Alternative heat

A couple posts ago, I promised a post about getting heating appliances off electricity. Heat is the easiest energy form to produce from alternative and renewable sources. It is easy to get low grade heat from solar for water heating. Very simple solar water heaters will supply a surprising amount of heat from sunlight. Small solar box ovens can even cook with the power of the sun. They can be made with such simple and cheap materials as aluminum foil and a cardboard box.
When I get time, I will be putting plans on the web site and providing links to various other plans.
Get rid of all the small cooking gadgets that use electricity for heat. They are for the most part very convenient but not at all efficient. There are a few exceptions, but the label will tell you how much power they use.
One thing you can do is to convert your cook stove to propane. Propane is easily storable and in most areas, it costs much less than electricity.
Unless you are in an apartment, you can usually install biomass appliances, such as wood heating and cooking stoves. Small stoves which burn their own smoke can be made from tin cans. I use these in what used to be my stainless steel cook top. I tore out the electric burners and installed these little burners that run on leaves, grass, sticks, wood chips, rabbit or lama dung, or wood pellets. These are all renewable fuels and you don't need a chainsaw to gather them. Since they burn their own smoke for fuel, they need no flue. Just open the window a crack for fresh air while using them.
These little stoves can be scaled up using larger cans, such as old five gallon popcorn cans, for space heating. However, for space heating, they MUST have a properly installed flue. Since they are using a lot more fuel, there are more dangerous gasses given off. If you are really desperate for cooking heat, you can get it cheaply by burning old newspapers. This must be done outside. I have a neat gadget that I bought in a yard sale. It is a big tin pot with all the appropriate air holes. I tightly wad up 12 sheets of newspaper and it burns long enough to cook a rack of hamburgers nicely. There are endless ways to use biomass for cooking. Be aware of fire and smoke danger and keep children safely away.
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