[Greenbuilding] Wood-burning Cooking, Central Heating, & Hot Water: Advice Needed

Wed Feb 21 10:40:31 CST 2007

Hi Rob Tom (two first names!),

I assumed there would have to be lead-in time for the drying. We can
actually start harvesting now and dry the wood over summer. The cottage will
not be finished till fall.

Re water: perhaps that's why the British Gov proposed willow as their
biomass source--they are a very wet country. We have a LOT of water on the
land, which is all gently sloping. Right now we are building swales and
catch basins to keep it all from pouring into the two creeks that border the
property. Our neighbors also have tons of willow, which they view as a
nuisance, and which we can harvest.

Sebastopol is 8 miles from the coast and ~50 miles north of San Francisco.
Yes, we have great sun and are doing passive solar, big time (strawbale for
insulation, clay tile floors for thermal mass, with a bank of south-facing
windows, and a footprint of only 420 SF, but high ceilings). But we have an
intense rainy season, too (that said, we have been having the driest winter
in history--global warming), and temperatures get near and below freezing
throughout winter (last month, we had a 10 day cold snap of 19-degree
weather that ruined the entire California citrus crop), which is none too
comfortable, i.e. occasionally we need heat, and solar can only provide hot
water when the sun is shining, which is intermittent during winter.

Chalice Farm is an intensive permaculture farm--we just planted 86 fruit and
nut trees and vines, of the several thousand plants planned. We will have
more food than you can shake a stick at (the plan is to be provide 90% of
our own food and drink (~6 permanent residents and visitors), with plenty
left over for the community and needy). However, we also have human-made
insectaries and wildlife habitat/fodder zones in addition to the riparian
wildlife zones, where the willow grows naturally.

Re methane: We plan to have only 15--20 chickens, and a very few sheep (for
dairy primarily); maybe ducks and geese, if we put in a large pond--we are
vegetarian. We will have lots of compost, however. My initial forays into
capturing methane for cooking, etc., concluded that we were too small an
operation for the process of capturing it. Could you refer me to additional
literature/resources?

Cheers and Many Thanks!

Mary

Mary Bull, Co-director
Greenwood Earth Alliance, Save the Redwoods - Boycott the Gap Campaign
252 Frederick, San Francisco, CA 94117 http://www.gapsucks.org
Chalice Farm and Sustainable Living Center, 748 Montgomery Rd, Sebastopol CA
95472
415-731-7924 - 415-509-1188 chalicenew at earthlink.net

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rob Tom" <ArchiLogic at yahoo.ca>
To: "GB REPP" <GREENBUILDING at listserv.repp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 3:42 PM
Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] Wood-burning Cooking, Central Heating,& Hot
Water: Advice Needed

> On Tue, 20 Feb 2007 11:58:50 -0500, Mary Bull - Greenwood Earth Alliance
> <chalicenew at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> > We are seriously considering a wood-burning stove for central heating,
> > cooking, and hot water.
> >
> > Evidently, willow is the fastest growing biomass for solid fuel.
>
> > Chalice Farm and Sustainable Living Center,
> > Sebastopol CA
>
> Mary (that almost went out as a typo "Army" from my mischevious keyboard);
>
> The reason willow grows so fast is because it, like bamboo, sucks up a lot
> of water and for that reason, willow isn't a very good choice as a fuel
> wood IMO.
>
> That opinion seems to be confirmed by the btu output per unit weight
> numbers as compared to other wood species, willow having the lowest of all
> the wood species (hardwood and softwood) listed , at 13.15 million Btus
> per cord. (Compare this to 21.59 milion Btu/cord for maple, 26.39 for r/w
> oak).(source: in "Handyman in~your-pocket" by Young & Glover))
>
> Aside from the fact that you'd have to burn twice the volume of wood to
> get the same heat output as about 1/2 the volume of a "good" firewood (and
> presumably with twice the emissions), with high water content woods like
> willow, there's the risk that impatience and/or improper drying will
> result in too-wet wood being burned and that results in more wood than
> necessary being consumed (ie to cook off the excess moisture), dirtier
> emissions and higher risk of creosote formation and attendant higher risk
> of chimney fires.
>
> I don't know where Sebastopol is in CA so I dont know the climate but I
> assume that it is warmer than Ottawa ON and since it is California, that
> it does get some sunlight, or at least the 4 hours per winter day that we
> hope for here.
>
> I just had a quick look and I didn't see anyplace in the entire state that
> was colder than 4600 HDD/yr (compare this to Ottawa about 8750 HDD/yr) so
> I would think that it would be possible to reduce the auxilliary space
> heating load requirement to almost zero simply by upgraded insulation/air
> sealing and proper orientation and *without* having to get into excessive
> amounts of equator-facing glazing and active solar gizmology.
>
> I wood (sic) think that the Sun would be a more sustainable choice as a
> "fuel" for space heating & domestic hot water heating than cultivating a
> water-intensive tree species for fuel. I can't help but wonder if that
> same land and water might not be better put to use growing food.
>
> As for cooking fuel, if Chalice Farm is indeed a farm, then it would seem
> that a biogas digester (methane from human/animal/vegetalbe wastes) would
> be a more sustainable option worth looking into.
>
> === * ===
> Rob Tom
> Kanata, Ontario, Canada
> <A r c h i L o g i c   at  c h a f f y a h o o   dot   c a >
> winnow the chaff from my edress in your reply
> -- 
> === * ===
> Rob Tom
> Kanata, Ontario, Canada
> <A r c h i L o g i c   at  c h a f f y a h o o   dot   c a >
> winnow the chaff from my edress in your reply
>
>
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