DON'T BE CRUDE

The stuff that once bubbled up for Jed Clampett of the Beverly Hillbillies can't heat your home. Straight crude oil is pretty boring. But when it's refined -- into products like gasoline, jet fuel and #2, #4, or #6 heating oil -- it's downright surprising! Homeowners burn #2 heating oil, the cleanest and most refined of these three grades.

HOT! HOT! HOT!

Heating oil creates the hottest flame of any home heating fuel. It's 400º hotter than natural gas or propane and makes electric heat and heat pumps shiver in comparison. Because it's so hot, your home heats up faster, needs less fuel, maintains your desired temperature better, and just feels more comfortable.

THE PRICE IS RIGHT

From 1981 to 1992, retail oil prices in the U.S. actually dropped 28%, according to the Department of Energy. Compare that to the cost of food, medicine, or just about anything. During the same period, the average price for natural gas has gone up 37%. Propane rose 17%, and electricity 32%. What's more, according to the Department of Energy, the price of gas is expected to rise 31% faster than oil over the next decade.

OIL PRICES HAVE GONE DOWN!

Supplies are much greater than anyone had expected. There are now more than one trillion gallons of proven reserves--enough to last far into the next century.

• Contrary to popular belief, we produce more than 50% of our oil right here in the U.S. We now get oil from places like Mexico, Canada, Venezuela and Great Britain. Less than 11% now comes from the Persian Gulf.

LEAN, MEAN AND CLEAN

Do you lie awake at night excited that oil heat equipment is so technologically advanced? We hope not. If you do, you need to get out more. But, since efficiency and cleanliness do matter to you:

• Over the years, oil heated systems have regularly outperformed other fuels in terms of efficiency. Today, oil systems often reach efficiencies of 85%, and higher, without sacrificing reliability.
  
• Some of the biggest breakthroughs have come in the area of cleanliness. The new, high-tech equipment burns oil as cleanly as any fuel available. A recent study at Brookhaven National Laboratory confirmed that with proper maintenance, modern oil systems produce virtually no soot.

SAFE STUFF

Oil heat gives you one less thing to worry about: it doesn't explode. Before it can even burn, it must be turned into a fine particle mist and ignited. Also:

• According to a 1993 report by the National Fire Protection Association, oil heat equipment clearly causes the fewest fatalities among heating fuels.
  
• Oil poses one of the least risks of carbon monoxide poisoning to your family. A 1993 report by the Consumer Product Safety Commission found that gas units are associated with 82%, of carbon monoxide deaths in the home. Oil units were involved in less than 1/10 of that.

ENVIRONMENTAL MATTERS

An unpleasant fact of life is that all common heating fuels exact some toll on the environment. Oil is sometimes spilled in the transportation process. Millions of leaks in natural gas lines allow methane, one of the worst "Greenhouse Gases", to foul the air. Highly polluting coal is often burned to generate electricity. We are committed to minimizing the impact of our fuel on the environment. If you're concerned about it, here's some good news:

• In 1991, a year after new laws and safer industry practices were adopted, oil spills in U.S. waters dropped to less than 2%, of their previous yearly averages.
  
• Home oil heat equipment is so efficient, and emissions are so negligible, they are not even regulated by the federal Clean Air Act, unlike other petroleum products.