Wood and Coal Stove Advisory

(Page 13 of 13)

December/January 1992
By John Vivian 
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A Personal Statement

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To benefit economically from wood heat, you must cut and split your own wood. Be honest with yourself: cutting your own costs $35 or more a cord in lost lumber value, fuel and oil, and equipment depreciation. If you add in the value of labor, you may find yourself losing money. So why bother. Wood-work is more enjoyable exercise than a health club membership. I do my own chimney-sweeping and stove maintenance as well. So we are out-of-pocket at most $500/yr (about the annual cost of operating a pellet stove). It's a small price to pay for the independence a big wood pile gives us from foreign-dominated oil, from finite fossil fuels in general, and from the frequent country electrical outages that would disable a pellet-burner, central oil heater, or other sophisticated heating plant.

But, I'd heat with cordwood even if it cost more than commercial fuels. To me there's no way to put a price on having a living fire and cozy-warmth-radiating stove as the center of home life.

So long as the airshed isn't over-burdened, I still feel that heating with self-renewing wood is good for the planet. And, wading through hip-deep snow to dump soil-sweetening wood ash on the garden... picking dry leaves and bark chips from rugs... even removing the occasional wood splinter from my hide during a bleak New England winter is a reminder of summer sun and an intimate daily connection with elemental nature. Wood heat is good for the soul.

More Information

For more information from the EPA, write for the free pamphlets: Certified Stove List, Exempted Stove List and Buying an EPA-Certified Woodstove to: Federal Programs Section [EN-341], Stationary Source Compliance Division US Environmental Protection Agency; 401 "M" Street, N.W.Washington DC 20460

Oregon, a leader in wood stove regulations, offers a free list of stoves approved (and exempted) for emissions and fuel-efficiency among other information. Write: Oregon Dept. of Environmental Quality, Air Quality Division; 811 SE Sixth Avenue, Portland, OR 97204

For the best information in print on traditional thermal mass firestoves, go to the library or a book store, or get $22.95 together and call 1-800-446-8642 to order The Book Of Masonry Stoves by David Lyle (Brick House Publishing).

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Comments

  • Alisha 1/14/2008 9:50:52 AM

    Alisha Hillman R R # 2 Monkton Ontario Canada N0K1P0 we are a
    single parent family of five and i was wondering if someone would
    send us the self sufficient life and how to live it we are a poor
    family in canada and would be very grateful if someone would send
    us this book thanks Alisha

  • Adam 11/24/2007 1:01:21 AM

    Shure as cool to read from someone with experiance. Today we pay
    3.00 a gallon for fuel oil. Do the math on that. Happy Thanksgiving
    and Merry CHRISTmas.

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