Winter's cold brings the woodstove back into the forfront of attention. The rainforest we live in the middle of here on the Sunshine Coast produces tons of stored carbon ready for use. In fact if we don’t cut it down it over grows us, might as well use it, eh. We used to burn 6-7 cords of wood a year back in the big farm house. For decades i tried to cut it all myself, but as time marched on and my body started wearing out it evolved into buying most of it from young local hardworkin’, beater owning, x-loggers. It was about $1000 a year to have the shed full if i bought every stick of it as of three years ago.Firewood employs local people, keeps the money in your community, and costs a lot less than natural gas, oil, or electricity. Plus, we had a coil built into the woodstove that preheated the domestic hot water so the cost of hot water was near zero from Oct.. to May. Then, most important of all, comes the fact that wood is carbon stored by the trees using solar energy and absorbing atmospheric carbon to grow. Carbon dioxide is the major ingredient a fire gives off, so woodheat and the forests feed each other in a big circle unlike fossil fuels which release hydrocarbons sequestered long ago. It takes a bit of work each day, but the benefits were many for myself and the planet. The radiant heat gave the place a glow, the smoke gave the forest a new breath and added aroma.
Who knows how much natural gas or oil could cost in the future because of peak oil and/or the collapse of the vast infrstructure needed to deliver it to your door, but the price is only going up. In the long term, wood smoke will rise again in your neighborhood not just here in the rainforest.
