i'll stick with my coal stove...
Posted on 10/24/2012 8:17:58 PM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
Many Americans are bracing for high heating bills this year, but the frosty New England winter won't put a chill on Erik Fey and Kathleen Rutty-Fey's energy budget. The Feys are one of many families reducing their costly household oil or gas dependence by turning to a traditional fuel with new-found popularity: wood.
The Feys first used a wood stove to supplement heat in their New Hampshire home, then migrated to sustainable wood pellets and have never looked back. "I was hooked immediately: no more wood piles, or chopping wood; no more wood critters crawling around inside, or wood debris scattered on the floor," Kathleen said. "And it made sense to use the leftovers from wood use and production. We were feeling very green about our decision."
The pellets burn better than firewood, too. "Pellets are much cleaner in terms of emissions," said John Ackerly of the Alliance for Green Heat, a nonprofit organization that advocates the use of high-efficiency wood for home heating. "They are a low-moisture, consistent, dense wood product. Wood can be variable, and when people burn wet wood in a stove they produce a lot of emissions. Wood can be very operator-dependent." (See related quiz: What You Don't Know About Home Heating)
But perhaps the best green advantage for the Feys is the stack of cash they save on heating bills for their 250-year-old hipped roof colonial in rural New Boston, New Hampshire.
Just last week, Erik said, he had a discussion with his fuel-oil supplier about how little oil they use—less than one 275-gallon (1,040-liter) tank per year. At the going New Hampshire rate of $3.75 a gallon, the family might spend just $725 this year on oil. The six tons of pellets they feed into their stove each winter (at about $213 a ton) add another $1,280 for a total annual heat bill of only about $2,000. "Our oil guy said that some people fill up five to six times per year," Kathleen said. "If we filled our oil tank five times a year, that would cost about $5,000."
Feeding the flames with 40-pound (18-kilogram) bags of pellets still takes a bit of work, the Feys report, but the payoff in savings—and comfort—is well worth the extra effort.
Wood Heating Is Catching Fire
The Feys are not alone. So many American households are returning to the nation's original heating fuel—often in modern energy-saving pellet stoves—that the U.S. government's energy forecasters this month for the first time ever included an analysis of firewood and pellets in the annual Winter Fuels Outlook.
More than 20 percent of New England households that use heating oil also use wood as a source of heat, said U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) analyst Chip Berry. That number is about twice the national rate. New England happens to be the region of the United States that is most dependent on heating oil, which is now by far the most expensive home heating option.
Only 6 percent of U.S. households depend on heating oil, but 80 percent of them are in the Northeast—many of them in places with no pipeline connection to far cheaper natural gas, the heating fuel of choice for more than half of American homes. With the average U.S. household that uses heating oil expected to spend $1,909 on fuel this winter, well over three times the forecast average price for home heating with natural gas ($804), it's no wonder New Englanders are turning to wood. (See "With Record Heating Oil Prices Expected, Homes Dash to Gas")
About 38 percent of all U.S. households rely on electricity for keeping comfortable in winter, making it the nation's second most popular heating fuel. But its use is concentrated in the South, where there's far less need for winter heating. About 5 percent of homes rely on propane, which is typically delivered to homes in tanks, and is almost as expensive as heating oil.
Berry manages the EIA's Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS), which provides data on how Americans heat their homes. According to the most recent (2009) data, Berry said, about 12 percent of American homes use wood, primarily as a secondary source of heat in homes that use heating oil or propane.
That EIA report notes that wood use has grown during the past decade after 20 years of steady decline during the 1980s and 1990s. "The results of the 2009 RECS show that wood is a significant source of heat in many U.S. homes, and wood consumption is almost as much as heating oil consumption," Berry said. "Given these facts, EIA felt it was important to begin noting wood as part of the Winter Fuels Outlook."
Colorado and the Pacific Northwest are other hotbeds of such wood use, according to the EIA. Other organizations confirm that the practice is growing. "The American Community Survey (U.S. Census Bureau) estimates that households using wood as a main source of heat increased from 1.87 million in 2005 to 2.47 million in 2011," EIA's Berry noted.
