How to Heat a Home With Alternative Fuels
As our understanding of the need for green building techniques grows, heating a home with alternative fuels becomes more attractive. Federal and state governments are offering tax incentives for the use of more alternative energy sources. Choosing the right heating system depends on a number of variables. Cost, local ordinances and the natural resources that are readily available are some of them. Here are a few of the ways to heat a home with alternative fuels. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Solar systems Geothermal heat pump Corn stove Corn boiler Wood boiler Wind turbine Fireplace insert
Instructions
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Use the power of the sun in either active or passive solar heating systems. Passive solar is achieved by positioning new construction to maximize the amount of sunlight entering the home and placing windows to effectively warm the house with the sun's rays. Active solar gathers energy in fuel cells during the day. Fluid or air is heated by the sun and used to warm the home.
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Purchase a geothermal heat pump and use it to force air through ductwork in your home. Fluids in underground piping are kept at a steady temperature by the earth's heat and used to warm the house in the winter and cool it in the summer.
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Install a wood stove, corn stove or wood pellet stove. Wood stoves are in wide use and a reasonable alternative if you have ready access to firewood. Corn stoves are specially designed and burn corn kernels. They burn hotter than wood stoves and don't create as much pollution. Wood pellet stoves burn tightly compacted sawdust.
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Build an outdoor corn boiler. Water is heated in an outdoor shed by burning corn and is pumped to your home through underground pipes. A heat exchanger is used in your existing furnace for home heating or can be fitted to work with baseboard and radiant heat.
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Locate an outdoor wood furnace near your woodpile. Water is heated by burning wood, then piped into your home, where it's used with your existing heating system. Outdoor wood furnaces can produce a lot of smoke, so they shouldn't be used in areas where homes are close together.
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Put a wind turbine on your property. Wind is converted to electricity, which you use in your home. If wind speeds drop too low to create electricity, the home is served by the utility. Power you don't use can be sold back to your electric utility.
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Put an insert in your fireplace. An insert will increase the efficiency of your fireplace by as much as 50 percent. The insert performs like a wood stove built into your existing fireplace.
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Resources
- Photo Credit alternative-heating-info.com, Wood Pellet Stoves, American Heritage Fireplace, geothermalenergy.org
