If you ran that $2/therm gas (~$0.07/kWh) through a reasonably efficient (~40%) natural gas genset it would produce electricity cheaper than what you currently pay for power, and you would have 2/3rds of the gas energy left over as heat.
I was curious about this, and here are the numbers I got. I looked around and even a 23% efficient Generac 7171 comes out ahead. It’s rated for 9kW at full output on natural gas. They say it uses 127 ft3/hr which is 1.37 or 39kWh. This is $0.304/kWh.
Of course this ignores the cost of the generator, maintenance, lower efficiency when run below full capacity, etc. but it’s still pretty weird!
Yeah, I came to say the same. You’re basically running into the problem that electricity in MA is expensive relative to natural gas, which is very much a contingent fact of policy/history/infrastructure. If you were living elsewhere, or living off-grid, the numbers would look very different.
You may (or may not) find the MA policy mix and cost structure changing in the future, so if nothing else, be ready to revise your numbers over time. Especially if your current gas system breaks and you have to replace it with something no matter what, that can change the economics a lot too.
I was curious about this, and here are the numbers I got. I looked around and even a 23% efficient Generac 7171 comes out ahead. It’s rated for 9kW at full output on natural gas. They say it uses 127 ft3/hr which is 1.37 or 39kWh. This is $0.304/kWh.
Of course this ignores the cost of the generator, maintenance, lower efficiency when run below full capacity, etc. but it’s still pretty weird!
Yeah, I came to say the same. You’re basically running into the problem that electricity in MA is expensive relative to natural gas, which is very much a contingent fact of policy/history/infrastructure. If you were living elsewhere, or living off-grid, the numbers would look very different.
You may (or may not) find the MA policy mix and cost structure changing in the future, so if nothing else, be ready to revise your numbers over time. Especially if your current gas system breaks and you have to replace it with something no matter what, that can change the economics a lot too.