carbon neutral

[MaryB]

I have a half dozen Alladin kerosene lanterns. The type with a mantle that burn cleaner. During a winter power outage it is a source of light and heat.

[10x]

I have a half dozen Alladin kerosene lanterns. The type with a mantle that burn cleaner. During a winter power outage it is a source of light and heat.

In my early youth all we had was kerosene lamps - no electricity, not enough money for flashlights-
I hate the smell of kerosene - it smells like poverty and privation.

[hoodat]

I’ve recently read that as much kerosene is burned in oil lamps in areas that don’t have electricity as jet fuel in all the worlds airliners.

That's a kind of tough one for me to swallow but--- sometimes statistics and numbers will slap ya long side the head. jd

[Hannibal]

In my early youth all we had was kerosene lamps - no electricity, not enough money for flashlights-
I hate the smell of kerosene - it smells like poverty and privation.

Agreed. I work around large diesel engines every day. Spent 4 years in the Navy around aircraft too. I despise the smell of diesel/kerosene.

[WRideout]

Kind of a change eh? Feds and the tree huggers have been against wood burning for decades. Heck with that reasoning, coal is carbon neutral comes from trees right?

Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

According to my college botany professor, coal is from the ancient ferns that grew tall and looked like trees.
Wayne

[imashooter2]

That's a kind of tough one for me to swallow but--- sometimes statistics and numbers will slap ya long side the head. jd

I admit that it seems odd sitting here in the US. We are creatures of our own experience and our experience doesn’t include that there is an awful lot of the world with no electricity and more with unreliable electricity.

[Hannibal]

According to my college botany professor, coal is from the ancient ferns that grew tall and looked like trees.
Wayne

At one time it was accepted as fact that oil came from the decomposition of ancient living things also. That has since turned out to be false. Along with some other ideas such as a flat earth and the earth being the center of this planetary system.
I wonder what other long-held ideas will turn out to be false.

[Alex_4x4]

Carbon neutrality is akin to virgin birth or communism - you can only believe in them.

I am amazed at how powerfully in the civilized west the media can brainwash the population.

[Finster101]

"I am amazed at how powerfully in the civilized west the media can brainwash the population."

Alex, you should not be. After years of practice the media is exceedingly good at it.

[Battis]

I wouldn't say that I'm brainwashed because I understand the concept of firewood being carbon neutral. Burning wood gives off CO2. Growing trees suck in that same CO2. Nothing to do with the "civilized west" media. Is it exactly carbon neutral, molecule for molecule? Come on...
My point in the post was that firewood being labeled carbon neutral in that 1.7 trillion dollar bill might take some of the "heat" off the practice of burning wood for heat, which I do.

[dverna]

I will be burning wood until I cannot carry it in anymore. It is my primary source of heat because it is cheaper than anything else. There are a lot of folks in the same boat where I live.

Laws that make sense for urban areas do not make sense for rural areas.

[Battis]

I'm once again at that point that I'm thinking about switching to pellets. Maybe 10, 15 years ago, the firewood sellers around here raised the prices to the point that many wood burners made that switch to pellets, and the wood sellers were stuck with a large inventory that they couldn't get rid of. They got smart and dropped their prices. But, now the prices are getting crazy again. I like wood and don't really want to switch, but green is now around $300 a cord and "seasoned" is alot higher.

[MaryB]

I'm once again at that point that I'm thinking about switching to pellets. Maybe 10, 15 years ago, the firewood sellers around here raised the prices to the point that many wood burners made that switch to pellets, and the wood sellers were stuck with a large inventory that they couldn't get rid of. They got smart and dropped their prices. But, now the prices are getting crazy again. I like wood and don't really want to switch, but green is now around $300 a cord and "seasoned" is alot higher.

AT $300 cord dried hardwood you have $23.81 cost per million BTU's
$245/ton wood pellets $19.15 and right now I am paying $220/ton so $17.20 per million BTU's (pellets vary in cost across the country so...)

Right now I pay $1.82/Mil BTU's more for pellets vs natural gas. BUT the heat I get is more comfortable form pellets with no cold/hot swings. Downside is I can't use the pellet stove when it is above 30f outside, it drives me out of the living room!

calculator https://www.pelletheat.org/compare-fuel-costs

[popper]

I guess Bill Gates idea of carbon neutral is to eliminate persons. We are carbon based animals! I was in Seoul for the Olympics, air was fine.

