Welcome to the 19th Century: Coal Comes Home Again
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 12.27.08
Filling the coal-fired stove in Sugarloaf, PA; Laura Pedrick for the NYT
The New York Times covers the return of coal as a heating source in American houses.
Problematic in some ways and difficult to handle, coal is nonetheless a cheap, plentiful, mined-in-America source of heat. And with the cost of heating oil and natural gas increasingly prone to spikes, some homeowners in the Northeast, pockets of the Midwest and even Alaska are deciding coal is worth the trouble.
John Taplin noticed this in the same edition as Elisabeth Rosenthal's article on passivhaus designs in Germany, and wondered:
Isn’t it rather embarrassing that we are falling back on 19th Century dirty technology while the Europeans are embracing 21st Century methods of keeping themselves warm?
from the"> depressing slide show.
The Times notes that this is not a particularly clean way to heat:
Burning coal does throw fine particles into the air that can pose problems for some people, similar to the problems involved in burning wood — though wood stoves and fireplace inserts are increasingly subject to regulation to cut down on pollutants.“Coal stoves don’t have that,” said James E. Houck, the president of Omni Environmental Services, a firm in Portland, Ore., that tests air quality. “And there’s no regulatory pressure for them to have it.”
But people don't have a lot of options.
“Everybody’s looking at wherever they can to save money,” said Daniel Blaschak, a co-owner of the company [Blaschak Coal] . “ ’Cause guess what? We no longer have disposable income. We are up to our necks in debt. And there’s very few things we can’t live without, but heat is one of them.”
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This is an interesting article and my first reaction is "oh no". Upon a little reflection I am not concerned in a big way, most of all because electric resistance heat is far worse given that 50% of electricity is produced by burning coal. In the coal to electricity scenario about 1 (or at best 3) units of energy comes out of a plug in ones house when 10 units of coal went in at the generating station. Given the poor efficacy and the age of many of the coal (or thermal) plants in North America burning coal for heat may very well result in less Co2e being released to keep a given home warm.
I would prefer to see homes heated with natural gas but I know that it is not a local fuel for everyone.
Strange how people can be so against bikes and passive solar, because they are considered the old way of doing things, but then they embrace old, dirty ways of heating their homes that have been proven to cause problems.
Todays Treehugger-Frontpage should really make the Americans think twice about their way of living and the direction they are going: One article about Americans going back to coal to save a few bucks, the other one about Germans living in Houses that virtually don't use heating (or aircondition for that matter) at all.
We'll see if Obama can fix it all. I am just afraid that change really takes a generation...
Geez, if people are willing to go to the trouble of heating with coal, they might as well build or buy a wood gasifier. Gasification is super efficient and scrap wood is free. The county has more wood chips from branch clearing along roads than they know what to do with.
With a little know how you can use the gas to not only heat your home, but to power your house and get off the grid. I'm finishing up a new design in January that will do just that. I need to find these people and smack some sense into them!
Keep hugging
I grew up in a home with one of those ancient coal furnaces in the basement and just can't see this catching on in the mega-mansions and townhouses of the burbs.
No matter how careful you are, coal dust will sift about and blacken things. Look at the door sill of coal bin in an old home if you want evidence.
I just can't see this catching on in one of those 4,000 sq foot suburban homes. Putting one of these in a family room will eventually be an regretted decision.
Belongs outdoors or in basement for sure.
I would hope that at the very least, the use of coal in the US would be in a home or neighbourhood CHP unit, if they are going to burn it at all. Can't the US at least try and do something right?
Goodness, coal was basically free when I lived in Alaska (you could just pick it up off the ground by the RR tracks). Never would I have thought people would decimate air quality for some cheap heat when there is loads of free wood for heating.
Sadly though, now that I live in the midwest, I can go to the home improvement store down the street and buy a coal/wood stove.
I just wanted to comment about the idea that America is backwards, and Europe is so modern. I am an American living in Germany, and most of the houses here use primitive means to heat their houses. I saw yesterday a few houses that use coal. Many use oil, and some gas. Most houses here have radiators, which are old and inefficient compared to floor heating. Also, it is almost impossible to get tap water. Everyone drinks bottled water here, even though the tap water is fine. To make it worse, Germany doesn't have space to bury their trash, so they incinerate it. So, we need progress, but Europe, don't stand on a high horse.