Survey: Pellet stove owners love their stoves – and are also interested in heat pumps and solar panels

 Pellet stove adoption is growing and reached 25% of market compared to wood stoves in New England 

A survey taken by 486 people who use pellet stoves revealed some predictable and some unpredictable results. For instance, an overwhelming majority of pellet stove owners, 85%, said they would buy another pellet stove if theirs broke and 90% say their stove is reliable or very reliable, challenging a perception that pellet stoves are not very dependable. 

Pellet stoves are cleaner and more efficient than wood stoves and make up 25% of the stove market in New England, and 10% nationally, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), Table CE7.1.  Until recently, likely around 5 years ago, American homes still made more renewable energy from wood and pellets than they did from residential solar photovoltaics, which have since surged past wood and pellet heat. 

The survey was undertaken between April and June of 2024 by the Alliance for Green Heat, an independent non-profit. AGH chose the Survey Monkey platform and circulated it through scores of social media pages, newsletters and neighborhood listservs. Thus, the survey is not rigorously scientific and likely over-represents pellet stove enthusiasts. Keeping that in mind, the data offers a glimpse into an important demographic of pellet stove users. By segmenting the data, we were also able to compare the views and values and pellet stove users based on income, region, motivation to buy a pellet stove and other characteristics. 

Of this group, 61% of the 486 respondents used their stoves for primary heat and in the future 38% were interested in buying heat pumps and 33% were interested in buying solar panels. Unlike households adopting solar panels, the primary reason homes adopt pellet stoves is for the substantial short term cost saving.  In the survey, all income groups except one listed “saving money” as the most common reason to heat with pellets.

Twenty-six percent of households with pellet stoves displaced electric heat (both resistance and heat pumps) 20% displaced oil, and 18% displaced wood, 16% displaced propane and 13% displaced gas. This along with several other questions showed a high crossover with wood and pellet stoves, as many households that used to heat with wood have moved to pellet heat. In some cases, the reverse also happens with homes moving from pellets to wood fuel. 

The median annual household income group was $75,000-$99,000, higher than than the national median ($74,580), and significantly lower than the median average income of homes with solar panels ($117,000 in 2022). The number of people per household was close to the national average with an average of 2.58. The national average is 2.51.

The survey also asked if pellet stove owners smelled smoke from their stoves and 17 % said they did, and 52% said they didn’t. In between those groups, 30% said they only smelled it during start-up which in most homes is no more than once a day. 

Survey respondents were from across the county, with respondents from every state except five, mostly in the deep south. The top 5 states were New Hampshire (10% of responses), Massachusetts (9%) and New York (9%), California (6%) and Pennsylvania (6%). Canada and countries outside of Canada and the US had 7% of responses. 

Scores of state and national studies show that small scale wood and pellet heat is enormously important to the transition away from fossil fuels both here and throughout Europe, in part because it does not strain the grid in the winter, and complements available renewable electricity.

Pellet heating has grown considerably in America, but public education lags, and there remains a lot of confusion about the export of pellets to make electricity versus the use of pellets for domestic heating.  The US Energy Information Administration publishes vital data about pellet production in America that can help clear up some of this confusion. 

Data from Each Question

Q1. How long have you been heating with pellets? The responses show a range of households who are just starting to use a wood stove, to those who have used them for a long time. That indicates that there is continued interest by new people in starting to use pellet stoves.

Q2. What is the main reason you heat with pellets? Respondents were only allowed to pick one answer. Predictably, “saving money” was the leading reason, with 43% choosing this as their main motivation. But the surprising aspect is that so many people chose avoidance of fossil fuel as their main motivation (23%). The 18% choosing “as a back-up” could either be a regular or periodica back-up to another heating system or an emergency back-up if their other heating system broke down. Or, it could be people who have battery back-ups or generators so they can use a pellet stove during a power outage.

The three most common “Other (please specify)” comments were related to the following categories:

1. The ease of use and consistency of pellet heat over log wood heat with comments such as, “Switched from firewood. Easier to deal with,” “Wood-fired heat, but more controllable than a wood stove,” and “Too old for firewood.”

2. It’s popularity in supplementing other heat or areas of home with comments like, “Heat compensation, my furnace doesn’t keep up with a big drafty house,” and “Supplement heat for my basement.”

