One of the ideas of simple living is to heat with wood rather than oil, gas, or electricity. The latter "commercial fuels" are actually simpler for daily life.
You set a dial to the desired heat level and the furnace takes care of the rest. Gas and electricity are delivered to your home on an as needed basis. The oil company watches the weather and notes your past usage. When they think you have used up over half your tank, they deliver more and leave you a bill. Except for the cost, could anything be simpler?
As the price of fuel goes up, wood becomes more and more tempting. To use wood you have to have a proper stove or fireplace. An antique wood stove won't do in a modern house. They are inefficient and can be dangerous. The best thing is to have a sealed unit in which all gases go up the chimney and not into a room. These can be pricey. Expect to pay $6,000 for purchase and installation, including any necessary chimney work.
You could purchase wood and might save compared to the other energy sources. If you purchase wood, you need to find a reliable dealer who delivers the promised wood in the promised quantity at the promised price. And you thought buying an auto was tricky.
If you own a rural property with lots of trees, you might save over commercially bought wood. On the other hand you will be doing much more work at a decrease in your personal safety. Just one small act of carelessness can bring a tree crashing down on you or a chainsaw sawing you. You also have to plan well. For next year's wood you have to cut this winter to let it dry properly. Waiting until summer or fall will give you lots of green wood.
You can do like we have to do this year, rely on already dead trees. The problem is that the dead trees may already started to rot, making starting fires even more difficult.
Remember about the automatic nature of oil or gas. A wood fire is not automatic. First you have to lay the wood just so to ignite it. Then you have to adjust the damper or air intake as the stove heats up; this is to maximize the heat that goes into the room instead of up the chimney. Then you have to periodically adjust the wood to keep it close enough to burn well or add more wood. Oops. I have to check our fireplace now.
Well, I didn't add any wood but I pulled out the air intake. The fan hadn't come on because most of the heat was going up the chimney.
Unless you build very big fires and use lots of wood, don't expect a toasty house. With two small logs, the temperature five feet from our fireplace is 64 degrees (18 centigrade). We have a three-bedroom, two-story plus basement house. We wear lots of layers.
Expect to add 1/2 to one hour of chores to your daily routine. Besides bringing in the wood and tending to the fire, you will need to empty ashes, clean the debris on the floor, and clean the glass door.
I don't know if we are saving a lot of money or not, but I think of it as doing our part to "starve a terrorist". Our oil furnace rarely comes on during the day. I don't know how well we'll do when it is below freezing all day.
References:
"How to buy firewood", Minnesota Dept. of Commerce, accessed Oct. 25, 2006
"Firewood sales heating up", Minnesota Public Radio, Oct. 4, 2005, accessed Oct. 25, 2006
