Heat from Peat

By “Awake!” correspondent in Uruguay

“HEAT from what?” “From PEAT!” “What is that? Where does it come from? How is it used?” you may ask.

Peat means heat to residents of the Falkland Islands, parts of Scotland and Ireland, and a few other places. In many cases it is their only fuel.

Peat is a decomposed vegetable compound containing a great variety of combustible materials. For hundreds, perhaps thousands of years, decaying grasses, reeds, mosses or aquatic plants along with bird and animal wastes, or any combination of these, have accumulated under ideal conditions of moisture and an annual mean temperature of about 45° F. to decompose and form peat banks or bogs.

The quality of peat is affected mainly by the kinds of decayed plants, their aging or time of decomposition, and the amount of pressure from the material on top. While a peat bog is usually wet, soggy and spongy, it is firm enough to hold a truck or lorry. Really, the bog looks like any ordinary field or meadow. However, after the peat has been dried it is combustible like coal.

Bacteria and other living organisms help to decompose the plant matter on the surface. Deeper down, however, no form of life appears. Peat from the surface resembles ordinary sod. It is porous, full of roots and other vegetation, and burns rapidly. As one digs deeper, fewer roots appear and the peat is of better quality.

Peat may vary from a pale yellow or brown fibrous spongy tuff at the top of the bog to a dark brown or nearly black brittle solid at the bottom. This better quality, nearly black peat, when dried, will shatter like coal. It is formed in layers that can be separated into rather thin sheets. Like its close relative, coal, it can be banked in a stove to hold a fire throughout a long cold winter night. However, peat produces about half as much heat as the same amount of coal by weight. Its caloric value is roughly between wood and coal.

Peat banks or bogs vary greatly in depth. Near Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, they rarely reach twelve feet deep, and usually average about three feet. On other islands they are said to go down nearly forty feet. Peat deposits on South Georgia island are estimated to be thousands of years old and measure some thirteen feet deep.

Easily Accessible Fuel

On many of the Falkland Islands people can just step out of their homes and help themselves to any amount of peat. In the city of Port Stanley, however, the use of peat is administered by the government, and it is apportioned to each home free of charge by an official called the “Peat Officer” or “Fuel Officer.” When a home is bought or sold, the corresponding section of the peat bog automatically goes with the sale or purchase. New homes built receive an assignment in the peat bank or bog; and when a section is exhausted, another one is assigned. One may use as much peat as he wishes.

The city’s supply begins at the edge of town and extends for miles. Although the government maintains control of the peat bogs, each family is responsible for cutting, hauling, and storing its own allotment for private use. An average family will require 150 to 200 or more cubic yards per year.

Preparing Peat for Use

Peat is measured and cut out of the bog by cubic yards. After the first cutting, another layer three feet deep is worked, and this is repeated until the workers run out of peat or reach bedrock. These layers are called “First Cut,” “Second Cut,” and so forth. The better grade of peat comes from the deeper cuts.

Cutting or digging must be done so as to allow for proper drainage of the bog. While some attempts have been made to dig or cut peat by machine, the reliable hand spade still remains the most effective method used in this area. The spade is sharp and is used to cut the sods into uniform sizes, usually averaging nine inches by nine inches by six inches. Next, these wet soggy sods are spread out to dry a little. Then they are stacked up in little piles, with the bottom sides turned up to dry them out well.

After drying for about a month, the peat is taken home and neatly stored in a “peat shed,” where it is ready for use. It is still sufficiently moist so that it holds its original form without crumbling. If the sods of peat get too dry and crumble, they are harder to handle and must be shoveled like dirt. This fine dirt burns fiercely in a stove and forms big clinkers, instead of the usual fine reddish-gray ash.

The family peat shed is built of boards spaced a couple of inches apart to allow for plenty of ventilation. These sheds will hold enough peat for a year or two. Now the peat is ready to make heat in either the cookstove, heating stove or open fireplace.

Getting the peat in is a daily family chore. When it is taken from the peat shed it is chopped to the desired size. To get a hot fire in a hurry the peat is chopped into smaller pieces so it will burn quickly. Larger pieces burn slower and give off a steady heat.

How fascinating it is to sit before a fireplace at night with only the light from burning peat, and watch the brilliant flames of green, blue, orange and yellow flickering their shadows about the room! Yes, there is something enjoyable and cozy about a comfortable home that derives its heat from peat.

[Picture on page 26]

Piles of dried peat in the field waiting to be hauled by truck to the peat sheds