3. Those heating with pellets because they are associated with the industry (pellet stove dealers, engineers, etc.)

Q3. Would you buy another? This may be one of the most surprising results: 85% said they would buy another pellet stove if their current one could not be fixed, with another 9% choosing “Maybe.” This indicates a strong loyalty to the appliance. For those who selected “Maybe (please explain),” their answers were concerned with whether the price of pellets remained reasonable and if their health still allowed them to deal with the physicality of pellets. Another popular reason for explaining further was that they were confident they could fix their pellet stove if it ever stopped working: “I’d probably just fix it because they’re easy to repair.” 

Q4. Primary or Secondary Heat? That 61%so many respondents use their pellet stove as a primary heater is somewhat surprising, since nationally, the number of people who use wood or pellet as a secondary heat source is higher than primary heat source. This may be because we tapped into a more enthusiastic demographic, or it may be an indication that pellet stove users use their stove for primary heating more than wood stove users. We also didn’t ask about house size, though we did ask about the number of people in the household, which averaged only 2.58. Thus, it may be that people who completed this survey have smaller homes, possibly close to the national median of 2,299 square feet for a single family home.

Q5. Other Main Source of Heat? Nothing surprising here. Electricity is the highest percentage with 26%, and many of those are likely homes with electric resistance heat or early model heat pumps which are not nearly as efficient as modern ones. It may come as a bit of a surprise to some that 18% of pellet stove users have cord wood as their other main source of heat. Cord wood is the third most common “other main source of heat” after electricity and oil, another indication that we may have reached a more hardcore, dedicated biomass heat demographic.

Q6. Interest in Heat Pumps or Solar Panels. Respondents could choose multiple answers on this one. On average, a respondent chose 1.3 options. We found it somewhat surprising to see such high interest in heat pumps and solar panels.

Q7.State of residence. No surprises here. The fact that we had such a good demographic diversity shows that our data doesn’t just represent one part of the country. 

Q8. Household income. According to the US Census, the median household income was $74,580 and the average was $74,755 in 2022. Both fall right below the median income bracket of the respondents of our survey ($75,000 - $99,000). This shows a lower household income for this group compared to homes that have solar panels, or drive electric cars.

Q9.Household size. The average household size is 2.58, slightly larger than the national average of 2.51.

Q10. Is your stove reliable? The number of households who strongly agreed or agreed that their pellet stove is reliable is remarkably high (90.1%). 

Q11. Do you smell wood smoke? While a majority did not smell any smoke in their house, 30% smelled some on start-up. And the fact that 17% of this group say they smell it more regularly is significant enough to warrant further study into this problem. AGH has done some at-home testing and found start-up smoke to produce about the same amount of PM as making breakfasts or dinners that involve frying, using a griddle or making well-done toast. While this was not an in-depth study, AGH believes that the very small amount of smoke during start up could be partially caused by stoves not being sufficiently cleaned, or it may be a design flaw in some stoves that are not completely airtight and can leak.

Q12. Concern about health impacts of wood smoke. This question was not worked as well as it could have been, because it could be interpreted two ways: first, are you concerned about the health effects of wood smoke generally, or are you concerned about the health effect of wood smoke from your own pellet stove. Thus, someone could be extremely concerned about the health implications but answered that they weren’t concerned because they didn’t smell it in their own home. 

All of these tables can also be viewed on the Survey Monkey platform.

Overlaying Responses from Two Different Questions

Survey Monkey allows you to take the individual answers of a question and see how those people answered another question, because all answers are attached to an IP address. Thus, we were able to see how different demographics answered different questions.

Income and main reason to heat with pellets

On Q2 overlaid with Q8, reasons for heating with pellets vs. income, saving money was the top rationale for all income categories exempt the middle, median income bracket. Lower income brackets favored saving money to some extent, and no one in the lowest bracket used their stove for ambience. As for being motivated to reduce fossil fuels, there is no clear pattern based on this sample of 486 people. 

Main reason to heat with pellets and interest in buying other appliances

Comparing Q2 and Q6 unsurprisingly shows that people who heat with pellets who are more motivated to reduce fossil are the most likely to be interested in buying solar panels. And people who are more motivated to save money least interested in solar or heat pumps.

Reliability vs. interest in buying another pellet stove 

Unsurprisingly, overall those who agreed or strongly agreed that their pellet stove was reliable were most likely to want to buy another one if it broke down. Those who strongly agreed that their pellet stove was reliable were more than twice as likely to want to buy another. 

Reliability and length of ownership

In this comparison, those who had their stove for longer than 10 years reported higher levels of satisfaction with reliability. And it was the group who owned stoves for 3 - 5 years who reported lower levels of satisfaction with reliability, possibly indicating that this is the period that repairs may be the highest.

