Preface
I’ve been interested in renewable energy for almost 30 years. Back in
the mid-1970s, I built my first off-the-electric-grid home in Monkton, Vermont.
I pumped water by hand from a dug well, used kerosene lamps for lighting, and
heated with wood. In 1979, I moved to a home in the middle of the woods at the
end of a half-mile-long driveway in the remote and beautiful mountain town of
Lincoln,Vermont. The commercial power lines were too far away, so after investigating
my options, I finally decided to install a wind turbine atop an 80-foot guyed
steel tower to provide for my modest electrical needs. This home had a wonderful
spring-fed water system and was heated exclusively by wood. Subsequently, I
have lived in homes that were grid connected, but generally used wood as a primary
or secondary source of heat. And I’ve never lost my interest in renewable
energy.
In November 2000, my wife, Joy, and I bought a house in Weybridge, Vermont.
We chose this home primarily for its quiet, edge-of-town location on a dead-end
street, and not for its heating systems. This modest Cape-style house has an
attractive, but not very functional, fireplace. Although the fireplace works
great as a smoke-alarm tester, trying to figure out how to use it as a heating
appliance has been a challenge. But that’s not all. Our house also features
its original 1956 American Standard oil-fired boiler still chugging away in
the basement.The first time our local heating service technician came over to
give the boiler its annual cleaning and inspection he said, “Is that thing
still here?” I knew we had a problem. The technician suggested that a
new high-efficiency boiler would be the best approach in the long run, but admitted
that a few repairs would probably keep the unit going for a few more years.
Actually, the old veteran was still working reasonably well, but needed a new
oil burner, as well as some new electrical controls, in order to bring it up
to code. Being a bit short of cash, we decided on the temporary fix to give
ourselves more time to see what our other options might be. Thus began our search
for a replacement heating system that would not be reliant on imported oil--or
on any other fossil fuel. The following summer, our interest in sustainable
energy led us to attend SolarFest 2001, an annual renewable energy fair held
in Middletown Springs,Vermont. It was at SolarFest that I first learned about
the possibility of burning biodiesel fuel in an oil-fired boiler or furnace
for home heating. I was intrigued. It was also at SolarFest that I first met
Stephen Morris, the publisher and president at Chelsea Green Publishing. For
some time, I had been searching for a new publisher that specialized in environmental
titles, and Chelsea Green looked like it might be a good match. It was. Our
first brief conversation at SolarFest was followed by a series of e-mails and
eventually a lengthy meeting in White River Junction, where the idea for this
book was born. I combined my existing interest in finding a new renewable heating
system for my home with Chelsea Green’s interest in a book on the same
subject. Sometimes things just seem to fall into place.
As I researched this book, my knowledge of renewable home heating strategies
expanded well beyond woodstoves to include a wide range of options, some of
which I had been only dimly aware of. My research also confirmed what I already
knew, which is that renewables are definitely available now. And renewable fuels
work just fine, even for home heating. The main obstacles to their widespread
use are no longer technical; they’re mainly political. In order to deal
with that problem, there needs to be a major educational initiative to supply
people with the information they need to make intelligent energy-related decisions.
I hope that Natural Home Heating:The Complete Guide to Renewable Energy Options
will play a role in this important initiative. It’s been an exciting adventure
for me, and I hope that after reading this book, you will share my enthusiasm
for renewables--and for Chelsea Green.
View Cart
