I will agree that my coal stove wastes more heat, but I pay $155 per ton of
coal and will burn about 3-1/2 tons each winter. I heat a 2300 sf house in
CT. This winter has been colder than normal so far so my coal use might be
up, if it stays this cold it will be up. I will then have to buy the coal
local in bags @ $220 per ton. If this happens I will buy only what I need.
My heating costs are less then the houses next to me, some burning oil,
others Propane. BUT the coal is WORK, far less then wood but still work. I
have a few acres of very wooded land so I burn wood in my stove also, next
year I will burn 3 cords of wood (had a massive oak taken down) so I will
use less coal.
"Tony" wrote in message
...
What they dont' talk about is that an oil or gas boiler/furnace will run
at
85% efficiency or better. A corn, wood, or wood pellet will run at much
lower efficiency. So these experts need to factor that into the
calculation.
The fuel is cheap but most of it goes up the chimmney.
Tony
"John" wrote in message
...
Hitch wrote:
Joseph Gwinn wrote in news:JoeGwinn-
:
There was an article on page B1 of the 12 December 2005 issue of The
Wall Street Journal, "Demand Pops for Furnaces That Burn Corn".
Basic
point is that corn costs less than ordinary fuels (which has to be a
consequence of farm subsidies, one would think). They also tell of
discouraging someone living in an apartment on the 33rd floor of a
Manhattan apartment building from getting a corn furnace, if for no
other reason that cheap corn isn't exactly common outside of the corn
belt.
Joe Gwinn
Is corn still cheap once you remove all of the Federal subsidies? And
how
much fossil fuel and fossil fertilizer goes into corn versus other
enery-
producing crops, e.g. rapeseed or hemp? I don't know, just asking.
--
John Snow
"Pull hard and it comes easy"
Moldy corn is real cheap. It burns just as well but the animals don't
like it, and it screws up the milk.
Average yield per acre is about 3 tons. The cost of production per acre
is roughly 75 to 100 dollars per acre.( These are prices including
fertilizer and seeding when we planted in the 90's. Land rental cost was
10 dollars per acre) a pound of seed provides 7,200 British thermal
units (Btu) of heat content, compared to the 10,500 Btu/pound heat
content of coal. Locally, coal is costing 120 dollars per
ton(antricite) 1 ton of coal is equivalent heat to 200 gallons of oil.
John