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

[Mary Bull - Greenwood Earth Alliance]

Thanks so much, Norbert, for all that handy info!

When you say, 1--5 cords per winter, you are thinking primarily of heating,
I assume. Since we will be needing the wood primarily for cooking
year-round, and only secondarily for heating (radiant) and hot water (both
of which will be primarily solar-generated--60%, I believe), I wonder how
many cords we will need... Any idea or could you direct me to another
source?

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: "Norbert Senf" <mheat at mha-net.org>
To: "Greenbuilding" <GREENBUILDING at LISTSERV.REPP.ORG>
Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 8:00 AM
Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] Wood-burning Cooking, Central Heating, & Hot
Water: Advice Needed


At 08:58 AM 2/20/2007 -0800, Mary Bull - Greenwood Earth Alliance wrote:
>(snip) I
>don't know, as yet, how much is needed for a continuous supply;

At a rule-of-thumb level, what comes to mind is an old figure from
a Helen and Scott Nearing book of 1 cord per acre per year, on a sustainable
basis. Probably good for plus or minus 50%. They were in New England, on
so so soil, in a sugar maple stand.

A cord of dry (20% moisture) hardwood weighs
around 3000 lbs. Very roughly, that's equivalent
to 1000 - 1500 lbs of oil, say 125 gallons or 3 barrels.

In BTU terms, 1 lb of wood, any species, at 20%
moisture contains about 6880 BTU.
60% is pretty decent efficiency, so it would give you about 4100 BTU/lb

Around here (Ottawa, 7800 degree days), a leaky old farmhouse requires
around
5 cords per winter, and an efficient R-2000 house
around 1 cord. So, take your pick from that
range.

So, conceivably, you could get by on a 1 acre woodlot.

-------------------------------------------
Norbert Senf---------- mheat(at)heatkit.com
Masonry Stove Builders
25 Brouse Rd.
RR 5, Shawville------- www.heatkit.com
Québec J0X 2Y0-------- fax:-----819.647.6082
---------------------- voice:---819.647.5092






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