Wood Pellet Fuel

Heating with wood just makes sense in Maine. Maine has a large wood fuel resource located close to where people need heat. It can be used responsibly, sustainably and economically to keep many people warm.

A small percentage of Maine’s sustainable wood harvest can heat a substantial portion of Maine homes and businesses. Maine is 90% forested and yet we are 80% dependent on oil for heat – a situation that simply does not make sense. Revision Heat has put together the pieces necessary to change that situation.

The forest and land cover map of Maine shows the extent of forest surrounding Greater Bangor – forest that soaks up and stores solar energy every summer. It makes sense for us to use a sustainable portion of this stored solar heat to stay warm in the winter instead of importing oil.

ReVision Heat believes that heating with Maine wood pellets makes simple sense and we’ve built the company to make it happen.

Heating Maine buildings with Maine wood makes sense for the homeowner.

Maine has abundant wood, making locally-controlled pellets more stable in price than oil from world markets. Maine heating oil prices are higher than wood pellets on a dollars-per-Btu basis, and propane prices are much higher. Fossil fuel prices are trending upward again widening the difference between heating oil and pellet costs.

Heating with wood is good for the environment.

In our old Maine housing stock we need to burn fuel to stay warm. Burning pellets from renewable trees is far more environmentally responsible than burning fossil fuels. Wood fuels are solar energy stored by plants now – not from thousands of years ago.

Burning renewably-produced wood pellets continues the natural recycling of carbon from the forest to the air and back to the forest, whereas burning fossil fuels introduces new carbon to the atmosphere – carbon which had been safely stored deep in the earth for thousands of years. Therefore, wood pellets have 90% lower net carbon emissions per BTU than heating oil.

Source for chart on right: University of Wisconsin, July, 2007 – data based on the assumption that forests will be harvested in a sustainable fashion so trees can perform their role in the sequestration of carbon. Wood pellets are not entirely carbon neutral because some fossil fuel is required for the harvesting of trees and shipment of wood and pellets.

Compared to fuel oil, pellet burning produces far lower levels of sulfur compounds because sulfur is virtually absent from wood, lower levels of nitrogen compounds and particulate discharges that are lower than oil and very comparable to natural gas.

Heating with wood pellets benefits the local economy.

76% of the money being spent by Mainers for heating oil goes directly out of Maine, a huge annual drain to Maine’s economy. At October 2009 heating oil prices, oil purchases for Greater Bangor homes will siphon $40 million per year from the Bangor regional economy.

By contrast, burning Maine wood recycles money to the Maine economy, helping to keep people employed in numerous forest product industries. Also, if brisk pellet sales can help keep Maine’s forest economy strong, Maine forest management and the forest resource itself should be enhanced for continued wood production and for other values of forest preservation.

Pellet Availability

Pellets are currently made in 5 Maine Pellet Mills, located in Burnham, Strong, Athens, Corinth and Ashland. Many more mills are in the planning stages. There is no shortage of fuel, and as demand increases, more and more mills will come on line.

Pellet Quality

Quality of wood pellets is a key part of total heating system performance.

Although every batch of wood pellets is unique, measurable standards for pellet characteristics have been developed for efficient and clean heat output and to ensure that pellets will automatically feed into stoves or boiler systems reliably and with minimal equipment maintenance.

Pellets that are too dusty, too short, or too long, create too much ash, or have a low melting point in the ash can create problems in poorly designed equipment. At ReVision Heat we believe it is the job of the contractor to ensure that the equipment we sell can handle a wide variety of pellets.

Pellet Prices

Pellet heat is less expensive than oil today. Fossil fuel supplies will dwindle while trees continue to regenerate, and this is likely to increase the price advantage of wood pellet heating over oil and propane in Maine.

Using wood that is produced locally, most cost inputs to pellet production are determined by local factors – wood stumpage costs, labor and equipment. Fossil fuel energy comprises only a small portion of pellet production cost – about 6%, primarily in transportation of wood and finished pellets and in operation of wood harvesting equipment. The primary energy input to pellet production – heat for wood drying – is supplied by burning waste wood from the pellet production operation itself.

Price of a fuel commodity is of course not simply determined by production costs. Supply levels, demand and supply competition also influence fuel pricing. In the case of pellets, the number of pellet producing firms in New England and eastern Canada is growing rapidly, increasing both fuel supply volumes and supplier competition, keeping prices in check.

Because wood is a locally-produced commodity, the price of pellets is more stable than fossil fuel prices that respond to speculative markets and forces outside of local control.

Fuel Delivery

Today’s homeowners have many options available to them for the supply and delivery of pellets. You can drive your truck to the hardware store and pick them up, or you can have pellets delivered on the pallet to your home. In the Bangor, that service can be provided by the Corinth Pellet Mill.

Pellets can also be delivered directly into a hopper installed at your home, without the use of bags. In our automated pellet boilers, an auger or vacuum system will then move the pellets from the hopper to the boiler as needed. Some of our clients use hoppers to take bulk delivery of pellets for their stoves and partially automated pellet boilers as well. Maine Energy Systems is providing Bulk delivery to most of the state for $220 a ton. For more information about pellet bulk delivery, go to www.maineenergysystems.com.

Never before have there been so many great options for receiving pellet delivery in Maine at reasonable prices.

Wood Pellet Heating Options:

• Pellet Stoves – The simplest option, useful for contained spaces but not whole house heating
• Partially Automated Pellet Boilers – A pellet boiler is an incredibly efficient and sustainably way to heat your home. Partially automated pellet boilers may or may not have additional storage.
• Automated Pellet Boilers – The most convenient option, includes a pellet boiler and an automated storage system

Want to get started with pellet fuel? Sign up for a free pellet boiler consultation.