[Battis]

The only problem I have with pellet stoves...well, actually two problems, is, first of all, if the power goes out, I'd need a generator to run it. Second, is the quality of the pellets. I remember back when Walmart was selling them - they were junk. Has the uniformity of pellet quality been ironed out?
I know you can buy back-up batteries for the stoves, but, from what I understand, the batteries last about four hours, enough to clear the stove of what's in it when the power goes out.
I hear that the pellet stoves give a better, longer and more uniformed heat. Then again, I've been told that the chimney that I use for the woodstove is too tall for a pellet stove - it won't draft properly.
Decisions...

[MUSTANG]

There are "Non-Electric" pellet stove options. No power required. One such is the US Stove Wiseway 2,000 sq. ft. 40,000 BTU Non-Electric, Gravity Feed pellet stove. Home Depot carries them for a touch over $2,300.00 currently.

Attachment 308601


I looked at these for the Montana House (Before the Creator sold the patents and manufacturing = they were about $1,200.00 then), but opted for the more traditional Wood Stove - Vogelzang TR-007.

[Battis]

"Non-Electric" pellet stove options...
I will check them out.
I don't mind the work involved with wood - stacking, moving, etc. And the cost to switch to a good conventional pellet stove - I hear Harmon is the best - is substantial. The cost of wood is going up but it'd take a long time of expensive wood costs to justify the switch to pellet. Plus, let's face it, heating with wood is good exercise, but it does take up alot of property, which I don't have. Pellets you can buy as you need them.

[10x]

Carbon is neither created or destroyed.
We use carbon daily, in our food, in our drink, it makes up part of our body,
We breath in oxygen and breath out carbon dioxide. We need carbon to live.

There is not enough carbon from plants and animals we utilize so we supplement with fossil carbon to supply our energy needs.
There is no such thing as "carbon neutral". All of the carbon we utilize today (except diamonds) has been part of an green ecosystem either in the present, or in the distant past.
Much of the organic carbon from the past is tied up in limestone rock, dolomite, and marble.

Climate change is a red herring, the real problem is that our lifestyle depends on energy from inexpensive fossil carbon and inexpensive fossil carbon fuels are finite.

[Battis]

All true. But, if those in control want to label a wood burner "carbon neutral," that is good. There's not a single politician that would delve into the facts as presented above. If Collins from Maine calls wood burners "carbon neutral", then carbon neutral they are, and thus protected. That's all I ever meant.
Do I feel guilty burning wood? No, I feel warm and fuzzy.
Am I concerned about the climate changing? No. It has, and always will, change. Even in a single year, it changes at lease four times, with many sub-changes within those changes.
If it said in that 1.7 BILLION dollar bill that AR-15s are not really that dangerous, that'd be good.

[MaryB]

The only problem I have with pellet stoves...well, actually two problems, is, first of all, if the power goes out, I'd need a generator to run it. Second, is the quality of the pellets. I remember back when Walmart was selling them - they were junk. Has the uniformity of pellet quality been ironed out?
I know you can buy back-up batteries for the stoves, but, from what I understand, the batteries last about four hours, enough to clear the stove of what's in it when the power goes out.
I hear that the pellet stoves give a better, longer and more uniformed heat. Then again, I've been told that the chimney that I use for the woodstove is too tall for a pellet stove - it won't draft properly.
Decisions...

A typical pellet stove needs 1 amp when running, that translates to 10 amps at 12 volts running off an inverter(roughly...). 2 100 amp hour deep cycle AGM batteries kept on a float charger will run it for 10 hours(you have 200 amp hours of battery in parallel. 50% is all you can use off a battery before drastically shortening its life. So 100 amp hours available. 10 amps x 10 hours.) My pellet stove is 12 volt but no longer made... cost me $200 more than the same 120 volt stove. Differences being the motors used and control board is setup for DC instead of AC motors. I have a huge solar battery so I can run days off mine. Even cloudy days produce enough power to recharge the battery and power the pellet stove.