions, tell me I'm wrong, waver with pros and cons, give me definitive answers... whatever you got, I'd love to hear it!
My unscientific Google research has been totally unhelpful. I'm looking for a new apartment, and stand right now at choosing between two which are both lovely and perfect and wonderful and all that. However, one is heated with gas, and the other with oil.
I've always had a knee-jerk reaction of NO to oil, but I want to really know what it's all about (...maybe because I really love the apartment that happens to be oil-heated). I want to know about the price factor, of course; but also the environmental impact and the global ethics.
Here's what I think I know:
- Gas burns cleaner.
- Gas is more likely to be from the US, which seems to me to mean three things: 1) more likely to be stable in price, 2) less likely to leave me supporting Hugo Chavez, and 3) less fuel being burned in having my fuel transported to me.
- Oil tends to be more expensive.
Here's what I don't know:
- I've read some things saying that as long as your furnace is serviced regularly and you change your filters regularly, oil burns just as clean as gas. Is this true?
- What is the risk of ground/water pollution with oil?
- Gas and oil are both petroleum products. When oil prices rise, wouldn't gas prices? Are they percentage-wise significantly lower?
What to do?? Please confirm my knowledge, answer my questions, tell me I'm wrong, waver with pros and cons, give me definitive answers... whatever you got, I'd love to hear it!