iStock
DCL
Pellet stoves, explains Justin Thomas at TreeHugger.com, are "small electric stoves that burn small pieces of recycled sawdust, that have been compressed into pellets. There are a number of advantages to using wood pellet stoves: they are extremely efficient, produce very little waste, and use inexpensive fuel." According to the Pellet Fuels Institute, there are approximately 800,000 homes in the US "using wood pellets for heat, in freestanding stoves, fireplace inserts and even furnaces."
Brian Merchant at PlanetGreen.com adds: "Pellet stoves pollute so little that they don't require certification from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (though many companies get certified anyway), they create no creosote (chimney fire fodder), and fall well within clean air standards. And the pellets? Most are made from compressed sawdust and other wood waste, though some stoves can also take wood, recycled paper waste, and biomass pellets. Therefore, pellet stoves don't contribute to deforestation or consumption of other precious natural resources (natural gas)."
