US government projects continued increase in wood and pellet heating

On October 6, the US government agency responsible for tracking energy supply and usage released its annual winter fuels outlook. The report predicted that next winter will be warmer than average but energy prices will be lower. Consequently, consumers are expected to pay 10 – 20% less on their household heating than last winter. 

The report notes that the use of cord wood and wood pellets as the primary residential space heating fuel has increased by 33% since 2005 and estimates that about 2.6 million households mainly used this fuel source in 2014. About 8% of households use wood as a secondary source of heat, making wood second only to electricity as a supplemental heating fuel.

The report, produced by the Energy Information Agency (EIA), projects primary wood and pellet heating to grow by 1.4% during the 2015-2016 winter. Electric heating is projected to rise even faster, by 2.5%. Natural gas is projected to remain basically flat, and oil and propane heating are projected to decline by 4.4% and 3.4%, respectively.

The overall national residential wood heat rise of 1.4% includes quicker projected growth in the Northeast and a slight decline in the West. Wood and pellet heating is projected to rise fastest in the Northeast at 2.8% and the South at 2.6%. It's only projected to rise 0.8% in the Midwest and decline by 0.3% in Western states.

In 2014, the Pellet Fuels Institute reported that shipments of pellet stoves grew by 41%. On average, 2 out of every 5 new stoves sold is a pellet stove and 3 are wood stoves. This ratio does not include the popular, though polluting, uncertified wood stoves that are still on the market until the end of this year.

"The trend towards more pellet heating is crucial as wood heat expands in America," said John Ackerly, President of the Alliance for Green Heat. "The growth in pellet heating, even as oil and gas prices fall, show a demand for a cleaner, local fuel that still can be greatly scaled up," Ackerly said.

Wood heating was increasing faster than electric heating for many years, but since 2008, wood has increased by nearly 10% and electricity increased by nearly 15%.

In terms of the amount of energy generated by residential renewables, wood continues to be the dominant player, generating 66% of all residential renewable energy in 2014. Solar produced less than half the energy as wood and pellet stoves, making up 29% of residential renewable energy in 2014. Geothermal produced nearly 5%.
 

However, solar will soon be catching up to wood according to EIA projections, thanks to extensive state and federal subsidies. In 2016, the EIA projects that wood and pellet stoves will only produce 54% of residential renewable energy and solar will produce 40%. Geothermal is projected to rise to nearly 6%.

The EIA did not include data or projections on wood and pellet hearing until their 2012 report. Senator Shaheen (D-NH), the Alliance for Green Heat, and other groups pressed the agency to be more inclusive of the technology that was used by more households than oil or propane. Since then, the EIA has gone much further and is about to start surveying wood pellet producers to provide accurate and timely data about pellet production and usage.

Click here for a full copy of the EIA report.

Renewable Left Out of Heating Fuel Price Reports

For many years, the federal and state governments have issued monthly reports on the prices of fuels including winter heating fuels so that consumers, businesses, and the media have accurate information. Traditionally, this has meant prices of fossil fuels – oil, natural gas, propane, etc. Recently four states started to provide price information on a renewable fuel – wood pellets: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine.

Advocates for renewable energy say it’s been a hard sell to get government bureaucracies to add wood pellets to their price reports. The most important reports come from the Energy Information Agency (EIA), which is part of the Department of Energy (DOE). However, the EIA collects their data from states, and unless states report on pellet prices, they say they can’t include it in federal reports.

State energy offices are stretched thin and some say they can’t take the extra work of including a fuel that may have more price fluctuations and not as many major retailers who can provide the price information. In New York, the New York Biomass Energy Alliance, a trade association is undertaking research and surveys to help the state start reporting on pellet prices. Other states where wood and pellets are a widespread heating fuel include Pennsylvania, the Great Lake states, and the Pacific Northwest.

Fossil fuels have received extensive government subsidies over the decades, but advocates of wood pellets say that these price reports can be seen as an informational subsidy. As federal and state agencies switch gears to include more information about renewable energy, this may result in less staff time spent on fossil fuels.

A example of this is a high profile report the EIA puts out every fall called the “Winter Fuel Outlook.” This annual report had never mentioned a word about firewood and pellets, America’s third most common heating fuel until last year. The report has always had extensive information about heating fuels, such as oil and propane, that provide fewer Btus to US homes than wood and pellets provide. The Alliance for Green Heat, Hearth & Home Technologies, New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen and others pressed EIA to also include renewable fuels. The report did include some information about wood and pellets and EIA is likely going to increase their coverage in the 2013 report. Visit this page to read more on the EIA’s winter fuel outlook. 

