Baby, it's cold outside!

Hello,

My name is "Bwings" and I don't have a wood stove...

... but some of my readers do.

Dear Hippie Mom,

I was wondering how environmental a pellet stove is for the environment both indoors and out.  

Anonoymous Hippie

Well Anon Hippie, tis the season to freeze our butts off in Canada, so that's a very festive question.

First, what is a Pellet Stove.

A pellet stove became popular in the 80's as a slow burning source of heat. They came about largely as a result of the 1973 oil crisis. Although burning pellets has been around for hundreds of years. Settlers would burn grass and buffalo chips, cow pie, meadow muffins, feces; if no wood or coal was available. Pellet stoves burn compressed wood or biomass pellets slowly with a constant flame. If history tells me much from my candle research slow burning is definitely a great thing as far as emissions go. But I'm not going to get ahead of myself.

So how green are these heat emitting devices in our family room? From everything I've read they seem to be very sound and the options for fuel consumption is quite vast. Some can use a long list of self-sustaining resources such as cherry pits, corn, wheat and sunflower seeds! Now isn't that great?! Then as far as their use goes there is a long list of pros as well. According to my findings most are self igniting and can be controlled by a thermostat or even a remote control.

I remember growing up with a wood stove and sitting on a freezing cold night huddled around the ice cold stove because no one woke up to stoke it. Smoke would pour out as attempts were made at starting a fresh fire. Often we resorted to boiling water, filling old pop bottles with said water and then tucking those in bed with us. We soon learned you wanted to keep these bottles a few blankets above you to prevent terrible burns like those my poor fathers leg experienced one frozen night. If you were really on top of things you would have 3 in your bed an hour before you went to bed.

To think these burns and late nights of smoked out kitchens and blaring smoke alarms that ended up disconnected more often than they offered security could've all been prevented with the addition of a pellet stove! Another pro, is that these pellets burn cleanly and create only a fine layer of ash rather than a thick sticky layer of creosote and therefore with proper care are far less likely to cause chimney fires. I know that could have saved a few firefighters from coming to my place too! In fact these pellet stoves pollute so very little they don't require certification from the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) though most get certified anyway.

Also, it should be noted that because trees and plants suck carbon out of the air any burning of them would result in a 0 balance change in Carbon emissions. Thusly they are exempt from the carbon taxes in the world. I struggled to find anything for Canada but in the states an efficient pellet stove is eligible for a tax credit up to 30% of the cost of the appliance and labor. If you've just had one installed it is worth mentioning to your accountant during tax time.

These pellet stoves sound like a very practical and green choice for heating your house this winter. In fact the only two possibly negative thing that stood out was the fact that, like with a car, one should be aware of the grade of fuel they are using and try to remain consistent so as not to damage the "engine" so to speak. Also you'll want to make sure you have a pellet fuel source provider before making the switch as it's still gaining in popularity. In most cases cost is the same but if you have the mind power to use it I found a fuel value calculator that breaks it all down for you in determining how to save money.

Long story short a pellet stove is definitely a step up from a regular wood stove and doesn't use up precious resources such as fossil fuels. It causes far less toxic emissions and lessens our carbon footprint while trying to keep warm. It may not save you any money but it probably won't cost you more either. It will, however, reduce your carbon footprint as well as the carcinogens emitted into your home and that is a saving worth a switch for me!

If you want to e-mail your questions to Hippie Mom you can do so at hippiemom@hotmail.ca {note, ca not com}

Keep warm, your friendly neighborhood hippie mom.


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