Roswell In My Basement

This year, all anyone could talk about it seemed was the cost of fuel whether it was the cost of gas at the pump or the cost of heating oil (or gas if you were that lucky).  Up here in Maine, there were people in the Summer still paying last Winter’s heating bills after the sudden sharp price spike and the extra harsh Winter — I think we spent 3 months below 32°F and we began to run out of places to put/push the snow.  I was spending $600 a month for 1500 sq. ft., keeping the temperatures at the minimums.

This summer when the letters circulated from the heating companies with the deadlines to lock in your prices for this Winter, the prices were nearly $5 per gallon.  My company discount saved me 30¢ per gallon.  I had repeated panic attacks.  I really felt sick to my stomach.  I honestly didn’t think I could afford to keep eating and heating.

It was enough to make me swear I would absolutely not be on oil fuel by this Winter.

Thanks to a nice loan (taken the day of the first big market plummet — who says the banks aren’t loaning money?), December 1^rst – 4^th, a contractor working with equipment acquired through Maine Energy Systems installed a fully automated pellet-fired central heating system including a 4 ton wood pellet silo, which looks like a UFO in my basement.  (O.K. it looked more like a UFO while they were assembling it because it was upside down then; don’t ask me how they got it flipped over.)

In 2007, I used 850 gallons of oil and because of the harsh Winter the first 4 months of 2008, there was a 30% increase.  Using MES’ estimating tool, I was probably going to be spending $4,000+ on oil, but only $1,600+ on wood pellets, which is a renewable resource.   The fact that wood pellets are environmentally friendly was a big selling point for me — most wood pellets are made from by-products of other wood manufacturing processes and the ash create makes excellent compost.

The system still has a few quirks.  Let’s face it; the furnaces were imported from Germany and the manuals had to be translated, probably by people who aren’t “heating” experts.  Probably some changes have been made to suit local codes too.  My contractor has been here every few days to make adjustments because Roswell, as I call her, is fussy.  I myself check on her a couple times a day as a matter of routine.  My contractor says I have a better attitude about it than he would, but my invoice says “Number 11″; I figure that if you’re going to be a pioneer in technology, you have to accept that there are going to be bumps in the road.  It’s the price you pay.

Plus, I just wrote a check for $826 for 3.26 tons of wood pellets at the beginning of December.  Here it is, December 22^nd and I’ve used less than 1000 lbs.  By my calculations, the pellets I have should last me until the end of March and then the next delivery will likely last me until next November since I won’t need it much except for hot water til then.

I feel so releaved, even if I’ll be paying this loan for 6 years.  It’ll totally be worth it, knowing I’m not writing a god-awful check every month to a country that probably is plotting to kill some Americans with the proceeds.

Tagged as: bosch, eco-friendly, environment, furnace, Green Living, heating bill, heating oil, Maine Energy Systems, oil, renewable fuel, silo, wood pellets