Resources
Here are some helpful resources for modern wood heat:
Massachusetts Forest Alliance – A statewide forestry, forest landowner and forest products industry association that supports modern wood heat in Massachusetts.
Feel Good Heat – A northeast regional effort to encourage more use of modern wood heat to replace fossil fuel use to heat buildings.
Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation – MA state agency that supports modern wood heat and the forest benefits that derive from it.
Wood Education and Resource Center – Arm of the federal government in the USDA Forest Service that supports modern wood heat.
New Hampshire Wood Energy Council – Statewide Wood Energy Team for NH.
Vermont Statewide Wood Energy Team
New York Statewide Wood Energy Team
Alliance for Green Heat – A national organization that advocates for modern wood heat as a clean, renewable residential and commercial heat source.
Biomass Thermal Energy Council – A national organization that advances the sustainable use of wood and agricultural biomass for clean, efficient heat and combined heat and power to meet America’s energy needs and strengthen local economies.
Sustainable Heating – A national organization that seeks to rapidly scale up our clean carbon future by empowering people to make climate-smart heating choices.
Financial tools for switching to modern wood heat
Is switching to wood heat a good financial deal for you and your building? Do a quick calculation to get you started. Below is a handy comparison of the cost of various fossil and wood fuels – compared on a heat basis. A quick calculation is to take the number of gallons of heating oil or propane you use in a year and the cost of that compared to what it would cost with wood chips or wood pellets. Here is an example:
- Current Fossil Fuel
10,000 gallons of oil per year – 10,000 gal x $2.97/gal = $29,700 cost of heating building today with oil
heat value – 10,000 gal x 138,000 BTUs per gal = 1,380,000,000 BTUs used per year
2. Modern Wood Heat alternative
1,380,000,000 BTUs/16,800,000 BTUs/ton of fresh bole chips = 82 tons of chips per year
82 tons of fresh bole wood chips = $4,920 per year for wood chip fuel to get the same heat
| Fuel Type | Unit | Cost per Unit | BTU per Unit (dry) | Moisture Content | MMBtu per Unit | Cost per MMBtu Delivered | Average Seasonal Efficiency | Delivered MMBTU per Unit | Cost per MMBtu After Combustion |
| Natural Gas | therm | $1.30 | 100,000 | 0% | 0.100 | $13.00 | 85% | 0.085 | $15.29 |
| Oil | gallon | $2.97 | 138,000 | 0% | 0.138 | $21.52 | 75% | 0.104 | $28.70 |
| Propane | gallon | $3.34 | 92,000 | 0% | 0.092 | $36.30 | 85% | 0.078 | $42.71 |
| Wood Pellets | ton (bulk delivered) | $250.00 | 16,800,000 | 4.0% | 16.1 | $15.50 | 80% | 12.9 | $19.38 |
| Fresh bole chips | ton | $60.00 | 16,800,000 | 45% | 9.2 | $6.49 | 70% | 6.5 | $9.28 |
| Pallet grindings | ton | $60.00 | 16,800,000 | 15% | 14.3 | $4.20 | 80% | 11.4 | $5.25 |
| Refined wood chips | ton | $120.00 | 16,800,000 | 25% | 12.6 | $9.52 | 80% | 10.1 | $11.90 |
Detailed Financial Calculators to Determine if Switching to Modern Wood Heat makes Financial Sense: