Homeowners who use heating oil seek alternatives

Mark Bancroft is already counting his savings from a European-made wood pellet furnace he's buying to replace the oil furnace in his home.

Bancroft burns about 1,100 gallons of heating oil a year, which would cost him about $5,000 at today's record-high prices. With pellets, he expects to use about 8 tons at $250 a ton this coming winter, giving him a savings of $3,000 a year.

As heating oil approaches $5 a gallon, consumers in the oil-reliant Northeast are looking at pellets, heat pumps, firewood and even geothermal systems to soften the blow of high oil prices -- which have almost doubled in the past year and gone up nearly fivefold since 2003.

Bancroft plans to have his new furnace installed this summer. Even at a cost of more than $12,000, he thinks it will pay for itself within five years. Besides saving money, the construction company owner likes the idea of using a homegrown heat source -- wood -- rather than oil.

"How great is it if we make a move toward this type of heating that can boost the economy instead of sending money to foreign lands for oil?" he said.

About 8 million households in the U.S. use heating oil as their primary heating source, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.

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