Vermont’s Wood Heat Success Offers Maryland a Path to Lower Heating Costs and Less Fossil Fuel Use

New educational video showcases how schools, businesses and public institutions are using wood
pellets and wood chips to replace expensive fossil fuels

MARYLAND — October 6, 2026 — As Maryland institutions face rising and volatile heating costs, a new 15-minute video offers a look at an underused local energy resource that could help keep heating dollars in Maryland: wood.

The Maryland Clean Energy Center (MCEC), in partnership with the Alliance for Green Heat and with funding from the Rural Maryland Council and the U.S. Forest Service, has released a new educational video showcasing how communities in Vermont and New Hampshire are using wood pellets and wood chips to heat schools, businesses and other large buildings—and, in some cases, generate electricity.

The video documents a working wood-energy economy that is already helping New England institutions replace fossil fuels, control heating costs and keep energy dollars in local communities.

“The opportunity for heating with wood in Maryland is huge,” said Dan Rider, supervisor of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Forest Utilization Program. “Every year, we quite literally throw away over a million tons of wood, already perfectly produced to be used as fuel.”

The Vermont and New Hampshire facilities featured in the video demonstrate what can happen when there is a market for low-grade wood and forest residues. Rather than relying entirely on heating oil, propane or natural gas, institutions can use locally sourced wood chips and pellets to produce reliable heat while supporting local forestry businesses.

For Maryland, the opportunity may be particularly significant in Western Maryland, where the decline of the paper industry has eliminated an important market for low-grade forest material.

A stronger market for low-grade wood can also benefit forest management. Material that has little or no value in traditional timber markets can be removed during forest management operations and used for fuel rather than being left in the woods, piled and burned, or allowed to decay.

Creating demand for this material gives landowners and loggers an economic incentive to put low-value wood to productive use while creating another source of renewable, locally produced heat.

A 9-minute look at a different energy economy

The new video takes viewers inside several Vermont and New Hampshire facilities to see how wood-energy systems actually work and why communities have invested in them.

The examples offer a timely question for Maryland: If New England institutions can use locally available wood to reduce their reliance on volatile fossil-fuel markets, why can't Maryland do more of the same?

The video is particularly relevant as heating costs remain a major concern for schools, municipalities, businesses and other institutions facing another winter of uncertain energy prices.

Watch the video

The 9-minute educational video is available at www.mdcleanenergy.org/programs/advanced-wood-heat.

Organizations interested in learning how advanced wood heating could work for Maryland schools, businesses and institutions can also contact the Maryland Clean Energy Center’s Wood Energy Coordinator.

About the Maryland Clean Energy Center

The Maryland Clean Energy Center advances a clean energy future by making affordable, accessible technologies available to all Marylanders. Through innovative financing, climate tech innovation, and project development support, we empower communities, foster business growth, and create jobs.

About the Alliance for Green Heat

The Alliance for Green Heat promotes modern wood and pellet heating systems as a low-carbon, sustainable and affordable energy solution. The Alliance works to advance cleaner and more efficient residential heating technology, particularly for low and middle-income families. Founded in Maryland in 2009, the Alliance is an independent non-profit organization