Wood Heat in Southeast Manitoba

When the South Eastman Transition Initiative met last week to discuss “How do we keep Warm” we did not know Lac du Bonnet would have a 6 hour power outage later that same week. Nevertheless, I suspect the possibility of such an outage was lurking in the mind of those attending the meeting.

Let's face it. As long as our faith is in Manitoba Hydro: that it will supply reliable electricity forever, why should we be concerned about power outages? Nothing will ever be more convenient that simply moving the thermostat up if we want more heat. But is such faith reasonable or justified?

Our focus at our meeting was wood heat. We had a good discussion. As Gabriel Gagne told us about his experiences with wood heat, it struck me how, in the wooded parts of Quebec, Ontario and the Northeast USA, there is a strong culture of wood heat. Because of this the manufacturers of modern wood stoves are situated there, there are many certified installers of masonry stoves there, and there is a culture of woodlot management. All of this is absent here on the prairies.

Because of the absence of forest on the prairies, wood heating has always been a challenge here, so when coal became available, the shift to coal, even for rural residents occurred quickly. Later when cheap hydro and natural gas became available, this too was quickly embraced. Here in southeastern Manitoba, we have the forest, but we are so much a part of the prairies, that we adopted the prairie culture.

Of course it is true that we can never heat the world with biomass. There simply is not enough biomass. But there is also no way we can continue to heat the world with natural gas or coal. One size won't fit all, and for us, living adjacent to a significant forest, wood heat is something many of us need to take seriously.

At our meeting, we heard that modern EPA certified wood stoves, not only burn significantly cleaner than non-certified stoves, they also get up to 50% more heat out of wood fuel than basic wood stoves. A good stove is expected to do two things well. First of all it is to combust the fuel as completely as possible. The only thing coming out of the chimney should be water vapour and carbon dioxide – no soot and no carbon monoxide. Both are signs of incomplete combustion. The hotter the fire, the better combustion occurs, so a stove needs to be designed to burn hot. The stove is also expected to transfer the heat generated by combustion to the room. This can only be done by cooling the hot gases. So the second function works against the first function. This is why a well designed stove separates the two functions.

Evident from our meeting was that there is also a lot of interest in solar energy. Our next meeting will be devoted to harnessing solar energy. Mark February 21 on your calendar and check our website for more, up-to-date information.

Eric Rempel