A wood pellet stove is now a viable alternative to modern methods of heating your home, and is itself a surprisingly recent innovation. During the 1980’s this form of heating became quite popular, and has recently enjoyed a resurgence in interest. But what are the advantages of a wood pellet stove, and why should you consider one for your home?

Firstly what exactly is a wood pellet stove? Generally free standing but also available in fireplace insert form, a pellet burning stove simply uses special hardwood pellets and is designed to offer the same convenience and cleanliness expected of modern appliances, including safe and clean operation, thermostatic controls, and most importantly it is self feeding so constant attention is not required as with traditional wood burning stoves. Simply fill with pellets switch on and set your thermostat and the stove will burn for hours or days at a constant regulated temperature with no intervention from you.

An important distinction between wood pellet stoves and traditional wood burning stoves is that due to the construction and burn properties of the wood pellets they are consumed at a steady and predictable rate with virtually no creosote buildup. In addition they are incredibly safe, posing much less risk to the surrounding environment such as walls and furniture than traditional stoves.

Wood pellet materials and construction are integral to the safety and predictability that exemplify modern wood pellet stoves. Wood pellets are constructed from timber and other timber by-products often unused for other purposes, making them inherently environmentally friendly. They burn with almost no smoke and critically do not contribute to greenhouse effects and consequently global warming. Just as importantly no wood chopping is required making the process of heating a home much easier and certainly more pleasant.

Another huge advantage is that the wood pellet stove outlet at the back or top of the unit does not become hot anywhere near to the same degree as a traditional wood stove, which means a masonry chimney is not necessarily required in your home. If you have one then it can of course be used, but if not the stove can be installed wherever a metal liner or flue can be positioned through a wall or out of the roof. This is often impossible using a wood burning stove.

It must be noted however that a wood pellet stove is not as useful for remote locations where a traditional stove may be the better choice. In remote homes with no electricity for example a stove which burns chopped wood may be the only available option as most pellet stoves require electricity to run, in particular to power the electronic thermostatic controls. Remember this is a modern appliance designed for modern convenient living, but with the advantage of being particularly clean and environmentally friendly, it is not designed for rugged outdoor living.

Interestingly the fuel costs associated with a wood pellet stove are comparable with oil and natural gas, much lower on average than electricity prices. So to answer our question, is a wood pellet stove a viable and practical alternative for heating your home, the answer would appear to be yes.

If you are tired of hauling and splitting loads of cordwood, storing it and then carrying it again into the home, but still desire the ambience and radiance of a wood burning stove, then it may be time to check out the benefits of a wood pellet stove. Although on a direct cost comparison basis, the pellet fuel works out more expensive, it does come ready to use, and the wood pellet stove takes considerably less effort to operate and clean.

Using pellets of compressed sawdust, that provide obvious benefits for the home and environment, woodburning pellet stoves come in a wide variety of styles,both traditional and modern, as well as size, finish and heating output. More clean burning than traditional stoves, some wood pellet stoves are equipped with fans and thermostats for distributing the heat output more evenly within the room. As a rule of thumb most wood pellet stoves store about three days fuel, and require on average cleaning once a month; a simple job of just emptying an ashtray. Whilst freestanding wood pellet stoves offer greater design positioning flexibility, fireplace insert models are available as well as wood pellet furnaces that can be installed in basements or outhouses to heat the whole house. Depending on the manufacturer such as St.Croix stoves or Lancaster pellet stoves, these appliances can provide a heat output of anywhere between 10000 and 50000 BTU per hour.

As noted earlier, wood pellet stoves come in a wide variety of styles, sizes and finishes, but the first important decision when making a choice is the basic configuration of the stove. Freestanding pellet stoves offer the greatest flexibility in installation choice. Supported by a pedestal or on legs, freestanding pellet stoves are designed to be installed in almost any living area of the home, but they must be installed on a non-combustible floor protector. An added advantage is that wood pellet stoves can be installed much nearer to combustible surfaces than is required by more traditional heating stoves.