Smelling smoke and length of ownership

This indicates that the group who smells smoke the most is 3 - 5 year ownership and that the longer you own a stove the less smoke you report smelling. 

Overlap between smelling wood smoke and being concerned about it 

When comparing the answers of concern to those having reported that they were smelling smoke, a majority of those smelling smoke were also concerned about the impacts of wood smoke. Those who did not smell wood smoke from their stove were least likely to consider it a health issue. (Again, the ambiguous wording of Q12 makes this comparison less useful.)

Issues and Limitations of the Survey Data

 

AGH intentionally created a short and simple survey to increase respondent activity but this also naturally made it more susceptible to bot activity. In addition, we offered two $75 gift cards which likely increased bot activity even more. Survey Monkey also did not have an option to include a CAPTCHA at the end of the survey, which would have been a simple tool that could have stopped some bot activity. 

 

Where IP addresses were repeated, and where the states also differed, the data was excluded from the analysis. Out of the original 626 responses, 140 of these were excluded on that basis. Bot activity appeared to be especially prevalent from batches of respondents identifying as being from Guam that also consistently submitted the same answer, with only one variation, for each submission. The exclusion of these responses did not significantly alter the results of any of the answers. 

Guidance on the wood stove tax credit for 2022 and changes for 2023

July 2025 update: Congress revoked the wood heater tax credit as of Dec. 31, 2025. Expenses toward stoves and stove installations must be paid prior to Dec. 31, and the stove must be installed prior to Dec. 31.

The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law in 2022, changed the tax credit for wood and pellet heaters to 30% with a cap of $2,000.  The efficiency qualification remained the same at 75% or more and it covered all associated costs of installation, stove pipe, etc. 

For more details about the 30% tax credit that becomes effective in 2023, see our 2-page overview here.

The tax guidance needed from the IRS remains the same: can a manufacturer simply, with little or no evidence, that their stove is eligible, or does it have to be third party tested and listed on the EPA database at 75% or above?  We urge all consumers to be safe and ensure they get a genuinely more efficient appliance by relying on efficiency listings in the EPA database.  This blog looks at how the tax credit has been interpreted in the past for solar panels and other technologies, as well as the intent of the lawmakers who wrote and passed the provisions.  The Alliance for Green Heat cannot give tax related advice and interested parties should always consult a tax professional.

Tax credit info for 2022

At the end of 2020, Congress passed an omnibus relief package (download  PDF version, page 2449) that included numerous provisions on renewable energy and energy efficiency.  Among those was the inclusion of biomass heaters in section 25(D) of the IRS tax code, the investment tax credit (ITC) that has applied to residential solar panels.  The technical term used in the omnibus bill is “qualified biomass fuel property expenditures” which is defined as “the burning of biomass fuel to heat a dwelling unit located in the United States and used as a residence by the taxpayer, or to heat water for use in such a dwelling unit, and which has a thermal efficiency rating of at least 75 percent (measured by the higher heating value of the fuel).”

Congress removed biomass stoves from section 25(C), which had provided a $300 tax credit up until December 31, 2020, to prevent a “double benefit,” or double dipping under two sections of the tax code.

The credit is set at 26% of the installed cost for 2021 and 2022, then drops down to 22% in 2023. It is set to disappear altogether in 2024 unless extended, which is common.  

Congressional intent

Much of the guidance the IRS is expected to issue about wood heaters is non-controversial and will likely to be consistent with solar.  There is one distinct issue that has plagued this industry in the past: how is 75% efficient at the higher heating value defined and how much leeway do manufacturers have to stretch the meaning?  Congress stipulated that it must be HHV, but the final language did not say that the EPA list of certified heaters is the definitive way to determine efficiency, although that is almost certainly what the IRS will allow. There is no other consistent, reliable way for retailers and consumers to know which heaters are actually 75% efficient or higher. 

Over the past 7 years, there have been a number of bills and extensive correspondence about strengthening the definition of 75% efficiency and moving wood heaters from section 25(C) to 25(D).  The only method that Congress has referred to is using the efficiencies on the EPA list of certified stoves.  No other method has been suggested. For instance, the Home Energy Savings Act of 2019 introduced by Senators Hassan and Collins, said:

“This section would tighten energy efficiency standards for biomass stoves by requiring the efficiency to be determined in reference to the EPA’s “List of EPA Certified Wood Stoves,” “List of EPA Certified Hydronic Heaters,” or “List of EPA Certified Forced-Air Furnaces.” Biomass stoves, through 2020, would be required to have a thermal efficiency rating of at least 73 percent against these tighter standards. After 2020, biomass stoves would be required to have a thermal efficiency rating of at least 75 percent against these tighter standards.” 

