204 comments on Wood Stoves - Viable Home Heating Source?
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204 comments on Wood Stoves - Viable Home Heating Source?
Comments can no longer be added to this story.
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GAIA Host Collective
That would be the point of the last article he posted.
A top-of-the-line wood burner will set you back USD1000 or more, but the additional money is worth it for the extra energy you extract from the wood and the much cleaner emissions.
Most of the woodsmoke from conventional fireplaces and other too-common wood stoves is actually unburned combustibles. By cycling those through a superheated reburner emissions drop dramatically and you get much more heat per cord.
It still isn't perfect, but as long as we are going to burn stuff for heat in winter we might as well do it right.
What still is not clear is what the emissions are from these EPA approved woodburning stoves/fireplace inserts. If a lot of people start using them by replacing their natural gas fired fireplaces or natural gas or oil furnaces, then knowing the impact on air quality is important. What could happen is a lot of people start using them and air quality becomes too much of a health risk, then they could be banned or the government may have to offer incentives to get people to replace them with something else, like ground sourced heat pumps. This would be very cost inefficient.
Retsel
Doing many different things is cost inefficient, but it is how you make a complex system robust.
Not everyone will choose wood, for many reasons detailed both above and below. Fuel availability is a primary driver. For those who do, it is in everyone's best interest that they have the most efficient systems available.