The heating season is upon us and many families and businesses will be looking for ways to save money on heating costs. The following is information on the cost of different sources for heating a house for the heating season and savings burning wood.
HOW MUCH CAN YOU SAVE BURNING FIREWOOD FOR HEAT?
The burning of firewood or wood pellets in a stove for heat has gained great interest as fossil fuel prices have escalated. It takes an investment to purchase a stove and properly install and operate it, but the savings can be substantial. Heating value of any fuel is measured in British Thermal Units (Btu). One Btu is the amount of energy required to raise a pound of water 1 degree Fahrenheit. Different types of heaters burn fuel at different efficiencies. For example, the average efficiency of an airtight wood stove is around 50%, but oil and gas burners may be 65‐80%. Comparison of the cost of various heating fuels can be made on the basis of their heat equivalents as expressed in dollars per million BTU ($/MBtu). Assuming it takes about 60 million Btu’s to heat a home for the winter, your total heat bill can be estimated. The table provides the heat cost comparisons using current regional prices of various fuels. The cost to heat for the winter ranges from a high of $1836 for an air source heat pump to $409 using firewood at $150 a cord. Wood pellets are still costly at $909. You can see that by burning firewood, your winter heating costs can be dramatically reduced.
To calculate your heating costs try the U.S. Dept of Energy fuel calculator:
www.eia.doe.gov/neic/experts/heatcalc.xls
For more information on producing firewood from your woodlot, go to:
www.ces.ncsu.edu/nreos/forest/woodland/won14.html
Adapted from the Fall 2008 edition of the Branching Out newsletter from the University of Maryland.
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