This language was crafted in conjunction with the Biomass Thermal Energy Council, the main architect of the language and the years-long advocacy process.  A final effort led by Innovative Natural Resource Solutions culminated in the residential portions of the BTU Act being included in this ominous spending package in December, 2020. The Alliance to Save Energy. the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, the Alliance for Green Heat and HPBA also agreed on parallel language that would have strengthened the efficiency criteria for an enlarged credit under 25(C) by referencing the EPA's database of certified wood and pellet heaters.

Until the IRS issues guidance, AGH urges retailers and consumers to rely on the EPA's database of certified heaters to ensure that the heater you install will be eligible for this credit.  Anyone who relies on claimed efficiencies in marketing materials should do so at their own risk and be prepared to forgo the tax credit if the stove is labeled under 75% efficient on the EPA list.

 

Updating IRS Form 5695

In 2022, taxpayers will need to fill out IRS Form 5695 to get the new, increased tax credit for installations in 2021.  Taxpayers will not need an updated Form 5695 until winter of 2022, when they fill out their 2021 taxes.  The current version of IRS Form 5695 is accurate for taking the $300 tax credit under section 25(C) for purchases made in 2019.

When the IRS updates a form, such as Form 5695, they issue an “early release draft” in advance, along with draft instructions.  For instance, you can see a previous early release draft for Form 5695 here, issued September 25, 2020, for changes they needed to make at that point.  This draft does not include the new 26% tax credit for wood heaters, which will appear in a draft released later in 2021.

 

What is included in the new tax credit?

The new tax credit is for the installed cost, including purchase price, sales tax, labor costs, and items necessary for installation, such as venting and floor protection.  The IRS is expected to provide more detail on items associated with installing wood heaters. In the meantime, consumers should retain receipts for all those expenditures.

Some stove  manufacturers issued
certificates for stoves under 65%
to claim eligibility for the $300
tax credit. 

AGH expects the IRS to update their current guidance later in 2021 to accommodate issues specific to high efficiency wood and pellet heaters. They may address, for instance, the cost of sweeping a chimney prior to installing a new heater eligible for the 26% tax credit, or the cost of upgrading floor and wall protection.  It is unclear if the IRS could bar manufacturers who issued an erroneous certificate claiming a stove was eligible for the $300 credit under 25(C) from issuing certificates for their stoves that would be eligible for the larger credit under 25(D).

Some issues are more complicated, such as how to calculate the tax credit when you also received a state rebate or tax incentive, or a rebate or discount from a wood stove change out program.  The tax credit should help change out programs offer even greater savings to consumers, and program managers will have to prepare to give advice on it.

This DOE publication on calculating the tax credit for solar panels is very instructive on the range of issues that will apply to installing high efficiency wood heaters.  For issues pertaining to stove manufacturers issuing certificates of eligibility, this blog provides more detail.

Much of the existing IRS guidance for solar panels, reproduced below, will likely to apply to wood heaters.  Text in italics are quotes from IRS guidance on the 25(d) tax credit.  

2019 IRS Q&A on Tax Credits for Section 25D 

Manufacturers Certification. “A taxpayer may rely on a manufacturer’s certification that property is eligible for the credit so long as the Service has not withdrawn the manufacturer’s right to make the certification. The notices further clarify that the Service may determine that a manufacturer’s certification is erroneous; in such cases, the Service will withdraw a manufacturer’s right to provide a certification on which future purchasers of the component or property may rely, and taxpayers purchasing the component or property after the date on which the Service publishes an announcement of the withdrawal may not rely on the manufacturer’s certification.”

Can a taxpayer claim the credits for expenditures incurred for a newly constructed home? 

“A taxpayer can claim the § 25D credit for qualifying expenditures incurred for either an existing home or a newly constructed home.” 

May a taxpayer claim the credits in the year of purchase if installation of the qualifying property occurs in a later year? 

“No. A taxpayer may not claim the credits until the year the property is installed.”

Are the credits available for improvements made to a second home (for example, a vacation home or an investment property)? 

“A taxpayer may claim a § 25D credit for other qualifying properties described in § 25D for solar electric property, solar water heating property, small wind energy property, and geothermal heat pump property installed in or on a dwelling unit used as a second home or a vacation home by the taxpayer. But a taxpayer may not claim the § 25D credit for expenditures for improvements made to an investment property, such as rental property, that is not also used as a residence by the taxpayer.” AGH expects guidance on wood heaters to be the same as these other technologies. 

