| Long before oil and propane became the standard | | | | nut hulls, are compressed into these tiny pellets. |
| for heating residential and commercial buildings, | | | | New, energy-efficient, clean-burning stoves |
| wood provided heat for both cooking and heating. | | | | especially designed to burn wood pellets have |
| Fireplaces and then wood stoves provided | | | | turned wood into a safe, economical, and |
| warmth in cold winter climates for centuries, until | | | | environmentally sound way to heat homes. |
| central heating replaced them. | | | | Wood pellets are manufactured in over 60 |
| However, heating and cooking with wood has had | | | | locations around the United States, making their |
| its problems. Burning wood isn't the cleanest | | | | production a local industry in many communities. |
| method of heating; conventional woodstoves and | | | | There's an advantage to this also; local production |
| fireplaces put a lot of both gaseous and | | | | of energy sources eliminates the need for |
| particulate pollutants into the air, as well as coating | | | | transporting the fuels long-distance, saving on the |
| chimneys and stovepipes with a gummy, highly | | | | energy costs associated with shipping and |
| flammable substance called creosote. Before the | | | | resulting in lower prices for the consumer. |
| advent of oil-based central heating, many chimney | | | | As more attention is paid to the costs of |
| fires each year, caused by the igniting of | | | | conventional home heating fuels and the |
| creosote build-up, resulted in the loss of thousands | | | | heightened worries over global warming, wood |
| of homes and many lives. | | | | pellets promise to be a popular, low-cost |
| Enter the wood pellet. Sawdust and other plant | | | | alternative to fuel oil and propane. |
| materials such as wood chips and, in some cases, | | | | |