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Welcome / corn stoves?

Dave Thompson's picture
Posted by Dave Thompson on December 21st, 2005 at 12:27 pm | 3 Replies

Welcome to our discussion board for issues related to global energy-depletion and its potential effects and countermeasures in Central Illinois.

Aside from trying to raise awareness of the issue, one of the main things on my mind at this point is the idea of installing a corn stove for heating my home. Obviously natural gas is costing more and more, and there is potential for actual interruptions of supply in the not-distant future. This may be an even more pressing issue than oil, and at least in our region, corn for heat may be one of the most viable forms of "biomass" energy available. Here's a website at Pennsylvania State University with some helpful and apparently objective information about corn stoves: http://energy.cas.psu.edu/shellcorn.html

I would love to hear anybody's personal experience or other helpful ideas on this subject.

dwa's picture
dwa
March 9th, 2006

Is corn heat self-sufficiency possible?

I took a brief look at the PSU site (seems very helpful! Thank you.) but didn't see anything discussing the energy, land and fertilizer requirements of corn production.  I've heard corn takes a lot from the soil and often uses a lot of petroleum-derived fertilizers as well as energy to plow, harvest and process.

Suppose an individual or small community wanted to grow corn as a heat source.  If say, 10,000 pounds of corn were required to heat one dwelling for one winter, how many acres of corn would be required to produce that amount?  Is it feasible to not use petroleum-based fertilizers?  How much compost would be needed?  What methods can be used to shell and dry the corn?  Is growing another crop and producing bio-diesel a better or easier alternative (for the individual or small community)?

Any ideas or places to look for answers?  I'm looking to buy some land soon (real soon) and am starting to think of long range energy issues like this.  I'm worried that 10 years from now, buying corn may not be as economical as it is now, and in any case I would prefer to grow my own.

Thank you for the time and energy you're putting into the group and this site.

Ms NRG's picture
Ms NRG
December 22nd, 2005

corn stoves

My daughter's college friend is using one in IL and loves it! Another very good alternative to natural gas is electric heating. It is FAR cheaper to heat with electricity than natural gas now. Many utility companies even offer a reduced rate for electric space heating.
Dave Thompson's picture
Dave Thompson
January 26th, 2006

Thanks

Thanks for the info, Ms. NRG! I appreciate your response. I've been too tied up with teaching and planning our conference for April 1 to do much else lately, but I intend to check in here more frequently from now on.