May a taxpayer claim a credit if the qualified property is also used for business purposes, such as in a dwelling unit in which the taxpayer also conducts a business? 

“For 25D, if a taxpayer uses property solely for business purposes, the property will not qualify for the credit. For a taxpayer who otherwise qualifies for the credits, but whose use of the qualified property for business purposes exceeds 20 percent, §§ 25C(e)(1) and 25D(e)(7) provide that the taxpayer, when calculating the amount of credit, may take into account only that portion of the expenditures for the property that are properly allocable to use for nonbusiness purposes. A taxpayer who qualifies for the credits and whose use of the qualified property for business purposes is not more than 20 percent may claim the full credit.” 

May a taxpayer include labor costs when calculating the credits? 

“When calculating the § 25D credit, a taxpayer may include the expenditures for labor costs properly allocable to the onsite preparation, assembly, or original installation of the qualified property and for piping or wiring to interconnect the qualifying property to the home.” 

May a taxpayer include sales tax when calculating the amount of expenditures eligible for the credits? 

“Generally, yes. Because the sales tax on a qualifying property is part of the amount paid or incurred, a taxpayer may include the amount of sales tax when calculating both the § 25D credit.” 

If a government or a public utility provides a subsidy (for example, an incentive, grant, or rebate) to a taxpayer to purchase or install a qualifying property under § 25C or § 25D, is the taxpayer required to reduce the cost basis of the property by the amount of the subsidy received, thereby reducing the amount of the qualified expenditure for which a credit may be claimed? 

“Rebates generally represent a reduction in the purchase price or cost of property, and the taxpayer must exclude the amount of the rebate from the amount of the qualified expenditure on which the taxpayer calculates the tax credit. In general, in order for a receipt of funds to be considered a nontaxable rebate, the rebate must be based on or related to the cost of the property; the rebate must be received from someone having a reasonable nexus to the sale of the property, for example, the manufacturer, distributor, or seller/installer; and the rebate must not represent payment or compensation for services. 

Generally, a taxpayer is not required to reduce the purchase price or cost of property acquired with a governmental energy-efficiency incentive that is not a rebate. Many states label their energy-efficiency incentives as rebates, but these incentives may not in fact constitute rebates or purchase-price adjustments for federal income tax purposes.” 

“The taxpayer does not reduce the amount of the qualified expenditure by the amount of the state tax credit claimed in calculating the credits.” 

If a taxpayer finances the purchase of a qualifying property under § 25C or § 25D through the seller of the property, may the taxpayer calculate the amount of the credit based on the full cost of the property if the taxpayer is contractually obligated to pay that entire amount? 

“Yes. If the taxpayer is contractually obligated to pay the full cost of the qualifying property, the taxpayer may claim a tax credit based on that amount.” 

May a taxpayer claim a credit for payments of interest owed through financing or for expenses such as an origination fee or an extended warranty? 

“No. Interest expense is not part of the expenditure for qualifying property under § 25C or § 25D. Other miscellaneous costs such as an origination fee or an amount paid for an extended warranty are also ineligible for the credits.” 

May a taxpayer claim a credit for property that the taxpayer leases rather than purchases? 

“No. A taxpayer must purchase the qualifying property to claim the credits under §§ 25C and 25D.” 

May a taxpayer claim the credits when the taxpayer does not have a manufacturer’s certification that the property is eligible for the credit? 

“Yes. A taxpayer may qualify for the credits under §§ 25C and 25D without a manufacturer's certification statement if the taxpayer can show that the property meets the required efficiency standards. A taxpayer should retain documentation sufficient to establish the entitlement to, and amount of, any credit.” 

Is an expenditure for a solar air heater eligible for the § 25D credit? 

No. Section 25D(d)(2) defines a qualified solar electric property expenditure, in part, as an expenditure for property that uses solar energy to generate electricity for use in a dwelling unit. Section 25D(d)(1) defines a qualified solar water heating property expenditure, in part, as an expenditure for property to heat water for use in a dwelling unit if at least half of the energy used by such property for such purpose is derived from the sun. A solar air heater that warms air and does not generate electricity or heat water is not eligible for the § 25D credit. 

Is a manufacturer of geothermal heat pump property that provides a certification pursuant to Notice 2009-41 required to become an Energy Star partner? 

No. A manufacturer of geothermal heat pump property is not required to become an Energy Star partner to provide a certification pursuant to Notice 2009-41. However, the geothermal heat pump property must meet the requirements of the Energy Star program in effect at the time the taxpayer purchases the property. Furthermore, any manufacturer that provides a certification must retain in its records documentation establishing that the property meets those requirements and, upon request, make such documentation available for inspection by the Service. 

