We live in a small town near St. Paul, Minnesota. I am a mortgage banker and housing developer, with no connection to agriculture, any stove company, or the subject matter of this article, except as described below. My wife and I simply want to share a few reflections about our experience with burning corn to heat our home, and most recently to fuel our new/used truck. For more technical information on the subject, I'd refer you to this web site by a fellow "corn-burner".
CHAPTER ONE: This is our stove, a Bixby Corn Stove by Bixby Energy Systems, chosen based on a lot of internet reading. We purchased it at Clifton Hollow Golf Course, the local distributor in Prescott, Wisconsin. They have provided very attentive service in helping us get started.
The Bixby is called a "room heater", rated at 50,000 BTUs. However, we have learned from others--and our own experience is that with appropriate positioning and ventilation it easily heats a modestly sized home. In our case, that is a wood-frame, ranch-style house, with about 2,200 square feet, including finished basement. We placed the stove in our basement, and to permit the heat to rise to the rooms above we cut three holes in the basement ceiling and installed floor registers. We mounted duct fans below two registers to boost airflow for very cold days or when we want a quick warm-up in the morning. I did the complete installation myself, with help from family members in moving the stove.
The stove, alone, has kept our basement and main floor, including bedrooms, toasty warm (70-72 degrees) the entire winter so far, even through a week of minus-10-degree temperatures. We use the house's gas furnace only for back-up, and it has been needed once, for a couple hours, when we had a stove stoppage due to incorrect settings. (Note: As I write this, early in January 2006, temperatures outside are averaging 30 degrees and the main floor is at 72, with the stove on its lowest settings. The basement is at 74.)
Since we live in a rural town with easy access to bulk feed corn, we purchased this 25-bushel gravity box wagon, to transport and store the corn.
Purchasing corn in sacks is another option, in the short run cheaper unless you're already equipped to transport and store bulk corn. Also, our local elevator would deliver corn to our home, for a small monthly charge. In the Twin Cities, a company has begun delivery of corn to private residences.
I went ahead and bought the trailer, mainly because I like the feeling of dealing directly with the farmer--and long term the lower bulk prices will pay for it. We pick up the corn--either directly from a nearby farmer or local elevator. The current price is $3.50 a bushel and has been as low as $1.50. I carry roughly one bushel container down to the stove each day--sometimes a second on the colder days. (You can see the light blue bushel container to the left of the stove in the photo above.)
BENEFITS: The first thing everyone asks about is how much money we save. Our 30-day November/December bill for natural gas (in Minnesota!) was $38.50, as opposed to a typical $150.00 monthly bill in prior years -- and it would probably have been higher this year (neighbors have reported over $200). We spent about $80 for corn during that same period, which when added to our gas bill created savings of $75-$100 from heating with gas. Of course, it will be several years before those savings pay for the cost of installation. However, even greater beneifts, discussed below, have added a completely new dimension to our living and priorities:.
- We are relying on and enriching our own neighbors and community, getting to know people we'd never met before, and learning more about what interdependence means. And, there's just something serendipitous about standing in the open air at a Minnesota farm watching the corn flow into your wagon--knowing farmer Ron's corn will heat our home rather than natural gas through a pipeline from who knows where.
- The "tactile" process of heating our home is the biggest surprise -- an increased sense of participation in and responsibility for that process, as opposed to the passive flick of the thermostat. (And carrying corn has strengthened my 60-year-old body.)
- Corn is a completely and easily replaceable resource. We have thousands of square miles of corn grown around us every year, and in some climates farmers grow two crops a year. We are no longer concerned, for example, about keeping the temp in the low 70's; the cost is nominal, and the farmers will grow more corn next year. For those of us who are concerned about the world-wide depletion of natural resources, this advantage alone is enough.
- Corn is clean-burning, with nearly cool emissions from the clothes-dryer-like vent.
- Heating with corn does not use any internal air, so is nearly 100% efficient. Fresh, outdoor air is vented into the stove through the outer ring of the same flue that discharges the waste gases outside.
CHAPTER TWO: We recently purchased a "flexible-fuel" Ford Ranger pickup designed to burn either regular gas or E85 fuel, which contains approximately 85% ethanol. Ethanol is derived from the same type of feed corn we burn in the stove--from the same local farmers' fields--is clean-burning, and a gallon of E85 is 30 to 60 cents cheaper than regular gas, depending on the station. The farmers also cooperatively own the ethanol production facilities, thereby contributing even further to the local economy. The truck runs great!
Homemade bumper sticker for new/used E85 Ford Ranger
Every year, auto and truck manufacturers are producing more flexible fuel vehicles ("FFVs") which burn E85 or biodiesel (the latter from soy beans and other vegetable products). For information, check out these web sites:
STAY TUNED! The benefits and joy of interdepence, conservation, active participation, community, and savings are simply too great to miss.
Terry McKinley
Vermillion, Minnesota
E85 Prices in Minnesota
www.cedarflute.com
www.seniorcoops.org