Low-Grade Markets, Oil Subsidies

[Ron Wenrich]

Karl Davies <karl at daviesand.com> wrote in message
news:3894D99C.C6BF307F at daviesand.com...
>
>
> Larry Caldwell wrote:
>
> > I have always been astonished that anyone heats their homes with fossil
> > fuels.  The modern pellet stove is pollution free, over 90% efficient,
> > and runs on renewable resources that don't contribute to additional
> > atmospheric CO2 or global warming.  A minor modification would convert
> > the fuel to pellet furnaces with all the convenience of central heat.
>
> I've been hearing good things about pellet stoves.  But the pellets are
made
> out of sawdust, right?  So the source material has to be good enough to
> saw.  Or you'd have to expend energy to convert non-sawtimber quality
> material to sawdust.  I wonder how the energy costs would work out.
>

A local equipment dealer has a pellet mill for sale.  He told me that the
material must be kiln dried dust before compressing into pellets.  Current
prices for pellets are about $150/ton in my area.  These are usually in
bags, and I know of no one who delivers in bulk.  Coal is $50/ton delivered
to your coal bin.  Pellets can't compete.

RDW