Is it cold where you are?  Here it is freezing and we are getting much more snow than we normally do.  This has me kind of stressed out about what my heating bill is going to look this month.  The thing is, I have an electric furnace.  If I were to have built the house myself I probably would have went in a different direction, but it is what it is.  We are planning to put a new home on our property soon, so now I am thinking about what direction we should go in the new home and what sources of heat we should have.

In my research I have come up with some really interesting numbers as far as an average of how much each heat source will cost throughout the span of year:

Wood Heat.  A wood stove, fireplace or wood furnace burns wood.  Firewood sells on average for $200 per cord (of course this can fluctuate depending on where you live).  Most people will use roughly 6 cords of wood throughout the year, therefore your average is $1200. Not too bad at first glance, right?

Oil.  Although it can change quickly, oil is, at this time, a very expensive way to heat your home.  It costs roughly $2700 per year to keep your oil tanks filled.

Propane.  Propane prices are different depending on which region you live in.  The average yearly cost of propane heat is anywhere from $1500 to $2300.

Natural Gas.  Natural Gas is among the lower costing heat sources.  The average yearly cost of natural gas heat is right around $1000.  Natural gas costs less than half of what oil does and has grown in popularity as oil prices have risen.

Electricity.  Over a third of all homes in the US use electric heat because it is easy to install, however many homeowners are not impressed by the efficiency of the heat source.  Electric heat costs, on average $1500 per year.  Not terrible, but not as efficient as some of the others.

What heat source do you use?  What would you choose if you were building a new home?