Retired Test and Measurement Electronics Engineer (Tektronix, Inc.) living on 47 acres in Sub-Tropical Texas. Built dozens of TLUD and Forced Air stoves for outdoor patio cooking, with small high-grade charcoal as a by-product, which then lead to several charcoal Simple-Fires. I have run 170 loads of wood through a copy of Gary Gilmores Two Barrel TLUD charcoal maker, built a charcoal grinder, and have stock-piled lots of charcoal. The charcoal fines have really helped my garden. I mix the fines with my compost piles that I turn with a front end loader. My wood supply is drought killed Post Oak, Mesquite and Huisache (two invasive species) as well as other thick stemmed brush such as Rattlebox. We own a 2011 Nissan Leaf Electric Car (24 KWh Lithium Ion Battery) that is charged from a solar panel array (Enphase Microinverters). Our panels supply most of our electricity, and are grid-tied with a Net Metering agreement with the local power company. Our newly installed Gree Inverter heat pump a/c has upped our power requirements, especially in the Spring, Summer, and Fall a/c periods. My wife and I have been building on our cement massive/passive house for the last 30+ years. It is 5000 square feet with a full walk-in underground "basement". We have a small wood burning stove in the lowest section, and some years we have burnt a total of five 5 gallon buckets of junk hardwood for the whole "Winter". The house has so much thermal mass that attempting to heat or cool it doesn't succeed (usually), so we put on thermal underwear and sweaters in the winter month.