by 'macro solution' I meant, as you did, one-size-fits-all solution.

This article is two years old -agreed re wood pellet stoves but that is not what people had at the time nor have right now (in large amounts). A version of this paper is being submitted for peer review with updated numbers from DOE and USFS - I had planned on linking to it when published.

Actually, I think that wood pellets might be more of a "macro solution".

My wood burning experience has shown me that firewood use is closely tied to the type of stove. By that I mean that one uses wood which is cut to fit the particular stove. I would cut my wood into 20" slices, whereas my friend would cut his to mo more than 17" length. My neighbor wants his cut to less than 13". In short, there is no uniform size for firewood, no "one size fits all" as with fossil fuels. with oil, we have a few very clearly defined types, be it gasoline or diesel for transport, #2 heating oil for homes, kerosene or propane. These fuel divisions have allowed common technologies to evolve into highly refined systems. With firewood, a similar single type would be that found with pellet stoves.

BTW, pellets can be made from many biomass sources such as switchgrass, not just wood. Thus, pellet stoves might represent the best solution for the "one size fits all" problem.

E. Swanson

By chance, I just heard a discussion two weeks ago of switchgrass pellets vs. wood pellets. Apparently switchgrass pellets have a dramatically higher ash (mineral) content, on the order of 10-20%, than wood (0.5-1%). Because of this, it's not advisable to use switchgrass pellets in stoves that are designed specifically for wood pellets, as they may "gum up the works" with the much higher ash load. So even in the pellet world, there are compatibility issues.