With oil prices soaring daily, and no price-gouging rest in sight; many homeowners are looking for alternatives to home heating to stave off the blustery winter this year. Oil, electric, propane…Who can afford it? Enter the time-honored ingenuity of woodstoves. Wood stoves have been efficiently heating homes since-seemingly-the beginning of time, with one of the most base natural elements there is, wood. Though many of the wood stoves you'll find out there still retain the same traditional look, smell, and basic scientific principles; much has been done to improve and modernize the efficiency, capacity, and design to accommodate the needs of today. Below, are the most basic benefits of choosing to invest in a wood stove this fall/winter, to help you make your own home energy decision.

· Availability

Number one reason for choosing a soapstone or cast iron wood burning stove, is just that: that it burns wood, instead of oil or propane. Oil is at record prices due to over-consumption and price-gouging; whereas wood is an all-natural resource that is in much less demand, and certainly doesn't require so many politics and malfeasance. Less dependency on foreign and private national interests, offers a more solid ground for the nation as a whole.

· Economical

Less demand allows for much lower prices. Due to the fact that wood is not in a third of the demand as oil or propane, it is still very reasonable price-wise. Moreover, it burns much slower and is then able to give off more heat for a longer period of time; whereas oil or propane burns through at an alarming rate.

· Ease of Use

A wood stove can be used anywhere where there is a proper chimney ventilation and there is enough space. This way, you can use it in the kitchen or any other room that has a chimney or draft alternative. Oil/propane heaters are typically set up in one place-usually in the basement and-unless you are looking to invest a lot in outside labor-cannot be moved easily.

· Unit cost

The woodstove or wood burning unit itself, is priced at anywhere from $500 to over $2000. New furnaces or boilers typically start at $1500 and move upwards from that, and usually need replacement once every 10-15 years.

· Clean burn

Whereas a furnace or boiler burns fossil fuels at an indiscriminate rate, a new woodstove will burn wood much cleaner, and with much less harmful residue.

· Localized heating

The typical furnace is located in your home's basement, and will heat indiscriminately throughout the whole house, or one on each floor (typically). Wood stoves, however, can be regulated by how much wood you burn, and your ability to monitor through the front glass panel the status of your home's heating source.

· Safety

Due to the fact that you can easily monitor and regulate your heating source at all times with a wood stove, you are therefore more aware of any issues that might arise; whereas you won't know there is something wrong with your furnace until it shuts off or makes a dramatic noise, etc that you can hear from upstairs.