Thoughts Turn to Biomass Heat as Winter Approaches
By: Rona Johnson
Biomass Power and Thermal
Gale-force winds, blowing snow, icy road conditions and power outages are not uncommon in North Dakota in October. That doesn’t mean we have to like it.
In case you didn’t read or hear about it, a winter storm packing a ton of moisture and strong winds hit the Midwest this week. Here in northeast North Dakota we lucked out and just got heavy rain and strong winds, but it’s definitely a harbinger of things to come.
According to the Associated Press, Excel Energy was racing to restore power to more than 160,000 customers in Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota. As of Thursday, there were still about 4,000 customers without electricity. Although power companies do their best to prevent this from happening, and when it does they react immediately, controlling Mother Nature is impossible.
At this time of year and in this part of the country, when temperatures are above freezing power outages are somewhat tolerable. But I’m sure many people were cursing and wishing they had another heat source that doesn’t depend on electricity.
It might be time to look into biomass heating options such as fireplace inserts or free-standing pellet stoves.
