Right off the bat the article is incorrect in that it states that pellet fuel is unsustainable.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Carbon Loophole: Why Is Wood Burning Counted as Green Energy?
- Thread starter cancel2 2022
- Start date
Right off the bat the article is incorrect in that it states that pellet fuel is unsustainable.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
I tried to find out why the wood pellets were considered green energy. I could not find who is in back of it. I looked to see whose fingerprints were on the decision. I suspected lumber companies, of which the Kochs own a few. But I could not find the proof. However 65 scientists disputed the senate committee'd decision. It was not the left, but the Biomass Power Assoc. that got their way. The biomass Assoc is peopled by Lumber Companies .
cancel2 2022
Canceled
Probably true for a few power stations but not for a great expansion to replace coal. Anyway that is a side issue, the major one is it doesn't actually save any CO2, and is also incredibly expensive.
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Darth Omar
Russian asset
And that’s just one of the reasons I don’t live in an urban area lol.
My pellet stove is cranking out the heat in front of me as I type. It heats 2200 sq feet and when we have one of these insufferable arctic blasts it costs $10/day for me to stay toasty warm. Probably half that during our normal winter weather.
The pellets I burn are a by-product of an oak flooring wood mill. Since it’s kiln dried saw dust it’s essentially smokeless. Probably any hardwood pellets would burn clean though.
I’m waiting for someone to figure out you could run duct work off one of these things and use it like a conventional furnace.
wood pellets are a renewable fuel source in that they are made from trees
When burned they can only release the amount of carbon the trees absorbed during their lifespan, minus of course that contained within the root system, which remains burried underground (sequestered). This is why wood, when burned in place of fossil fuels is carbon negative, green (the very essence of) and renewable.
Darth Omar
Russian asset
My house sits on ten acres of mostly hardwood forest. I couldn’t burn dead wood fast enough to come to the end of it lol.
It’s inexcusable to cut a live tree for firewood.
Kudos for displacing fossil fuels.
All pellets burn clean due the pelletizing process, during extrusion the matter is heated to the point that lignin in the wood becomes liquefied and holds the pellet together.
Interestingly the density consistency of extruded pellets is the same wheter hardwood or softwood is usued and in that BTUs per pound is the same regardless of type of wood, the heat value is the same, in fact many users favor softwood pellets which seem to produce a more manageable ash
Darth Omar
Russian asset
I didn’t know all that but I’d definitely buy my again.
The shipping part of the equation is a good point, as you mentioned in an earlier post that I didn't read. lol How can shipping the wood thousands of miles, burning some form of carbon fuel the entire way, create a net gain?
It is just common sense that the best negative-carbon energy sources are things that are much closer. Wind, solar, water, etc.
I'm interested in learning more about that.
countryboy
Verified User
Nice, when I get too old to cut and split wood I'll probably get a pellet stove. My current wood burner, is a wood-burning furnace with a standard furnace blower motor, and a plenum for ductwork. I only have one duct running to the master bedroom at the moment. But eventually I'll tie it into the ductwork of the entire house.
A lot of ppl here (UP of MI) have outdoor pellet and/or wood burning furnaces connected to the house by ductwork. I believe that they are boilers that heat water, which then warms the rooms. That's how our furnace works, only the boiler is in the basement and is fueled by propane. We heat mostly with wood though, with the furnace being a night-time back-up. We keep the thermostat set on 60F 24/7 when we're home.
I would burn wood if I were not transient and lived secluded and private so as not to affect my neighbors. I do have somewhat to say about the "greenness" of wood burning. it is one of the most noxious, quality of life damaging forms of heat production I have ever witnessed. case in point: I do work in Asheville, nc, where are plenty of "greenies"/ pseudo free people with several little raised bed garden boxes and those silly hindu /Buddhist/ whatever prayer flags flying on their damned front porch: Bernie burn brains and all kinds of flakisms. I would never abide there for any amount of time because in many places around that city you are continually inundated/ covered with the smoke of crapwoods, scrapwoods and often the burning of garbage for heat. it sucks. on the flip side ; I finished a house for a man in Rutherfordton, nc who purchased a large water furnace and I plumbed it to the heat pump HVAC system I installed for hydronic secondary heat. he has no neighbors and burns all of his paper waste without detriment to his immediate neighbors. toxic waste hell; but he is a free man with 30 years or so service in the us navy. two cent worth. i'm bored.
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Darth Omar
Russian asset
I’m wanting one of those. I have a Buck stove insert in the fireplace but the blower went out on it and I need to upgrade the pipe running up the chimney. I love the pellet stove, it has a thermostat and it’s ridiculously easy to operate but I’m leery of needing to rely on a supplier and/or if demand jacks the price of pellets up.
And I have an abundant supply of ‘free’ wood [my labor, chain saw cost etc] so I’m thinking of getting a wood furnace instead of putting money in the Buck.
Next year lol.
countryboy
Verified User
The best way to go is an outdoor wood burner. Keeps all the mess outside. But they ain't cheap.
No i said relative to their size. It's newly mature trees that take in the most carbon
I use to have a wood stove & loved it, although my neighbors weren't really happy about it.. Here in Sacramento county, Calif there are 10 days (per year) they don't allow you to burn in a wood stove & 2 or 3 times that for just a very inefficient wood burning fireplace..
What I don't see being addressed is the huge problem in the west of fires...
Fire suppression over the last several decades & lack of lumbering in many parts has resulted in massive fires in forests/areas where the brush, small trees, over growth etc has accumulated, ready to explode...
What I don't see being addressed is the huge problem in the west of fires...
Fire suppression over the last several decades & lack of lumbering in many parts has resulted in massive fires in forests/areas where the brush, small trees, over growth etc has accumulated, ready to explode...
Our master bedroom is upstairs; we don't turn the heat on up there, unless we are going to be gone overnight. We're tougher in the U.P. lol
Teflon Don
I'm back baby
I thought about a pellet stove, but I have ready access to all the wood I want
If I could do it over, I would install an outdoor boiler and radiant floor heating. That is my dream setup