Switching to a Greener Heat

Last Updated on Tuesday, 20 October 2009 18:24 Written by Shawn Dell Joyce Tuesday, 20 October 2009 18:19

Recent hikes in the cost of fuel oil and natural gas, have many of us looking to alternative sources for home heating. But which is “greenest” alternative? This is a tough question because it depends on where you live, and what fuel is abundant locally. If you live in the Midwest, corn is more abundant than wood, and may have a less environmental impact since it doesn’t have to be shipped to you.

     If you live in the woods, then wood is a logical heat choice for you and is carbon neutral; meaning it doesn’t add any more carbon to the atmosphere to burn the wood, than the tree sequestered during its lifetime. Most people who live in the woods can use windfall trees and standing dead wood without ever having to cut down a living tree. However, if we all burned wood, it would quickly deforest our country and add to climate change dramatically.

 
     Biomass heat is gaining in popularity, and can be a greener choice in some cases. Corn pellet stoves and wood pellet stoves look the same, and heat equivalently. Since they are highly efficient, they don't need a chimney; instead they can be vented outdoors by a four-inch pipe through an outside wall. You can also tie a corn stove to your thermostat so that glow plug igniters automatically light it. It has a hopper capacity big enough to hold several day’s worth of corn without refilling. Both stoves use blowers to create a vacuum inside the stove, keeping smoke from seeping into your home.

          What you burn is also crucial. Wood smoke can contain many tars, creosote, and other chemicals that will degrade our air quality. Burning wood as hot as possible will help reduce contaminants in the smoke. Corn burns so cleanly that you won’t see a wisp of smoke from the stove pipe. However, corn requires many chemical inputs to grow, and can be environmentally devastating.

Rising home heating costs and concerns about climate change make choosing the greenest home heating option important this winter.

     Wood pellets burn the cleanest, but are not necessarily as renewable a resource as corn. Look for corn that is grown locally, with low pesticide and fertilizer use, like transitional corn, for a truly environmental-friendly alternative fuel.

  There are also multi-fuel stoves that will burn anything that will fit in the two inch hopper. This may be a good choice if you live in an agricultural area. Farmer’s are discovering a new use for waste crops like wheat shafts and hulls, cornstalks, and moldy hay. These crop wastes can be pelletized and sold as biomass heat pellets for multi-fuel stoves. This may be a local source for home heating fuel in areas where wood is expensive and corn is needed as food.

   Many farmers have started growing biomass crops like switchgrass, specifically to pelletize and burn for home heating use. You can use grass pellets in pellet stoves as well as high efficiency woodstoves. If you have enough land, you can make grass pellets out of just about any type of hay or straw varieties. You can even use last year’s moldy hay bales to make next year’s pellets. Finding a pelletizer may be the hardest part of the process. Some farmers in New York, pitch in together and rent one. You could make your own pellets and save substantially on home heating. This could become a popular home-based business that will help Americans wean off of fossil fuels, and enjoy real homeland security.

     Traditional open masonry fireplaces aren't effective or efficient heating devices. Traditional fireplaces draw in as much as 300 cubic feet per minute of heated room air for combustion, then send it straight up the chimney. This is the same as having a four foot hole in your wall that is sucking your precious heat straight outdoors!  Only high-efficiency fireplace inserts have proven effective in increasing the heating efficiency of older fireplaces. The insert functions like a wood stove, fitting into the masonry fireplace or on its hearth, and using the existing chimney.

Shawn Dell Joyce is an award-winning columnist and founder of the Wallkill River School in Orange County, N.Y. You can contact her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . To find out more about Shawn Dell Joyce and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.