Energy Independence - with woodWouldn't it be nice if we could achieve energy independence? Whether at the national or individual level, there would be a sense of security about it, wouldn't there be? At least at the level of the individual or family, wood heat can help us have a more secure feeling about staying warm in the winter, and help us achieve some objectives from a standpoint of frugal living. You might say that I backed into my reliance on wood heat. I enjoyed heating with wood so much that I adopted it as the primary means of heating my house. If the truth were known, I have always been fascinated by fire. It is a pleasure to watch and listen to, so I converted that love into something more practical - heat for the home, and near elimination of the home heating bill. My efforts have effectively taken me out of the natural gas marketplace by replacing it with the wood marketplace. And, since my firewood is free, that means I enjoy near energy independence when it comes to home heating. I'm happy with that switch in energy suppliers, but the gas and electric company probably isn't all that thrilled. I might be wrong, but the power company came by and replaced my meter a couple of years ago. I think it was in response to my drastically reduced use of natural gas. The meter was working fine, but perhaps they suspected a faulty one since my use of natural gas took a sharp nosedive and stayed right there at the bottom all during the winter. With my conversion from gas to wood, my natural gas supplier is the backup for home heating. Using free scrap wood as our primary heating method fits right in there with my approach to frugal living. We have a cheap and secure source of heat for the house. I like knowing that the cost of heating with wood doesn't go up and down with the marketplace for energy products like natural gas and propane. The cost of wood heat is simply the cost of hauling and processing. Done with Energy Independence, take me to Heating with Wood |
