I have a fieldstone fireplace with 4 square feet of flasing in front of it.I want to use a woodstove insert to save money on installation and make more room in the cabin.

If I cast my own aluminum ingots (4-5 lbs) from soda cans, will recycling/scrapping centers still accept it? If so, will they offer more money for being in a more raw form? Would I be able to cast copper and bronze ingots as well as other metals?

I live in the Twin Cities in MN, and gas prices for natural gas is like $.86 per whatever. I have a gas fireplace… and i was wondering if i bought an electric heater for to heat my rooms, would i save money using electricity than using natural gas??

We all know it is devastating to the air we breath. Why not just ban it for good? I live in an area that the air gets trapped and the pollution level skyrockets because of this. Please, no stupid angry full of attitude responses. I really want serious answers on what could possibly be done about this.
In the summer, my city has high levels of ozone(smog), but in the winter, the air gets worse because of all of the particulate matter( wood burning) . Why isn’t more being done to lower the levels of this pollutant? There are a ton of kids in my area that are affected because they have respiratory problems. And there are plenty of adult sufferers too.(me included).
sciencenut……i know that woodburning does not contribute to "greenhouse gases". but, it is a pollutant nontheless. there are thousands of people in my area who suffer from asthma. and this costs a lot of money each year. emergency visits, medications, etc. i would never personally consider or endorse nuclear energy as a heating source. but that is just my "arrogant" opinion. But, there are clearly other ways. and, this was simply a question on what to do about it. not telling you how to live your life. personally, i’m tired of wheezing from asthma. i don’t smoke, i hardly drive my car. i ride my bike with a trailer hitched to take my little ones to school. i also bike to the market. i shouldn’t be having to worry that the air index is at 120 in the middle of the morning. your answer really pissed me off for some reason. this was not an arrogant question. you just gave an arrogant answer. so F.U sciencenut

I’m looking to purchase a set of cookware around 0. What is the best type (stainless steel, hard anodized, copper bottoms, non stick, cast aluminum, etc)? I’m looking to spend more money then the traditional beginner set that will last a few times. I would like to purchase something that will last a long time. Do you have a favorite brand (Paula Deen, Wolfgang Puck, Tfal, Faberware, Hamilton Beach, etc)?

(This a tiny, 2 bedroom, 2 floor condo.)
Layout: As soon as you walk in through the front door, you are already IN the living room. Directly in front of you are the stairs leading up, and also in front of you (but to the right) is the living room, followed closely by a TINY dining room. The dining room then goes into an EXTREMELY tiny kitchen.
Anyway, we have no fireplace/mantle, and we really don’t have the money to buy one of those electric fireplaces or whatever they are. (Although they are pretty cool!)
Anyway, I am decorating the place but I was wondering what exactly would be the "focal point" of the living room; it seems to me that all good interior designers say that having a strong focal point is key. There is a large window on the same wall as the front door, but our huge sectional is in front of it. I really don’t feel it is a focal point. The only semi-interesting area is the little "nook" by the stairs, but my bf’s huge t.v. is there. Any ideas on focal points?

I have seen posts here from "serious" cat people that lead me to believe that the two products are identical. Is this true? Are there any sort of chemicals added to any of the wood pellet products that someone should be on the lookout for? Would they be listed on the package if they were there?

I do not use Feline Pine myself but I’d like to help friends save some money. There is a large price difference between the two so a substantial savings. But I do not want to give incorrect information that could make anyone’s cats sick.

Please advise me!

I have a gas stove that is currently liquid propane. I want to go back to natural gas, I know what I need to buy, just dont know how to change it and really dont have the money for a 150.00 service call.

We live in the central U.S. where corn is abundant, but dont want to be stuck with a stove that ONLY burns corn or wood pellets. We have found one place that makes a stove that burns ANY biomass: corn, pellets, wood, nut hulls, etc. This is the kind of thing we are looking for but would like more options. Solar is not an option.
Our house was built (its old) without duct work and we dont have the money to put it in now. My husband has no faith in solar so that is out (personally, I would love to use it to run some our electrical stuff). Our house is about 2,700 sqft with 2 stories.

The family I babysit for, uses a pellet stove to heat their house. they keep the heat in their house at something like 63, then the pellet stove heats it the rest of the way. The lady whose kids i babysit for is actually my environmental science teacher from last year, but she isn’t actually very environmentally friendly. they use a lot of paper towels, paper plates, they eat out a lot, etc. So i figure this stove is just another way to save money, and maybe it isn’t that great for the environment. it seems like the emissions would be worse than just using natural gas, but i don’t know (obviously, since i’m asking ). It doesn’t even heat up the house very well, so they end up using a space heater on top of that.

So which is better for the environment?