 

A roadmap to get your home off fossil fuel

It took our family a few years and some investment, but it’s not that hard

Our 12-year-old son helping
move bags of pellets.  Each 
bag heats our house for a day.

by John Ackerly

Fifteen years ago I never imagined that our house and cars would be 90% fossil fuel free. It seemed like a futuristic goal that my son may achieve, but not me. Our approach is possible for millions of families who may not realize that they can do it too. With some modest upfront expenditure, it all fell into place.  

When I say fossil fuel free I am talking only about our home and cars, not our food or the junk we buy from Amazon or a store, nor our flights. But we are starting to think about those too and have some strategies.

We this did partly out of a realization that climate change really is an emergency and we don’t want to saddle future generations with a hotter world. But what we did was also smart investing that has drastically lowered our utility bills and transportation bills. Getting your home and cars off of fossil fuels may get as good a return as investing money in the stock market the next 5 to 15 years.  

We began our journey by weatherizing our house, and therefore reducing our demand for heating and cooling, as well as buying 100% wind energy into our grid through the utility company. Later on we began heating with wood pellets, added solar panels, and purchased electric cars. During the winter months when our solar panels don’t supply 100% of our electricity, at least we’re still purchasing energy through a renewable energy electric supplier. Making these changes is a process, and we still use some gas for heating and cooking.  It’s also been a journey of surprises and connections that go all the way back to my grandparents who told me about how wonderful it was when they switched to coal heat.  

Weatherization and energy reduction

Anyone interested in saving energy and reducing their carbon footprint should begin with a home energy audit, often subsidized by utilities. Ours was the best $100 we ever spent, because it made the house much less drafty and immediately started saving us $10 – 20 per month in both summer and winter utility bills.  If you walk around with the energy auditor you can understand each step they take and ask lots of questions. Our house was pretty well insulated already, but there were many gaps where the cold or warm air could escape around ceiling lighting fixtures and behind floor and ceiling molding. As a result, one of the most strategic investments we’ve made in energy efficiency over 20 years was buying about 30 tubes of caulk, sealing up the various places that the auditor’s infrared camera surfaced.  

Other initial, obvious steps to reduce energy consumption is replacing every single lightbulb with LEDs. These bulbs are subsidized by utilities in many states, including Maryland. Whether your state subsidizes them or not, places like Costco have amazing prices for big boxes of bulbs.

Heating with wood pellets

Two tons of pellets comes on 2 four
foot high pallets of 40 lb. bags and
they need to be stored in a garage,
basement, or shed.

Last week we had two tons of wood pellets delivered to our driveway. It took an hour and a half to restack them in a shed behind our house. They cost $500 ($250/ton), plus a $75 delivery charge by Lowes. Our house is about 1,900 square feet with an open floor plan. In Maryland, winters are mild, so our Ravelli pellet stove does a good job heating the house on all but the very coldest mornings. The stove cost $3,000 and installation was another $500. My family and friends love hanging out in front of it. It’s a wonderful focal point for our family, cat and dog all winter. Some states have rebates or tax incentives to buy a pellet stove, including Maryland, Idaho, Vermont, Maine, New York and Massachusetts. Maryland gives a $700 rebate which is more than half the price of one reliable, highly rated and reliable pellet stove brand, PelPro.

Our pellet stove is a wonderful focal
point for our family, requires very little
work, and makes no visible smoke. 

Pellet stoves take a bit of work – about 5 minutes a day to load the hopper and clean out the firepot. Then you just push a button and it runs all day long. This is a lot less time and effort that mowing a lawn or walking a dog – but like a dog, you have to spend a few minutes a day taking care of it, or it can leave a mess on your floor.  It’s important to buy pellets that are certified by the Pellet Fuel Institute (PFI) to ensure the pellets meet quality standards and are 100% natural wood. 

This year, we bought Green Supreme pellets made by Lignetics, one of the companies dedicated to using the PFI certification scheme. They also have good values, motivated to help families across America end the cycle of using more convenient forms of fossil fuels with residuals and low-grade wood produced by the lumber industry. So I’m back to using a solid fuel, just like my grandparents did, which takes a bit more effort. I expect my son to enter a generation that will one day have 100% renewables on the grid, enabling him to also choose a heat pump in what will hopefully be a net zero house that makes as much energy as it uses. 

