Natural Fuels (Really Natural)

What changes can we make to our lives to deal with the economic and energy crises ahead? Have you already started making preparations? Got tips to share?

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Unbuntu
Posts: 36
Joined: 24 Nov 2005, 11:09
Location: West Virginia

Natural Fuels (Really Natural)

Post by Unbuntu »

Lets think for a second about what can be burned in a
"Burn Everything" wood stove, or in a pinch, a conventional
one:

wood (bark and innards)
leaves
paper (you can roll paper logs too)
furniture ;)
dried grass, weeds, plants

and if your freezing to death and really need fuel:

hair :lol:
dry human or animal feces
plastic :shock:


So when the SHTF I'm not too worried about heat since i have a woodstove and lots of fuel.

Can you think of anything else?


Patrick
Failing to plan is planning to fail
jwanders
Posts: 14
Joined: 24 Nov 2005, 11:09
Location: London

Post by jwanders »

Patrick,

Yeah, lots of stuff burns. The problems come when you have lots of people who start burning whatever they can find: 1) Few will be experienced with fires and not everyone will be careful, and 2) where there's a lot of fires there'll be a lot of smoke, leading to both short-term, local air quality problems and long-term, global climate change problems.

The present population returning en-mass to heating/cooking by fire is one of the worst outcomes I see to peak oil, and one of the reasons I'm trying to raise awareness and discussion that will hopefully lead to better solutions.
Unbuntu
Posts: 36
Joined: 24 Nov 2005, 11:09
Location: West Virginia

Post by Unbuntu »

jwanders wrote:Patrick,

Yeah, lots of stuff burns. The problems come when you have lots of people who start burning whatever they can find: 1) Few will be experienced with fires and not everyone will be careful, and 2) where there's a lot of fires there'll be a lot of smoke, leading to both short-term, local air quality problems and long-term, global climate change problems.

The present population returning en-mass to heating/cooking by fire is one of the worst outcomes I see to peak oil, and one of the reasons I'm trying to raise awareness and discussion that will hopefully lead to better solutions.
Yes, thats something along the lines of what I was thinking when I wrote this. There will be too many people burning trash, plastic, tires (horrible for the environment) and all kinds of disgusting things. A couple years back my neighbor would burn trash and sometimes tires, It would really stink, not to mention hurt the ozone layer. But they moved away, (they came from the city and tried to be farmers out here in the sticks, hah!) But I digress.

People should know these things!

By the way, I read somewhere that a really good and efficient wood stove wouldn't cause very much air pollution. Is this true? Also, my wood stove only heats the kitchen (the room it's in) and the adjacent living room. The rest of the house is cold. Is it inefficient because it's 15+ years old?

I hope your a stove expert :wink:


Thanks,

Pat
Failing to plan is planning to fail
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Andy Hunt
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Joined: 24 Nov 2005, 11:09
Location: Bury, Lancashire, UK

Post by Andy Hunt »

Hi Patrick,

You can buy clean-burning stoves which have a secondary combustion chamber to get rid of particulates in the flue gases, which get rid of a lot of the pollution problem.

Your stove is probably perfectly good, and if it is running on its own without a back boiler, is probably doing quite well to heat a couple of rooms. A lot depends on air circulation in your property, and the water content of the wood you are using (as well as the size of your rooms, of course!)

You can get stoves with back boilers which will run your hot water and radiators too - I have one, and I love it!
Andy Hunt
http://greencottage.burysolarclub.net
Eternal Sunshine wrote: I wouldn't want to worry you with the truth. :roll:
Unbuntu
Posts: 36
Joined: 24 Nov 2005, 11:09
Location: West Virginia

Post by Unbuntu »

Andy Hunt wrote:You can get stoves with back boilers which will run your hot water and radiators too - I have one, and I love it!
Nice! Where can I get a good clean burning stove?

Pat
Failing to plan is planning to fail
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Andy Hunt
Posts: 6760
Joined: 24 Nov 2005, 11:09
Location: Bury, Lancashire, UK

Post by Andy Hunt »

Most stove manufacturers make a good clean-burning range. My favourites are the Morso clean-burners - absolutely solid, top-quality, and best of all, they have lovely emblems of animals cast into the sides of the stove, according to the name of each model (mine is a Dove, you can get Squirrels, Owls etc etc)

http://www.stovesonline.co.uk/wood_burn ... toves.html
Andy Hunt
http://greencottage.burysolarclub.net
Eternal Sunshine wrote: I wouldn't want to worry you with the truth. :roll:
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