Wheat-burning stove

Wheat gives excellent constant heat,' says Donna Pizzey of Foxwarren, Manitoba, 'fuel supply is abundant - we have our bins full - and it offers the same heat efficiency as electricity, but at the fraction of the cost. The best part is: wheat burns clean with virtually no emissions, no odour, and leaves very little residue.'

Donna can't calculate their wheat stove's efficiency in dollars and cents because it isn't their primary heat source. It's a different story with their neighbour, Scott Falloon, who has a wheat-burning furnace. After a winter of wheat-heating his farm home, Falloon's hydro costs dropped so dramatically Manitoba Hydro sent someone out to see if something had gone wrong with his meter.

Another report from New Hampshire tells of Dan and Barbara Burbank who went from conventional winter costs of seven cords of wood ($910) plus over 1,000 gallons of oil, to a grain stove which used in the neighbourhood of $400 worth of wheat.

Research into actual heating cost data in four North East US cities found shelled grain fuel to be the lowest per-unit-of-effective-heat cost compared with traditional heating fuels like coal, electricity, natural gas, fuel oil, propane, wood and wood pellets.

Though wheat supplies are abundant and readily available in most of Canada, manufacturers of the wheat-burning stove don't see their product becoming popular in urban areas. Says one Manitoba distributor: 'We expect farmers - with ready supplies of fuel in their backyards - will be the main buyers of grain-burning (units) at first.' He suggests cottage owners and those without ready access to natural gas may also find the product an economic alternative.

The Dovetec stove will also burn corn, rye, and pellets made of compressed wood sawdust. 'There's also the talk of compressed straw pellets that utilise discarded grain straw,' Calvin says.

'If you're talking about environmentally friendly fuel,' Donna observes, 'this is it. What other resource is as quickly renewable as wheat? The fact that it doesn't produce any toxic by-products can only be an added plus.'