Another benefit of heating with a pellet stove is that the blowers on our gas furnace cost about $25 a

In much of the US, heat is the biggest 
single source of a home's carbon
foortprint, other than yoiur car(s).

month in electricity, whereas the fans and auger on the pellet stove only cost $5-8 per month. As a point of comparison, previously we heated with a wood stove, using free wood that local tree trimmers were happy to dump in our driveway whenever we needed to split, stack and season more. But with both my wife and I getting up and out of the house in the morning for work, we basically only used the stove each evening and on weekends. This meant relying more on the gas furnace and doing much more work loading the stove and trying to keep the air adjusted properly. 

I had three different EPA wood stoves over a period of 20 years (catalytic & non-catalytic), partly in search of a really good one that could run easily with no visible smoke. Using dry wood, I could usually get them to run without visible smoke, but it wasn’t always so easy and I didn’t feel good about putting smoke in a suburban neighborhood. I bought a high-quality indoor PM sensor and then a second one and found that my indoor air quality was always quite good, but the wood stove wasn’t good for the exterior air that was seeping into my neighbors’ homes. While applauding our success in not relying on fracked gas to heat our house, two neighbors agreed that the excess smoke from wood stoves concerned them. Most neighbors said they liked the smell, one of the enduring paradoxes of a pollutant which is not good for you.  Our neighbors can't even smell, much less see the tiny emissions from our pellet stove.

Solar Electricity

We did not have a south facing roof, so
they put 8 panels facing east and 10
panels facing west, which worked well.

When we remodeled our house in 2006, we unfortunately didn’t consider the potential of solar energy. But the roof still had good enough angles and enough sun. In 2016 we put on 18 panels, rated for 5.4 kW, enough to cover 100% of the household usage, after switching to all LED bulbs, and doing other DIY energy efficiency measures. We paid $18,000 up front, got $6,000 back from the federal tax credit the following April and had no electric bills most months, aside from the monthly $12 connection fee. We worked with Solar Energy World who did a great job. Maryland, like most states, has a net metering law that requires our utility to buy back electricity we produce and don't use. It’s a good deal for our utility too, since we put our excess solar electricity back onto their grid when they need it most – the middle of hot summer days when electricity demand peaks in the Washington DC area.  Not a bad trade-off. 

The blue shows the months we used
more electricity than we made and the
green show when we made more than
we used. 

Once we bought two electric cars and let a neighbor also charge her Chevy Bolt at our house, we now have average $50 monthly electric bill.  Powering a house and keeping 2 and a half cars full of gas could cost 5 to 10 times that much.

Solar panels are great because you don't have to do anything and they work month after month, year after year.  In our case, we spend an hour or two each year trimming a few tree limbs to prevent them from shading the panels too much.  If some of our neighbors hadn't done it first, it may have taken us years longer to make the plunge.  

Purchased wind RECs

Our utility estimated our
household  usage based on
a questionnaire of appliances.

About 15 years ago, long before adding solar panels, we signed up with WGL, a company that provides 100% renewable electricity for only about 10% more than our local utility Pepco charges for their filthy mix of coal, gas and nuclear. It felt so good when we realized we could avoid that.  The way it works is that you buy RECs (Renewable Energy Certificates) from a company that sends your money to a wind farm who is only allowed to sell a limited number of RECs. First make sure the company you buy from is reputable and is part of a third party verified system. WGL is Green-e certified and meets environmental and consumer protections standards set by the non-profit Center for Resource Solutions (CRS).  

There are many companies to buy renewable electricity and most of them buy into big wind farms in Texas and the mid-west, which helps them grow and fill those grids with renewables. We don’t actually get the electrons made by those wind farms, but we pay for them. I don’t really want to subsidize companies that do large solar farms because its often not an optimal use of land, compared to covering our rooftops, parking lots and garages, etc. 

This is one of the easiest things that most people in the country can do in one hour and be an important part of the renewable energy revolution.  Don't wait.

Electric cars

By fueling our own cars at home
and rarely needing maintenance,
we basically never go to gas
stations.

My wife and I had never paid more than $10,000 for a car and I thought I may go through life without ever buying a new car.  But the federal $3,750 tax credit brought the Chevy Bolt down to $26,000, which is what most people pay for cars anyway. With a 250-mile range, it can get us to New York City on one charge. To go on longer road trips, we have to build in more time, and plan where we stop for meals and charging. The state of Maryland gave us a 40% rebate ($400) to install a level 2 charger in our driveway, which was a prerequisite for us. Since we have solar panels, we are not eligible to participate in Maryland’s pilot time-of-use program. That would have made it even cheaper to charge the car at night, when electricity is cheap.

