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I think the flaw here is that historically, we have quickly stripped the land for firewood: https://www.history.com/news/the-firewood-shortage-that-helped-give-

I think the flaw here is that historically, we have quickly stripped the land for firewood: https://www.history.com/news/the-firewood-shortage-that-helped-give-birth-to-america https://www.history.com/news/the-firewood-shortage-that-help... While it might be more efficient now, it's still a slightly more locally finite than the sun is. In addition, operating a wood stove is still a manual process that needs to be tended to constantly, making the solar panel much easier to operate, and likely much safer as there is no deliberate heat source in a solar array.

joshdance 6y ago
Pellet stoves are almost 100% automatic. Pellets can be produced from junk wood, and if we really wanted more wood, we could plant and harvest the forests.
- close04 6y ago
  Wood has the slight disadvantage that it grows slower than it burns. Wood stoves still need active input for the "supply chain", you have to deal with some additional complexity, maintenance, and extra safety concerns. The forced draft stove in the article needs an electric fan to work. A solar panel on the other hand is passive, with no maintenance, or safety concerns. The setup in the article is OK if you already had the stove for heating and a lot of additional parts lying around to build the thermoelectric generator. In theory any electricity it generates is "free electricity" but the complexity is high, efficiency is low, and a bit of the little electricity it produces may be needed to just keep the whole thing going.
- biomcgary 6y ago
  Unfortunately, most pellet stoves depend on electricity for the fan and controller and stop if the power goes out. Gravity fed pellet stoves exist but have problems with consistency (and avoiding backdraft fires). I've thought about building a pellet stove with an integrated Stirling engine generator, but it's a bigger project than I have time for. It should be more efficient than thermoelectric.
deleted 6y ago
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joshdance 6y ago

Pellet stoves are almost 100% automatic. Pellets can be produced from junk wood, and if we really wanted more wood, we could plant and harvest the forests.

close04 6y ago
Wood has the slight disadvantage that it grows slower than it burns. Wood stoves still need active input for the "supply chain", you have to deal with some additional complexity, maintenance, and extra safety concerns. The forced draft stove in the article needs an electric fan to work. A solar panel on the other hand is passive, with no maintenance, or safety concerns. The setup in the article is OK if you already had the stove for heating and a lot of additional parts lying around to build the thermoelectric generator. In theory any electricity it generates is "free electricity" but the complexity is high, efficiency is low, and a bit of the little electricity it produces may be needed to just keep the whole thing going.
biomcgary 6y ago
Unfortunately, most pellet stoves depend on electricity for the fan and controller and stop if the power goes out. Gravity fed pellet stoves exist but have problems with consistency (and avoiding backdraft fires). I've thought about building a pellet stove with an integrated Stirling engine generator, but it's a bigger project than I have time for. It should be more efficient than thermoelectric.

deleted 6y ago

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