mind body planet

It’s a bit late in the season to be talking about this now but I was wondering what I wanted to talk about today and for inspiration I looked at the fire going in our fireplace here at home. We bought a cord of wood about a month ago and we have been heating our house in this way for the season thus far. Though we have an oil heating system in the basement that kicks on when the temperature gets too low, we have been pretty steady in our efforts to keep our waste down and our house warm and comfortable. Though we have been pretty good about our heating situation, it could be much better than it is for relatively cheap. The only problem is the time it would take to create such a piping system for our house knowing that we will be moving out in the next few years. 

When it comes to heating your place when you are in college this is the common dilemma if you are concerned with keeping bills and waste low. For us the next step would not be to create such a piping system for our house but it would be to find a wood stove that would fit in to our fireplace. The efficiency of regular fireplaces like we have is pretty low. Most of the radiant heat. which is exactly what fireplaces are used for, is released right up the chimney with the smoke and embers. With a wood burning stove you get all of the surface area of the fire right in the house and then you can pipe that around the house if you know how to do it. For people out there with electric or only oil heat, the best thing I would have to say for you is that you really just need to look at your priorities because you may not need to walk around in your underwear all winter if you want to keep the bills low. It may just be sweater weather inside and out. 

If I had it my way though I probably wouldn’t use anything like this if it were my ow house that I have built i the future. I would most predominantly use something like geothermal heat, which is collected from underground pockets of heat like those that fuel hot springs. I would also utilize solar energy for the pumps and if needed, and probably for cathartic reasons, I would have a wood stove just because I love them. Even with sustainability in mind I still have to think of my sanity and there is very few things that stick out in my mind as better for the soul in the winter than sitting by a hot fire.