Sometimes-Forgotten Fuel
Ackerly of the of the pro-wood Alliance for Green Heat said wood already is a major part of the rural energy mix that may be overlooked by some decision-makers based in cities like Washington, D.C.
"It's very close, but wood creates more BTUs [British thermal units] in America for home heating than propane does," Ackerly said. "And it's also very close to catching up to oil. In a couple of years, I think it will be producing more BTUs for home heating than fuel oil. At that point it would be the No. 3 fuel in terms of heat production."
Currently, wood produces 0.5 quadrillion BTU (quads) per year, propane 0.49 quads, and oil 0.6 quads, according to EIA statistics.
Not surprisingly, people who live in rural areas are far more likely to heat with wood. The EIA survey results show 22 percent of rural American homes burn wood for heat, compared to only 8 percent of their urban counterparts.
Many wood users simply burn firewood or wood scraps, and about half of them save money by cutting the wood themselves. Only about 6 percent of America's wood-burning households use pellets, according to EIA stats. But pellets have some environmental advantages over firewood, according to Ackerly, in addition to conveniences like those enjoyed by the Feys.
Cleaner-burning pellets are produced from waste products such as lumber mill sawdust, and chips or scraps left over from lumbering or tree thinning. "Trees aren't cut down specifically to make pellets," Ackerly explained, "although most firewood sources are mom-and-pop-type operations that use a lot of dead and fallen timber and generally harvest wood sustainably."
The EIA is forecasting winter 2012-13 oil and gas prices to be about the same as last year's. But because last winter was so mild in much of the country, consumers are likely to burn more fuel and can expect their oil or gas bills to increase an estimated 15 percent or more, according to the agency.
EIA doesn't currently offer such forecasting or other price information for wood products. Ackerly hopes that will change, particularly in light of the tough times ahead.
"It's such an affordable way to heat. It's a real benefit for the consumer if the government could include this information, because people are having to make some tough decisions, with oil prices going up," he said. "You don't want to exclude some of the most affordable fuels and also the most renewable heating fuels."
A renewable resource and cheap if you can grow your own trees.
Wood Pellets are the only form of Green Energy
that is cost effective and sustainable.
What’s wrong with regular cord wood?
After spending $3600 year before last for propane to heat, I purchased a used wood stove and switched to wood. Much nicer heat by the way. Stove, installation and wood for one year cost half of what the propane would have. Second fire of the season burning tonight :)
There is virtually no residue with pellets. The article discusses lack of moisture
and pollution in pellets.
The EPA will try to ban this as soon as possible. BET ON IT
i'll stick with my coal stove...
We have our own 20-acre wood lot and an outdoor wood furnace that also heats our water and garage.
The BEST way to go! No fire danger, bugs, ashes, or smoke in your living area. And, you can set the thermostat as high as you want and only fill it once a day. Or, if you want to be gone for the weekend, just set the thermostat down to 60 or so and it’ll last all weekend
Yep, I’m country spoiled rotten!
Coal is a better choice. Though dirtier, though I think that could be corrected. A couple chunks of coal and a pot bellied stove can heat a home for about a day.
True, BUT if you have to depend on someone else for your supply, there’s always a possible glitch in the system.
I’m particularly feeling sorry for all those folk around here who went with corn stoves. Talk about sticker shock!
I have 6.4 acres and enough wood to keep the fireplaces roaring all winter. Once the livingroom and fireplace are redone I’ll get glass doors to get the heatalator vents working the way they should.
The problem with wood pellet stoves is they require electric to move the auger.
My sister had an old Warm Morning coal stove. It would run you out of the living room if you put more than a couple of modest size hunks into it.
does it take into account the extra energy to turn the wood into pellets?
I’ve got a rack of oak from last winter, plus a couple downed trees and some that died in the drought. Plus a new chain for the Stihl. As cold as it may get, I hope to be warm.
My chainsaw has trouble cutting them that small.
They do have a battery back-up available.
Fireplaces in new homes are already banned in many areas, such as Denver, because of air quality problems.
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