Wood pellet stoves that are designed to be fireplace inserts can be readily installed into existing fireplaces and decorative panels are available to cover the space between the fireplace insert and the fireplace opening. Some wood pellet fireplace inserts are approved only for use in masonry fireplaces, whilst others can also be installed in approved factory built metal fireplaces. Built-in wood pellet stoves are an economical choice that offers homes without an existing fireplace, the look of an insert in a fireplace setting. Non-combustible materials such as brick can be applied to the area around the front of the wood pellet stove to give the appearance of a fireplace. Once again a non-combustible floor protector is required, sometimes with additional spacers to provide an air space under the unit. Pellet furnaces are larger appliances designed to heat an entire house through ductwork. They are usually installed in a basement or outhouse and like all wood pellet stoves require efficient venting to the outside through an approved vent or flue.
As with all types of heating stoves, it is important when installing wood pellet stoves to ensure that they have an efficient means of expelling the waste gases and smoke, usually a chimney or compatible flue. It is advisable to seek advice from a certified dealer/installer who will advise and if required supply and install a suitable venting system. Indeed most suppliers of wood pellet stoves offer a complete installation service.

Wood-frame homes are more environmentally friendly than those constructed of steel or concrete, according to a new study by 15 U.S. universities and research institutes.

Additionally, the researchers, known as the Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials, or CORRIM, concluded that most of the energy required to build an average home is consumed during the manufacture of building materials – not during actual construction.

“These are landmark findings,” said Kelly McCloskey, president and CEO of the Wood Promotion Network. “This offers a first-ever snapshot of how building materials impact our environment.”

Twenty-three independent researchers collaborated on the project, which used a process called life-cycle analysis to weigh the environmental impact of home construction. Life-cycle analysis gauges the energy required to produce building materials, as well as construct, maintain and demolish a typical home over a period of 75 years.

CORRIM compared the life cycles of two hypothetical homes in Minneapolis – one with a wood frame, the other with a steel frame – and the life cycles of one wood-frame and one concrete-frame home in Atlanta. The study determined that the construction of the Minneapolis steel-frame home used 17 percent more energy than the matching wood-frame home, and the Atlanta concrete-frame home used 16 percent more energy than a matching wood-frame home.

“Everything kind of flows from energy consumption,” said Bruce Lippke, professor of forest resources at the University of Washington and one of the researchers who helped conduct the study. “If you’re using energy, you’re polluting water, polluting air and kicking out carbon dioxide emissions.”

The study also concluded that the carbon emissions associated with energy use represent one of the more important environmental impacts. They estimated the global-warming potential of the steel-frame home to be 26 percent higher than the wood-frame home, and the concrete-frame home was 31 percent higher than the comparable wood-frame home.

“The use of wood products instead of steel or concrete can further reduce the greenhouse emissions from fossil fuels wherever lumber mills generate power and heat using bark, sawdust and other byproducts of milling,” said Lippke.

The report offers these additional suggestions on how to help reduce the energy demands of home construction:

* Redesign homes to use less fossil-fuel intensive products;

* Change building codes that promote excessive use of wood, steel and concrete;

* Recycle demolition wastes;

* Increase durability of homes through improved products and construction practices.

The bathroom is a place not too many people bother about. The assumption is that the commission of a necessity need not be attended with ceremony. Psychologists would have us believe that our consciousness with sin and dirt results in a certain tension that prevent us from bothering too much with bathroom issues. The theory further elaborates that such tension results in loss of speech, or indulgence in activities that give relief to tension hence the tendency of many people to become bathroom singers or readers. Dylan Thomas famously said that novels should be serialized on toilet paper so that the toilet reader may acquire some literary credentials. The bathroom as a place where the eternal battle between dirt and cleanliness is fought, has always assumed a somewhat ambiguous position in our evolution. While the necessity of cleanliness and hygiene was acknowledged, there was certain awkwardness in the development of sensible techniques.

Behind this awkwardness, at least in the Christian world, there might be the religious ambivalence with dirt. Christianity has at times upheld dirt in appearance if it covered a pure soul. Most of the prophets were begrimed and dirty as the objects of persecution. The upholding of poverty further championed laxity with cleanliness that was the necessary accompaniment of poverty. At the same time Christianity also said cleanliness is next to godliness, and inspired cleansing of society, from outside as well as inside. Lack of piped water, a cold temperature, a masochistic culture, distain of hygiene and other factors resulted in atrocious personal hygiene in earlier times. In Elizabethan England, nobles used to take a bath in dirty water once in a blue moon. To mask the stink many perfumes were used. Defecation and urination were done in pots which shared space with men throughout the night. Morning time ritual consisted of dumping of such pots out of the window, which resulted in the chivalrous custom of keeping women on the farther side from windows while taking a walk.

