Let's Save Energy! Wood is a cheaper fuel for home heating, but…

Heating our homes is a challenge…..and usually very expensive.

As I mentioned previously, if you have natural gas available, you would be really smart to make plans to switch over to natural gas heating as soon as you can.  Based on heating values of natural gas, and the efficiencies of natural gas boilers and furnaces, you could save about 50% to 60% versus oil. And, natural gas is less harmful to the environment.

One of the least expensive ways to heat our homes is with wood and wood pellets.  Wood pellet stoves are becoming very popular due to the high heating value of those very dense wood pellets, and the relatively low cost (heating value is a measure of the amount of BTU’s --  heat energy – per pound, or gallon, of fuel).  Wood and wood pellets are about equivalent to natural gas in terms of cost.

However, wood and wood pellets have a problem – CO2.
Wood emits about 2 times the amount of CO2 as natural gas, and wood pellets emit about 4 times as much CO2  -- not good!!  Only electric heat emits more CO2 than wood products for heating.   So, even though wood and wood pellets offer a very cost effective heating solution, they pollute more and harm the earth much more than conventional heating fuels.

Just keep that in mind when thinking about wood or wood pellets.  We all need to do our part to help save the earth and emit less of the harmful greenhouse gases.    

Energy Saving Tip of the Week
If you have not already done so, start changing your conventional light bulbs to CFL’s (or even better, LED’s if you can afford them).  Here’s a simple plan:  go to Home Depot or Lowes and buy a 4 pack of 60 watt equivalent CFL’s (about $3 or $4).  Swap out 1 bulb per night until you have used up all 4 bulbs.  Then go buy another 4 pack of CFL’s and keep going.  Your electric bill will be better…and the Earth will be happier!

For more information on all kinds of ways that you can reduce your energy bills, often times no cost or low cost actions, please see my website at www.saveenergyusa.com.