Posted on 07/14/2009 1:06:09 PM PDT by decimon
MADISON, WI -- JULY 14, 2009 -- The stress of rising natural gas prices is leading many consumers to rethink how they heat their homes. For some this means moving towards modern alternative energy options, while others have been turning to a more traditional method for a solution to these rising costs. In Canada and the United States, wood burning stoves have been reevaluated as a potentially viable option for home heating.
The case for modern woodstoves has developed with the improvement of the products on the market, as wood heating technology has substantially advanced in recent years. With the advanced secondary combustion systems on Environmental Protection Agency certified woodstoves, they are now 95% more efficient than their predecessors.
Dr. Paul Grogan, a plant and ecosystem ecologist and Canadian Research Chair (II) at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario conducted a case study on the benefits of woodstoves with the help of final-year undergraduate and first year graduate students. He determined that adding a woodstove to the home can help both consumers heating costs as well as the environment. The results were published in the latest edition of the Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education.
The environmental sustainability of woodstove use is dependent upon the consumption of wood from sustainably managed woodlots, as the carbon released is reused as the next generation of trees grows. Annual gross CO2 emissions did in fact increase from 12,610 kg (i.e., ~2.5 metric tons CO2/person per year) to 17,330 kg after the installation of the wood stove. But while this gross amount did increase, the net carbon released by the combustion is negligible, the only surplus coming from the harvest and transport. Based on an average growing time of 130 years before harvest for local Ontario tree species, a woodlot or forest 3.5 hectares in size would provide an indefinite supply of wood heat for a household without a net increase in carbon emissions.
In the case study, adding a woodstove to the ground floor of a 3200ft2 home reduced the mean annual gas cost by 60%; from $2260 to $880. The annual cost of the wood fuel for the woodstove amounted to $1330 for 5 full cords (a cord is 8 feet long by 4 feet high by 4 feet wide - 128ft3 ). This was a yearly savings of $50 at market fossil fuel prices of 2005-2007 without taking into account rising fossil fuel prices or the impending carbon tax. Should these variables come into play Dr. Grogan estimated that the domestic heating costs would be reduced by 25%. This translates into a potential savings of $920 in the first 3 years.
Excellent information.
Wood warms you FOUR times!
Once when you cut it
Another when you carry it
Once again when you burn it,
Last when it burns your house down.
Almost every house fire we hear about, up here in N. Mich.
invariably involves a wood, or pellet stove.
The Deliverance crowd or the yuppies?
There are alot of coal/wood stoves on the market.
You start the fire with wood and then switch to coal.
The problem with coal is it is dirty and the dust gets over everything.
Pellet stoves are a nice alternative and there is currently a 30 % tax credit on them up to $1500. They have a long burn time and you do not get the mess. However, they need electricity and do have a computer/circut board.
I hear banjo music.
It also produces a lot of CO2 which is an added bonus.
Guess y’all didn’t grow up hillbilly like I did.
Awwwww!
We put a (too-expensive) wood stove in our home.
The thing is great - cut our gas cost by about 2/3rds!
Actually, it heats the whole house, and we have done so, when the power is out - but, most of the time, we stoke it up before bed, and count it a victory if a small flame is still going in the morning, so the gas heat kicks in at night.
Here is the best part - wood is free where we live. Go to the dump, the will let you have all the wood you can haul out.
We heat with wood. Dropped our annual oil bill to 600 gals from 1200 Galls. Mostly using it to heat water for six and a small apt.
We go through about three cord per year in the Jotel. I love it.
I dunno where you got that pic, but I will swear that it is my brother.
Hahahahahaaaaa!!!!
Oh. My. Gosh. LOL!!!!!
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