A downside of electric cars now is that most people don’t opt in to purchasing renewable energy, so they are still driving on fossil fuels. It’s still a lower carbon mode of transportation, but it’s so easy to go all the way and select a renewable energy provider for your whole house.

Water heating

Our Rheem heat pump water
heater enabled us to switch
gas to renewable electricity.

Last year our footprint shrank even further when our 15-year-old gas water heater died.  A bit of research led to purchasing a hybrid heat pump water heater, which uses highly efficient heat pump technology. The energy needed is now covered by the electricity from our solar panels for 7 months of the year and from purchased renewable electricity during the other months. This technology requires a big enough basement for it to have enough air circulation, as well as higher up-front costs for the tank and its installation, which come to about $2,000.  The state of Maryland offered a $500 rebate, offsetting the costs. Heating water only cost us $5 - 15 a month before, and now it’s even less. While the monthly savings is small, it’s an important step to get one more appliance off of gas and onto renewable energy. We use it in an eco-mode only by turning off the hybrid features that would allow resistance heating when needed.  Running it solely on the heat pump mode has been good enough to provide us with plenty of hot water for a 3-person household.

Costs of getting off fossil fuel
Solar panels and  electric cars are the big ticket items.  We did it year by year, waiting to upgrade our cars when they needed it.  The solar panels can also be leased, with no upfront costs or financed.  Many hearth retailers provide financing for pellet stoves and Home Depot could have financed the heat pump water heater.  The lowest cost impact is probably signing up for renewable electricity since its starting to be the same price as fossil fuel electricity.  Still, we recognize many families don't have anywhere close the finances that we had to do this.  If your household income is over $100,000 and you periodically buy a new car anyway, you can do it too.  The onlyother thing you need is some time to go through the steps. And you need to care enough about your carbon footprint or climate change, and understand that over the long run, these steps will save you money.  Having kids that care about this stuff helps as they are often the ones educating us parents.

What’s left?

Gas stove. Like a lot of people, we are very attached to our gas stove, which also happens to be antique. We are focusing on the bigger picture and not getting too hung up on every last detail and this will be one of our non-guilty pleasures. That said, we know people who love their induction cook tops and that will probably be in our future.

Gas furnace and gas clothes dryer. Even though we make 80% of our heat from renewable wood pellets, we use the gas furnace for 30 minutes on the coldest mornings to get the house up to temperature while the pellet stove gets going. In the warmer than average February 2020, our gas bill came to $29 for the furnace, cooking and clothes drying, and $11 of that is the fixed system charge. This is not an insignificant amount of gas, far more than our old gas cooking stove. A heat pump space heater for our kitchen/dining room area would probably work pretty well and cut gas heat down to nearly zero. But with only a $150 annual gas bill and maybe $150 for summer air-conditioning, we are starting to get into even longer paybacks. Our gas clothes dryer will be replaced with a electric heat pump clothes dryer when it needs replacing.  Air drying clothes is cheap and in the summer we do it a little and is one of those lifestyle changes that is a hurdle for us.  Part of this energy journey is chipping away at the easiest and highest impact biggest things and then figuring out next steps. We are still working the role of natural gas in our household equation. 

Your income is likely the largest determinant of your carbon
footprint.  Wealthier people have both the ability and the
responsibility to buy renewable RECs, add PV panels, etc.

Lawn mower.  We already had a junky old cord electric mower and we just teamed up with our neighbor to split the cost of a top rated Consumer Report Ego battery powered electric lawn mower ($200 each).

Flights: We have cut down on flying a little bit but still our family flies more than most, taking one or two domestic trips a year for pleasure and many more for work, including international flights. We plan to start buying offsets for our personal flights, which is a first step, albeit not a great one.

Home battery: A home battery, like the Tesla Powerwall, is a way to keep power during a black out for a day or two. I'm not at all convinced it’s worth it yet with a $5,000 - $8,000 price tag. Our neighborhood doesn't experience many blackouts, but they may be more frequent with climate impacts already visible. During the warmer three seasons, we can ride them out pretty easily, only losing the food in our fridge and freezer that we can't eat fast enough. We already have 2 big lithium batteries in the driveway, and it would be far easier if we could top those off before a storm and just run them backwards to power the house, instead of buying another one which would just sit there, virtually doing nothing for 99% of the time. If we had time-of-use (TOU) pricing, we could fill a battery at night and then use energy during the day, but we don't have that yet and it still may be a long payback for a battery.


Good luck with your journey and leave a comment below about how its going for you.  The sooner you begin, the more you will save in the long-run.