Discuss: Wood-Fueled Schools

I’ve thought about adding a wood- or pellet-burning stove to my house, but thought it might not be good for the environment because of the emissions from the burning wood.  Is that not an issue?  This article didn’t talk about that aspect.

The beauty of wood chips for fuel is the furnace can be fired by an auger—no need to get up in the wee hours and throw logs on the fire.  Wood was my sole source of heat through 27 Minnesota winters and I still get up at 4 AM to fire the stove I no longer have.
But chips or logs, a well managed stand of northern hardwood will produce a 4X4X8 cord—nearly two tons—of deadfall wood per acre per year.  If a homeowner has access to as little as seven acres, he or she should never have to cut a living tree—except obviously one in the way of the tractor or pickup.  Yes, your stove will produce CO2, but your remaining living trees should clean that up.  Zero carbon footprint?  Maybe.
Burn here, burn now!

I have a weekend home/cabin in a remote location and we decided not to run electricity to the cabin. That was partially for environmental reasons, but it was also going to cost a lot. Our cabin is in the Texas hill country, and it only gets to below 40 degrees 15 or 20 times a year. We have a wood burning system for heat, a solar powered water heater (with a propane on demand system as a backup), soar panels for electricity with batteries, and a propane generator when we need extra power when it is really hot, or when we have a few overcast days in a row. We love it and it will finish paying for itself in about 2 more years. woodheat.org is a great resource