A big thank you to phys.org for their excellent post on how the best ways for individuals to tackle climate change! It is no surprise that they missed wood pellet Furnaces—people just don’t know about Sustainable Heating so we added the bit about pellet boilers to their excellent graphic.

“For most Americans living in the northern United States, heating produces more household carbon emissions than any other activity. Out of the 20 tons of carbon that the average American emits each year, five to 10 tons can be from heating.^1″ Replacing your oil boiler or furnace with one that runs on local, renewable wood pellet fuel is the single biggest contribution you can make to reducing greenhouse gas emissions (short of having fewer children.) Check out the data behind the analysis on the carbon savings.

But Sustainable Heating is not just about new, amazing green-heating technology, it’s also about preserving forests. Contrary to popular belief most forests in the US are not protected. About a third are tree farms, and the reduction in use of paper in the digital age has decimated markets for secondary timber. Those tree farmers are going to sell their lands for development if they can no longer make a living by sustainably harvesting and replanting their woodlots. Land owners and forest industry players don’t get paid for sequestering carbon, and preserving wildlife habitat but that is an important byproduct of the working forest economy. Once those lands have been developed they are gone forever! We only have a short window of time to bring back markets for secondary timber.

You can tackle climate change!

Sustainable Heating could be a vital market driver—if only we can get the word out (and big oil doesn’t want us to!) Those of us who care about the climate we are leaving for the next generation need to make sure that Sustainable Heating is as widely known as solar and wind.

Footnotes: 1. Alliance For Green Heat, http://www.forgreenheat.org/issues/cooling_climate_change.html