Interest in wood-pellet heating rekindles

As the weather begins to cool down, many New Englanders are thinking about how they will heat their homes this winter. A new cost effective and energy efficient alternative that has become popular in Europe is making its way to the United States, the Boston Globe reports.

Many people are familiar with the traditional wood burning stove, but an adaptation of that comes in the form of a wood pellet burning stove. Pellets are made dense plant particulate matter, and as a result they are more efficient than wood in the form of logs because every part of the tree's wood can be used to make pellets.

The article reports that the boilers cost between $6,000 and $13,000 and installation can cost a bit more than traditional wood stoves. The pellets themselves, however, only cost about $400 dollars a ton, and about 5 tons are required per winter. This cost is significantly lower
than what some homeowners are paying for oil this winter.

In addition, the pellets are very environmentally friendly because wood is a renewable resource but oil is not. Burning the wood does not generate a carbon footprint unlike burning oil for heat.

The cost of producing and transporting the pellets is also lower because the New England states rank among the most forested states per acre in the United States. Oil, however, usually comes all the way from the Middle East and costs are incurred during the extraction and
shipping process.

Wood pellets, on the other hand, are much more likely to come from nearby, they are cheaper than oil, and do far less damage to the environment.

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--Bridget O'Sullivan