Interesting stats

Came across this from another discussion.
"Nearly 2.5 million households (2%) used wood as their primary residential space heating fuel in 2012, which represents a 39% increase since 2004. About 8% of households use wood as a secondary source of heat, making wood second only to electricity as a supplemental heating fuel.

About 20% of New England homes (1.1 million) used wood for space heating, water heating, or cooking in 2009 (EIA, Residential Energy Consumption Survey, 2009), which is nearly twice the national rate. Almost half of all rural households in New England used wood compared with only 12% of the area's urban households that used the fuel. Unlike the other home heating fuels, there are no readily available sources for estimating wood consumption or prices at the regional or national level."

 

I live in a rural, upstate NY county and I would guess close to half of the residents burn wood. Only a very small percentage of them burn it properly. The good news is they could all be future members here!

 

In 2004, our house was heated 100% with propane. In 2012, 100% with 3 year dried wood. Happy to be part of that 39%.

 

Mine went from propane with supplemental wood in 2004 to 100% wood heat in 2012 as well.

 

I wonder what it is in area. I bet it's pretty small.

 

Story sounds the same for me except oil instead of propane. It started out as...I'll buy a couple of cords to burn in the smoke dragon in the uninsulated basement when it's really cold...to cutting my own trees to burn in the insulated basement in the 30NC to heat the whole house.

 

Ours started off as "we will burn lawn waste" and has snowballed.

 

Here is the source link from that other discussion, in case you guys want to look up your local area.

http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=13311#

 

There's been more wood burned on my road the last few years. Sadly most of it not very well by the looks of the chimneys.

 

I'm still new to the game, what can you tell by the looks of a chimney?

 

The black smoke in the air and black goo running down the outside.

 

I see some of that. Ive also seen at least one case of a guy in the driveway splitting rounds and carriyng them inside while said black smoke belches.

 

And that is why the 2% will never be 20% unless the economy collapses. Very few are going to store the necessary 15+ cord on an ongoing basis or pay the premium for kiln dried wood to become part of the 2%. I know very few people that successfully heat their homes with wet wood and the ones I know burn a lot of wood. I'm not sure how they sustain it. Everyone else I know that burns wet wood is also running their furnace.

 

As long as oil heat is still a big part of the northeast, I think wood burning is going to continue to gain momentum. I was looking at those figures and it seems they are on the low side when it comes to cost. An average home goes through between 900-1200 gallons a year of oil. In the northeast. At probably close to $4 a gallon in the winter, you can see how this is double what the article pointed out. If a person can save even $1k a year, they will be ahead of the game, considering purchasing new equipment, in short order. Over 20 years that can be substantial. Heat only with wood and save $3-4k a year, and it becomes almost a no brainer. The biotch is getting the three years ahead. The alternatives are to buy kiln dried, which I did last year, and see it happening again as the stuff that I know is a year and a half old is not burning well, or pressed biomass bricks. Even at $300 a ton for the bricks and $250 (what I paid last year) for kiln dried, you are saving. When you buy, you also eliminate the need for a chainsaw, splitter, axes and mauls, a large part of your property committed to wood storage, and usually, the bugs too. I know it is blasphemous to talk about buying wood or bricks, but why turn people off by making them feel bad if they can't get three years worth of wood set up in advance?

Of course, saving money isn't the only thing. Having a load of fun doing the wood thing is what it really is all about.

 

I wonder why people like that think they need to split it at all, just because that's the way everyone else does it?

 

Where do you find kiln dried for $250 ??????? !! Around here you cant even get regular *seasoned* (not) from a wood dealer for that price!

 

Al. Have you burned biomass bricks? If so. What kind have you burned? Did you like them?

 

I tried the ones from TSC. Not bad when mixed with cordwood. I'm trying to find another brand to try for this year, but TSC seems to have a good price right now. They are out of stock by me, though. If I don't get the bricks, then I'll get the kiln dried again. The nice thing about the bricks is that you need about 1/3 the space for storage. Plus, no bugs, barks or dirt. I think for some of us it is a viable alternative. If I can fill in the back part of my property, then I can get all the wood I need for three years back there. It just is a lot of work to do that, so I'm hesitant.

I would try the bricks if you need something like that. They sell them in small packages. No need to buy a ton to test them out.

 

I know, I'm the lucky one. I haven't asked what the price is this year. Because wood can't be transported across state lines or more that 50 miles, I guess these guys needed to do it, and be competitive. They are loggers, and this is a part of their business which must do well they are further upstate than I am and more people up that way burn wood. I just hoe they'd haven't gotten like the more expensive ones in Westchester county. $400 to 600 a cord for kiln dried. If that's the case, then I'm using song the bricks to supplement.