In most homes, 50% of the energy is used in heating and cooling. We choose short term to use a woodstove for heat. Heating with a woodstove uses a 100% renewable fuel source. It is amazing how much free wood there is when you start looking. We think of a woodstove as short term because it does have some air pollution and while the wood is free in money it is not free in time. Long term we intend to move to solar heat with wood gasification backup.

Also note the carpet was replaced with tile to increase the thermal mass of the house.

The house uses about 80 cubic feet of wood per year for heat which is about .625 of a cord. If we assume an average of 20,000,000 BTU's per cord of wood then about 12,500,000 BTU's are being used for heat. This gives a vaule of about 5,200 BTU's per sqft for heat. About 3,700 KWH/year is being saved by not running the heat pump for heat.