When I moved to Ohio some eight years I was not used to cold winter weather. I was raised in Phoenix, Arizona so I was a delicate desert flower. But upon settling into our first home here in Ohio we had a rude awakening to what winter is really like. We were living in a super drafty old place that had a very large addition build onto the original house. The main section warmed up just fine, even if the price of heating oil for the furnace was enough to send me into cardiac arrest each month. The addition remained cold unless we continuously used the monstrous floor to ceiling fireplace. Tack on another huge wood  bill each month AND the fact that we rarely stayed warm and I was a not so happy camper. It wasn’t long until we moved.

Now we live in a much more modern home, built only a decade or so ago, but I still dream of getting an older home with some character where we can build our homestead. I love the look of fireplaces and wood stoves and that is on my wishlist as well but the more I learn about pellet stoves the more I think that will be the direction we go. According to Energy.gov pellet stoves are the cleanest of solid fuel-burning residential heating appliances. They also seem so much greener to me since you are not using straight wood but a byproduct from sawmills, as the pellets are made from recycled sawdust and wood shavings. We will always use wood in construction and other industries so I like the idea of using shavings for heating homes. One of the industry front runners is QuadraFire Pellet Stoves.

According to the infographic below it is estimated that you can save 44%-53% over oil, electric, and propane heat.  To add even more benefits, the federal tax credit on 75% efficient biomass heating appliances, which expired on Dec. 31, 2011, was just reinstated on Jan. 2, 2013. The bill includes a “tax extender” for IRS Section 25C, which provides a 10 percent tax credit of up to $300 on a qualifying biomass heating appliance purchased between Jan. 1, 2012 and De. 31, 2013. Also because biomass fuels are comprised of renewable, carbon neutral products they are a very eco friendly and popular heating alternative for the self sufficient.

In 1985, after nearly two years of research and development, Alan Trusler and Dan Henry revealed their patented Quadra-Burn system as an eco-conscious replacement for traditional wood-burning stoves. By burning and re-burning gases and smoke in four different zones of the stove, they created the cleanest burning non-catalytic wood stoves on the market and revolutionized alternative-energy for home heating. Every Quadra-Fire stove or insert, whether it runs on wood, corn, gas, or pellets, is designed with a mind toward efficiency and an eye toward beauty.