A coalition of non-profit and industry groups is starting to call on state energy offices to urge them to include pellet and wood prices in their monthly reports. Below are details and links to the four states that currently report on pellet prices.

New Hampshire’s Office of Energy and Planning compares both wood pellets and cordwood to other fuel types such as natural gas, propane, and gasoline. The price/unit; heat content/unit (Btu); and price per million Btu are all compared between the different fuel types. The data is supposedly published weekly with the latest update being June 3rd, 2013. The website will also have historical fuel price data as well. The OEP notes that the price of firewood sold by the cord can vary widely depending on the location, time of year and quality of the wood being sold.

Vermont’s Public Service Department compares BTU/unit, efficiency, $/unit, and $/MMBtu between wood pellets, green cordwood, fuel oil, natural gas, propane, etc. The data is compiled into monthly reports from 01/08 to 06/13. Prices are collected on or about the first Monday of each month and reflect dealer discounts for cash or self-service. The cord wood information has not been updated since 11/11.

Maine’s Governor’s Energy Office conducts a weekly survey of fuel prices during the peak season between October and March. Information on the price of cordwood and wood pellets has been archived since October 9, 2012. The survey is released monthly during the rest of the year. It reports the weekly price averages of oil as compared to natural gas, propane, wood pellets, cordwood, and electricity.

Massachusetts’ Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs website provides detailed monthly fuel price averages of heating oil, propane, gasoline and diesel. For pellets, it only provides links to third party websites. These websites, of which woodpelletprice.com is the most comprehensive, compile wood pellet retailers in Massachusetts, their contact information, the brands of pellets they sell, the corresponding price, and the date the price was last updated.

U.S. Government Winter Fuels Outlook Includes Pellets and Wood for First Time

EIA Administrator Sieminski says wood pellets represent a “significant opportunity” for consumers to save money

October 10, 2012 - The U.S. government released its annual assessment of prices and availability of heating fuels today and for the first time it included information on pellets and firewood. After gas and electricity, wood is the third most common heating fuel in America, but the annual Winter Fuels Outlook had never discussed it prior to the 2012-13 heating season.

The Winter Fuels Outlook is put out by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), an independent statistical and analytical agency within the Department of Energy. Reports published by the agency are the premier source of energy information in the country and are used to guide economic policy and educate the public.

During today’s press conference, EIA Administrator Adam Sieminski mentioned the “significant opportunity” for consumers to supplement their oil heat with wood pellets, as well as with electricity.

The inclusion of wood and pellets in the Winter Fuels Outlook came after over a year of discussions and meetings between the EIA and a coalition of wood and pellet groups. Senator Shaheen (D-NH) also raised the importance of pellets as an alternative to oil in New England with Administrator Sieminski.

According to the EIA, wood and pellets now produce more residential heat in the US than propane and nearly as much as oil. Wood produces 0.5 quadrillion Btu (quads) per year, propane 0.49 quads and oil 0.6.

EIA projects that average household expenditures for heating oil and natural gas will increase by 19 percent and 15 percent respectively over last heating season. The agency expects the country will experience colder temperatures compared to last year's mild winter, with oil and gas prices remaining virtually the same.

In terms of wood and pellets, the report said:

Wood consumption in homes has risen over the past 10 years, reversing a trend seen in the last two decades of the 20th century. In 2009, U.S. households consumed about 0.5 quadrillion Btu (quads) of wood. Household fuel oil consumption, by comparison, was only slightly higher at 0.6 quads. In homes across the United States, wood is most commonly used as a secondary source of heat and is second only to electricity as a supplemental heating fuel. Twenty percent of New England homes (1.1 million) used wood for space heating, water heating, or cooking in 2009 (EIA, Residential Energy Consumption Survey, 2009). This is nearly twice the national rate. Almost half of all rural households used wood in this area of the country. In contrast, only 12 percent of urban New England households used the fuel.

According to data previously published by the EIA, the average American household heating with wood consumes two cords of wood per year. This number includes homes that use wood or pellets as a primary, secondary or occasional heat source. The EIA also documents that consumption in rural areas is more than twice that of urban areas. The EIA estimates that 91% of homes that heat with wood use firewood, 8% use wood scrap and 6% use pellets.



Wood use also trends strongly with income level, according to EIA survey data, with households making $20,000 or less using more than twice the amount of wood as households making $120,000 or more. 

“The EIA’s focus on wood and pellets is an important and timely step in the right direction,” said John Ackerly, President of the Alliance for Green Heat, a non-profit consumer organization based in the DC area. “If EIA can report on pellet prices along with oil and propane, consumers will be better equipped to make the best choices for them, which may be to use a local, renewable fuel,” Ackerly added.

For a full copy of the Winter Fuels Outlook: http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/steo/index.cfm