Tired of soaring gas prices? Some growers have turned to fields of corn to solve their energy woes
It takes a lot of fuel to heat Heath Perry's 14,000 sq. ft. of greenhouses in Bancroft, South Dakota . And when the price of propane gas rises, the increased cost of providing this heat can take a big bite out of Heath's profits.
That's why Heath, who for a decade has run Heath's Greenhouse, took a chance on corn five years ago.
Heath purchased two Countryside Corn Stoves from American Energy Systems, a manufacturer of corn- and wood-burning stoves based in Hutchinson , Minnesota . The stoves heat one of Heath's greenhouses, an 800-sq. ft. facility that he uses for seeding and propagating and one that he must keep warm from January through May-months that are home to some particularly bitter weather in South Dakota. Each furnace provides 50,000 Btu worth of heat; with corn currently costing Heath a relatively low $2.20 a bushel, the cost savings are substantial.
"I'm very happy with the corn furnaces. And the cost savings have been impressive," Heath says. "I'd definitely recommend to other growers that they, too, look into these."
Advocates of alternative heating sources such as corn point to the nearly 34,000 pellet stoves sold in 2002 as the sign of a growing industry. And these advocates cite a simple reason for this growth: Alternative fuels are far less expensive than other fuel sources.
For example: A bushel of corn, as of the writing of this story, cost Heath $2.20. That one bushel equals about 5 1/2 gal. of propane. At press time, propane cost Heath $0.95 per gallon. Multiply that by five-and-a-half and you find that Heath would have to spend about $5.23 to get the same amount of fuel from propane as he gets from that one bushel of corn that cost him $2.20.
Of course, corn stoves aren't right for every grower. The stoves work well for Heath because he heats his seeding greenhouse for a relatively long period of the year. During the five months he heats the greenhouse, he builds up more than enough fuel savings to make using the corn furnace eventually pay for itself. However, if he only heated his greenhouse for one or two months, his corn stoves, because of their relatively high costs (Heath paid $2,000 apiece for his stoves five years ago), would never generate enough fuel savings to justify the initial expense of purchasing one.
That's the key factor in determining whether a corn furnace will pay off. Those growers who need to heat greenhouses for a long period of time will probably generate enough cost savings to make the purchase worthwhile. Those working in warmer climes, where cold nights are uncommon, probably won't benefit financially.
This is why Heath only heats one greenhouse with corn. He heats his other six greenhouses, which only need heat for a few months at a time, with traditional propane.
Growers must also consider the size of the facilities they need to heat. Residential corn burners provide anywhere from 10,000 Btu to 75,000 Btu worth of heat; those providing the greater number of Btu cost more. Commercial corn burners can generate up to 300,000 Btu. Growers with large facilities that require more Btu to heat may not realize any cost savings, because they'll have to purchase so many corn burners to heat their facilities.
Still, for certain growers, corn stoves are a good alternative.
"I like my corn stoves so much, I've even put one in my house," Heath raves. "Besides the savings, I also like the fact that it's a renewable resource. You can grow it yourself or purchase it from local grain elevators. If you grow it yourself, it's even cheaper."
Heath isn't the only grower across the country taking advantage of corn-burning stoves to provide an alternative to more costly fuels. Officials with the Pellet Fuels Institute report that the manufacturers of pellet fuel-everything from pellets of wood to those of corn-generated more than 900,000 tons of fuel in 2002, up from 780,000 tons in 2001. The institute also estimates that more than 500,000 pellet stoves-again, burning everything from wood and corn to cherry pits-are used in more than 500,000 residences across the country.
Mike Haefner, president of American Energy Systems, the largest manufacturer of corn-burning stoves, says that requests for his company's range of appliances increased 300% in 2003.
One bushel of shelled corn contains as much heating energy as five and one half gallons of propane."The demand for corn-burning appliances has really grown," Mike explains. "We couldn't even build as many stoves as people wanted from us last year."
Pellet-burning stoves are still a small part of the hearth industry. Officials with the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association report that more than 1.4 million hearth appliances were shipped in the US during 2002. Of this number, 33,978 were appliances fueled by pellets. That comes to 2% of the total industry. Not surprisingly, gas-fueled appliances continue to dominate the industry, accounting for 62% of all hearth shipments in 2002.
Lyle Mensch, owner of Mensch's Greenhouse in Avon , South Dakota , also uses a Countryside Corn Stove. Lyle's stove helps heat a corner of his 15,000-sq. ft. rooting greenhouse, a corner that has always been cold. The stove, which sits in the northwest corner of the greenhouse, provides an extra heating boost to the gas furnace that provides most of the heat to the facility.
Lyle, who purchased his corn stove last fall, runs it 24 hours a day during the winter. He expects the appliance, which he bought for about $2,500, to soon begin paying for itself.
"It does keep one of my other boilers from going on by providing that little extra bit of heat," Lyle says. "That does us some good. If we can keep our other boilers from firing as much as possible, we can save money in the long run."
The stove is also easy to operate. Lyle simply fills the stove with corn pellets each day. He then dumps the resulting ash once a week. And, no, the burning corn doesn't make his greenhouse smell like popcorn.
"It's kind of a nice appliance," Lyle says. "And when it's cold out, I truly enjoy standing next to it."
