permaculture

["tim" <timb@asis.com>]

I just read this article last week concerning the use of pellets made from
the lawn clippings to heat a Vermont Farm.  The story is a little weak on
the details of the pellet making process. I imagine it would be a lot easier
to make pellets out of grass because you don't need to chip it.  It might be
very practical in urban areas at the scale of a residential lawn service.   
http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=9816

Approvecho has done a lot of work on several aspects of biomass heating.
Many of there designs are oriented towards cooking but I think It would be
useful to people trying to stay warm.   

I recommend that if you want to be warmed in future winters by a homemade
biomass stove you should start experimenting with outdoor cook stoves so
that you can get comfortable with the materials that you will build the
combustion chamber and the heat exchange system.  

http://www.aprovecho.net 
http://www.repp.org/discussiongroups/resources/stoves/

I also recommend getting Tuvulki catalog from a dealer.  They have some
excellent cartoon diagrams explaining the design aims that they use.  

Tim b