Can you help me with some information - namely the average amount of oil equivalent that is used to produce a kWh of electricity in oil fired or gas fired powerstations?
The organisation I work for has installed a ground heat exchange system to replace an old oil furnace. They have two more properties that could have the same change, and I want to encourage them to carry on with energy conservation (especially as most of the oil used here comes from Russia ).
It is too early to get really accurate calculations of the energy/money saving, but the first results look positive (although slightly less than first anticipated).
The cost savings look substantial - the extra electricity cost is only 32% of the cost for the oil (average volume over 13 years).
I was wondering what that actual energy savings cost (this is for my own interest and probably will not be included in any 'encouragement' to the firm).
From the internet I have found that 1 kg oil equivalent = 11,63 kWh
and that heating oil has a density of around 880 kg/m3.
With 24 900 liters of oil saved (equal to 2+ small road tankers) this works out at the equivalent of 257 700 kWh. The extra electricity used is just below 70 000 kWh - so in energy terms the new system only uses about 27% of the energy of the old systems.
However, as there are inefficiencies in electricity production and distribution, I was wondering what factor I should add to that 27% to get nearer a true figure. Also I am wondering if the cost is a good proxy for that inefficiency (indicating a 18-19% inefficiency), or if there is some anomaly in our local pricing systems.