Wood stoves equipped with thermoelectric generators can produce electricity that is more sustainable, more reliable, and less costly than power from solar PV panels.
Found this on the lowtech magazine. What are your toughts?
At a burning rate of 2.5 kg soft pine wood per hour, their experiments showed an average power output of 4.2 watts
While they have more complex/expensive designs that produce 13 watts with cold water heatsink start, these devices are much more expensive than a 100w solar panel which would produce the same amount of energy on a bad winter day (1 hour total sun), even when the solar is professionally installed.
The amount of wood to burn is about 1 year of growth per day of heat + minimal electricity, and air quality in homw would be worse than North east cities during recent wildfires.
While they have more complex/expensive designs that produce 13 watts with cold water heatsink start, these devices are much more expensive than a 100w solar panel which would produce the same amount of energy on a bad winter day (1 hour total sun), even when the solar is professionally installed.
The amount of wood to burn is about 1 year of growth per day of heat + minimal electricity, and air quality in homw would be worse than North east cities during recent wildfires.