The frac industry here complain constantly about the low price of natural gas. Basically fracing has worked so well and produced so much gas that it drove down the local gas prices to so low it is hard to make money fracing. I am surprised to hear the price of natural gas has gone up anywhere in the eastern US.
Just checked- my mistake: the gas company actually asked for and received something like an 8% decrease in rates. It was the electric company that got the 24% increase. Thanks for pointing that out and correcting me (seriously- not sarcastically). Brian
Well the price from one of my suppliers went up infinitely this year. Don't think it was due to fracking though, just people who were spooked by last winter. Word got out and he started getting calls from 50 miles away asking him for logs. So instead of giving them to the closest bidder he now he has a market to actually sell logs. When I called he politely said that he didn't think I was accoustomed to paying for wood and once things went back to what they were he would take care of me. And then a parting remark about he couldn't believe people were actually paying him for wood when oil was under $2.00. But I still got two other guys who like to deliver so I'm not in dire straits at all, got a three year back up.
Stories like that agree with what I have seen locally. Seems like people don't care about the price of oil, they are still willing to pay top $ for wood. I think you are correct they are spooked from last winter.
A self- created shortage of firewood caused entirely by the fear (but not the reality) of a shortage of firewood. Makes perfect sense actually- those of us that are old enough watched the whole concept of a material 'shortage' either being created outright or exacerbated by the fear of that shortage, back in the 70's. Of course it started with gasoline but soon enough spread to coffee, sugar and a host of other things. Then Johnny Carson made a joke on The Tonight Show that the next shortage was going to be toilet paper..... and actually created such a shortage by scaring people into buying more, much more, than they needed and hoarding it. If that is the cause it will be unfortunate for those supplying firewood 'cause once the hysteria dies down, there will be more capacity available and even less demand then normal because the usual wood burners will have 'stocked up' on the stuff. This also happened back in the early to mid- 70's when woodburning for heat was a fad and had people doing some really pretty wacky things and paying some ridiculous prices for anything that would burn. Oh well, perfectly by mistake, I am doing my part to reduce firewood consumption: next Monday the chimney my stove is connected to is coming down and I do not know when the next one may get installed. I guess I will be sampling some of Venezuela's finest crude for a time Brian
Good post. Ran into one of the few remaining old time loggers in my area the other day at my neighbors house. I asked him if he was selling any log length firewood. His response, "unless you've learned something I havent there's just no money in it". Price of fuel is almost irrelevant once you consider how much other overhead is involved in running that equipment. There's a lot more involved as you pointed out than just gas in a tank. Add in all the wood transportation bans. Helps the trees yes. Doesn't help the logging companies. My neighbors house is a 1/4 mile away. It would be illegal for him to bring wood harvested there to my house. There's a county line dividing our two properties.
The economics of this may work fine for outright logging but a LOT of the firewood in this area comes from tree services that are fully compensated for taking the tree(s) down in the first place. Then there is an additional charge to REMOVE the wood from the premises. If they do take the wood, they then process it into firewood and charge again for both the firewood and delivery. As they are perfectly happy to leave the wood behind (they always chip and remove the crown and all small branches with leaves) and actually charge additionally to remove it, it would seem to me that the tree removal business is perfectly viable financially just taking trees down; selling the firewood generates additional revenues. The "cost" of a cord of firewood to these companies cannot be compared to a true logging operation which has to rely on the actual wood harvested to produce all the profits. Brian
schlot, great chart thanks for sharing! Really explains this scrounging thing. In my little part of the world, wood dumps are brush, tree services do not deliver wood for free they and then Sell it. 95% of free wood I get is over 3 feet in diameter and others do not want to work that hard for it!
Nice find- I never would have though so much wood was being used in the mid- Atlantic area. And this chart serves to show me, once again, that I need maps with the state names on them or it all becomes a 'best guess' effort once away from the coasts and borders. Brian
Good chart. Interesting. I only wonder how accurate it is? Not so sure if the U.S. government was asking me about my wood burning Id be so honest. It may just be a chart that shows the state with the most honest people in it.
What part of RI? My buddy that owns a tree service in southern RI has been sold out since the end of September. He does hold back a couple of loads of logs and 10% of his cord wood.
Coventry. Thanks but I am not looking for anymore firewood this year. Next spring, and I did find a source that will sell log- length locally; $850 for a min. of 7 cord, though they list it as 7 to 9 cord on the truck. Mostly oak, all hardwood. We will see what really shows up but it sounds pretty reasonable. Brian
Vermont and Maine are the highest. Not surprised. Few alternatives. Natural gas is just starting to become available in some so called "urban areas". None here and won't be.
My street is about 1/2 mile long, and there is natural gas available at each end.... but not on my street :-( I am stuck with #2 fuel oil, which is low in cost at the moment but can, and has, jumped all over the place at any time, and seemingly to any amount. Brian
But is that chart showing heated by wood exclusively, partially or uses wood for ambiance? I'm guessing it was sole source. The partial burners would push it a lot higher. Urban population will drive the average down fast. I'm sure the population of Queens and Brooklyn has something to do with NY State's 2.1 next to Vermont at 17.
We live in SK and about 10 minutes out of Wakefield, no NG for us. We use #2 as well and supplement with wood. I filled our 450 gallon tank early in the fall for right around $2/gallon.