Sometimes the answer we struggle to find is right under our nose.

So it is with modern wood-fired gasification heat/hot-water systems, which can cut your winter heating costs by 75% and keep your fuel $ in the local economy with sustainably-harvested firewood, WITHOUT increasing your pollution impact. This is part of the puzzle for how Vermont can become energy independent TODAY.

Modern gasification boilers burn as clean as propane and require 30% less wood than a normal woodstove or one of those outdoor "smoker" boilers. And guess what? The global leader in this technology (since 1970) has a full service headquarters next door in New Hampshire, with a local dealer right in little old Waitsfield Vermont. There's a reason that the guys at Waitsfield's Sun Wood Systems rarely answer the phone and don't do any advertising: they are too busy installing these boilers all over central Vermont, driven 100% by word of mouth. Learn more at www.sunwoodsystems.com.

Here's the math for a 2000 square foot home using a wood-gasification boiler instead of propane or oil at today's prices (for next year's math, multiply propane and oil costs by 1.5)

Propane is $3.00 per gallon and it would take 850 gallons per year to heat the house, totalling $2500 annually.

No2 Heating Oil is $3.85/gallon and it takes 800 gallons per year to heat the house, or $2900 annually.

Logwood can be purchased for $100/cord if you can cut and split it yourself; or $175 per cord for cut/split/delivered. A wood-gasification boiler will need only 5 cord of wood to heat a 2000 square foot home. (with the convenience of your existing thermostat/radiator/hot-air-blower system, you just fill the furnace ONCE per day with wood) So your fuel cost would range from $500 per year (plus time to cut/split), to $875 per year if you get it delivered already cut/split.

That's a savings of $1700 to $2400 per year. Not to mention the peace of mind knowing that you are keeping your fuel $ in the local economy and that you are insulated from peak-oil.

The cost to get one of these systems installed is roughly $12,000. You will break even in 6 to 7 years based on today's oil/propane/wood prices, and have 40+ years of heat-energy independence after that.

Detailed comparison of BTU outputs/cost for various fuels compared to wood-gasification boilers:
http://www.woodboilers.com/fuel-costs-comparison.asp

Wood-gasification boilers are up to 85% efficient, compared to typical wood-stoves which are 40% to 65% efficient. Wood-gasification furnaces create less polution than oil, natural gas or propane, because they burn clean and don't require the fuel to be transported (using fossil fuels) thousands of miles from the source.

I am not talking about the "external" boilers (known as "smokers") that have become popular in Vermont. While well-intended, these external boilers are very inefficient because they are designed for a constant smoldering, slow burn. Wood gasification boilers burn at 2000 degrees with virtually zero smoke. They also can be connected to your hot-water system to provide all your winter hot water.

And you can keep your existing furnace as a backup for when you are away and can't fill the boiler with wood, so you are not losing any convenience or flexibility. Fill it up with wood. Set the thermostat. Enjoy life. Beautiful.

Combine this with a solar hot water system ($2000 cost for materials) for summer hot water and you can fully unplug from the matrix of propane/electric/fuel-oil dependence.