Several people around use have corn stoves. These folks are farmers who raise the corn themselves and have bins full of the stuff anyway. In my opinion, that is a smart idea. Many others have wood stoves, they go out with a chainsaw and cut the stuff themselves. Again, I like that system.

Gas is convenient, I'll say that for it. But gas can be very expensive too. Here we have a major natural gas infrastructure, because the city nearby was built on a very large natural gas deposit. Here in Indiana heating oil never was all that big.

In the city, I would feel safe to say gas is the number 1 method of heating. Out in the country I'd say it's close between wood and propane.

Outdoor wood boilers are inefficient, but they have the distinct advantage of not driving up insurance costs like a regular wood stove does (fire risk) Personally, I would prefer an indoor wood heating system. I have the advantage of being close friends with a heating and cooling expert that I can consult about all these things.