Whole Green Blog

Thank God for Splitting Mauls

The maul is to firewood splitting what the claw hammer is to carpentry—the dependable, affordable, old-fashioned, nothing-works-better tool that makes the whole business possible. Superficially shaped much like a woodcutter’s axe, a splitting maul features a much thicker, heavier head than an axe does. When struck against the face of a “round”—a section of a log already cut to the desired length—a maul first penetrates the wood and then acts like a wedge to force the round to split apart. The basic principle is the same as the old sledge-and-wedge technique of wood splitting, in which a sledge hammer is used to drive a steel wedge into the wood, but except for the toughest splitting problems, splitting mauls are faster and easier to use. With a splitting maul, there’s no need to set a splitting wedge in the wood, and if you miss your target, you won’t damage your handle by hitting the wedge with it. You also won’t run into situations in which you’ve driven the splitting wedge completely into the wood without getting the wood to split apart, a mishap that will force you to free your wedge before you can get back to the wood-splitting chore at hand. There’s a nice introductory article about using a splitting maul on the Internet at woodheat.org. Read More

Greener Biz Travel

After you’ve hunted for best prices for accommodations for your next business trip, look at one more resource – the directory of the Green Hotels Association, some 450 strong as this is typed, and all are hotels that promise to be conscious about water, waste, lighting and the rest of the green touch points. Don’t assume all members are ultra-pricey, either. A glance at the membership turned up plenty of budget-aware options such as Comfort Suites, Hampton Inns, and Best Western hotels. Remember: for a hotel, being green can produce powerful cost savings (especially with water and lighting). Read More

Why Heat with Firewood?

Well, it’s not intuitively obvious. Folks with an environmental bent—and if you’re reading this, it’s a pretty good bet that you’re one—just plain love trees. Trees scrub pollutants out of the air, soak up CO2, release moisture and oxygen into the atmosphere, control erosion, protect watersheds, enrich the soil, reduce the air temperature, and provide habitat for other plants and countless animals. And they’re beautiful. Trees are the green plants that put the green in the Green Movement. Harvesting and burning firewood kills trees and releases greenhouse gases into the air. In urban areas subject to smog, wood burning contributes particulates to the already unhealthy mix. So it’s no wonder that the very idea of felling trees so we can cut ‘em up and chuck ‘em into the woodstove elicits a wince from so many environmentally minded folks. Read More

Pennsylvania AG Warns Against Green Scams

All that’s green isn’t good. That’s the stern warning from Pennsylvania’s attorney general, who warns consumers to do all the usual vetting before plunking down real cash for any products, no matter how green the claims might be. The big deal: not all green claims are valid and some marketers are trying to stimulate sales of languishing products by simply claiming they are green…when they aren’t. It’s the same old: Caveat emptor. Read More

Buying Firewood: I’m Not a Lumberjack, and I’m Okay

If you don’t have the time, inclination, or physical ability to put up your own firewood—and many of us don’t—you can always buy it split and delivered. Many firewood sellers will even stack it for you for an additional fee. U.S. prices vary considerably depending on the location and the type of wood available, but as of this writing you should expect to pay between $225 and $300 per cord for hardwood delivered, or $175 to $225 for softwood. Be sure to buy local firewood. If your wood has been trucked 400 miles before it reaches you, you’re supporting a supply chain that consumes so much fossil fuel that the environmental advantages of your firewood will be lost in diesel exhaust. Read More

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