The bidet was used for after-toilet ablution for a long time in Europe. The use of the toilet paper, especially in USA, resulted in a relapse of unhygienic ways, a custom that prevails to this day. In The Bathroom, Cornell Professor Alexander Kira sarcastically comments how men are prepared to complain about a tomato sauce stain on a restaurant tablecloth whilst they luxuriate on a plush seat in their faecally-stained pants. The use of water as a cleansing medium has no parallel, and since times ancient, water has been respected and revered as the agency of washing away dirt and sins as much in Christianity, where baptism occurs with a dip, as in Hinduism where till today millions take holy dips in their numerous rivers. Since bathroom is the place where one takes a bath, or bathes, it behooves that the primacy of cleansing should be reserved for water only.

Today, we are blessed with the knowledge the lack of which meant death and disability to our ancestors. The discovery of pathogens and the microbial world has brought about a paradigm change in our conception of the causes and effects of unhygienic lifestyles. The toilet is the epicenter of a hygienic life where we dispense with everything that is not required by us. It behooves us as civilized men that we discard what is meant for discarding in a way that is conducive to a better life. This requires proper use of proper bathroom materials, something that is easily done. The next time we think of cleaning ourselves, we should remember that there is water. We should not hesitate from getting our hands wet. And get it dry once we are done.

History of Wind Turbines

The first wind machines were used in Persia, as far back as 200 B.C for the purposes of grinding grain. By 250 A.D the Romans began to use the same process for the same purpose. The Dutch started using windmills to drain water from the areas lying in the Rhine River delta.

Windmills began to be used for the production of electricity in the year 1888, and the first such windmill, meaning the first wind turbine was built by Charles F Brush in Cleveland, Ohio. By the year 1908, some 72 wind turbines were being used to produce electricity between the ranges of 5 kilowatt to 25 kilowatt. Windmills to produce electricity were commonly found on farms by the 1930s in the Unites States.

Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines

The Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines or HAWT house an electric generator and the main rotator shaft at the top of a tower. Both need to be pointed into the wind, for generation of electricity. A wind vane is usually enough for this purpose in the case of small turbines, but in the case of large turbines, a servo motor coupled with a wind sensor is used to point into the wind. The rotation of the blades is controlled by a gearbox which increases the rotational speed of the blades as and when required.
The turbine is usually pointed in the upwind direction so as to protect it from the turbulence created by the tower. Many a times downwind machines are also built in a bid to combat the problem of turbulence. Such machines preclude the use of additional mechanism in order to keep the turbine in line with the wind; this is because the blades can be allowed to be bent during high winds.

Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

Vertical Axis Wind Turbines or VAWTs, have vertical alignment of the shaft. One of the most important advantages of such turbines is that there is no need for the turbine to be pointed into the wind for efficacy. These wind turbines are generally used on sites that witness a variable wind direction. A wind force from any direction can be used by Vertical Axis Wind Turbines.

The presence of vertical axis means that the both the gearbox and the generator can be placed near ground as there is no need for the tower to offer it support. This also means that the gearbox and the generator are accessible when it comes to the maintenance of the wind turbines.

Wind Turbines Design and Construction

It is the job of the wind turbines to exploit the wind energy existing at a particular location. Designers and builders use the aerodynamic modeling for the determination of the various control systems to be used, number of blades, shapes of the blade, and the optimum height of the tower.

The modern wind turbine is primarily used for conversion of wind energy into electricity energy. In accordance with this purpose, the wind turbine has three major components, namely the rotor component, the generator component, and the structural component. Almost 20% of the cost of the wind turbine is taken up by the rotor component, while an approximate 34% of the cost is consumed by the generator component. 15% of the cost of the wind turbine is taken up the structural component.

These days’ environmental activists are championing the use of wind turbines, for the production of electricity as they are environment friendly and if at all, release only a minimal amount of pollutants.