Dave Lyon wrote:




Can scrap paper be pelletized for your furnace?


I'm sure it can. But, afaik, they are only pelletizing saw dust at present.
Demands for wood pellets have gone up tremedously. In fact, they're tough to
find around here.

If I had the time, I would build a stove similar to a pellet stove but with
a larger auger so it could handle wood chips. My thought is you could get
all the free wood you wanted delivered to your door from one of many tree
triming companies.

Nobody's mentioned the pollution aspects of home heating. A megawatt
coal plant can use technology that, AFAIK, isn't in a home furnace.
In the 70s I was reading about towns in snow country requiring
catalytic coverters in new construction.

The new wood pellet and corn stoves are cleaner than most gas heaters. The
corn stoves are considered CO2 neutral because the corn consumes CO2 when it
is grown, then releases it when it's burned.

As you mentioned, small residential units cannot compete with large electric
plants though.

I got a friend that grinds up old pallets. He sells the wood chips to
the co gen plant. Im not sure what he gets a ton but i know its not too
much. In the warmer months he dyes them and sells them for mulch.

John