I don't normally have to dig out my long underwear until late November or early December, but the boiler in our office building stubbornly refused to fire up, so here it was the first of October and I was dressed like it was the dead of winter. That doesn't mean winter is here to stay; we could still have some nice days even into November. This is the time of year when you just need to watch the weather so you can dress appropriately.

Fortunately, temperatures were mild in the mid- to low-40s; not so cold that we could see our breath, but cold enough to comfortably wear winter coats indoors. As I sat in a meeting, hunkered down in my sweater and blowing on my hands to keep warm, I couldn't help thinking how much it was like sitting on a hillside in the crisp fall weather waiting for an unsuspecting deer to come by (sorry for the hunting metaphor but that's the only time I actually sit outside when it's cold).

The cold weather also had me thinking about biomass pellets and how nice it would be to have a little pellet stove in my office, instead of an electric space heater. If we had pellet stoves in our offices, we wouldn't have mini power-outages like we do when the boiler is on the fritz and too many space heaters are running to stave off the cold. I don't know if we could replace our space heaters with more energy-saving devices but I wouldn't want to be the one paying our electric bill from the first week in October.

According to the Pellet Fuels Institute, there are more than 80 pellet mills in North America that produce about 1.1 million tons of fuel per year. I expect this number will increase as pellet and pellet stove manufacturers improve their products so they are more user friendly, especially for those of us who don't want to go back to the days when wood was the only source of heat. Chopping down trees and hauling wood is not for everyone. Several pellet manufacturers have developed systems where they can deliver pellets to residences and businesses.

There are also several improvements being made to pellet stoves that would allow them to not only provide heat but also hot water and electricity, according to an article I read on treehugger.com. The article said this technology is about two years from being a reality.

I know many people here in North Dakota who would jump at the chance to generate their own heat and power. Heating homes here for six to eight months a year where temperatures can dip to minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit results in some mighty high heating bills. Though we are a hardy lot, opening up January's heat bill can bring tears to the eyes of even the strongest among us.

Let's hope those two years go by quickly.