The Spirit of Recycling

America Recycles Day is November 15. It encourages us to recycle and reminds us of the importance of being environmentally-responsible. If recycling and living green is important to you, or you think it should be, keep reading.

Recently, temperatures have dropped and millions of furnaces are heating homes again. It’s safe to say that most furnaces use fossil fuels, which produce carbon emissions that can be harmful to the environment. But many homeowners have discovered the advantages of heating with alternative fuels, such as good old-fashioned cordwood. When burned in an EPA-certified stove or fireplace insert, burning wood is quite green and noble. But if the thought of harvesting, cutting and stacking firewood is daunting, there is another option.

The Case for Pellets

Meet pellets. Like wood, they are renewable, but they’re easier to store and handle. And here’s the clincher – they burn much cleaner than cordwood and have very low emissions. In fact, they burn so clean that the EPA doesn’t even require pellet stoves to the certified.

Pellets are made from compacted sawdust, wood chips, bark, agricultural crop waste, and other natural materials – often organic waste from existing industries. So essentially, by heating with pellets, you’re taking materials that may otherwise go into a landfill and recycling them into energy.

Wood pellets are typically purchased in 40-pound bags for between $4 and $7, and each bag can provide 24 hours of steady heat (actual time will vary by stove or insert).

The Appliances

Pellet stoves and fireplace inserts are easy to operate with built-in fuel hoppers and feeding devices that move pellets in small groups to the combustion chamber.

Harman pellet stoves and inserts:

• Utilize renewable biomass fuel, which is considered carbon-neutral
• Qualify within green construction building programs, such as LEED® for Homes
• Burn cleaner than any other type of biomass hearth system
• Have the lowest outside air particulate emissions
• Are the most efficient biomass hearth systems

Accentra Pellet Stove

The bottom line? If living a green lifestyle and using renewable energy is important to you (or should be), consider heating with pellets! To see the options for pellet stoves, look here, and for pellet inserts look here.