In the United States, about 42% of energy consumption is spent on domestic heating, most of which comes from fossil fuels, and heating up household wood pellets in northern forested areas, according to a new study at NH Agricultural Experimental Station at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, (GHG) emissions by more than half, relative to fossil fuels, including natural gas.
Five states in New York and New England account for 88% of all household heating oil in the United States and Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and northern New York still rely on household heating oil as a source of heat, despite the widespread use of natural gas in the northeastern United States.
According to colleagues from John Gunn, an assistant professor of forest management research at the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station at Durham University, and a Spatial Informatics Group in Pleasanton, Calif., Wood is used in the Northeast Pellet fuel home heating can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by more than half from fossil fuels, including natural gas.
Wood pellet heat is a new and growing alternative to heating in the United States and has been proposed as a new source of energy to replace fossil fuels, but little is known about assessing this statement: Forests in northern Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York, with more than two million inhabitants in rural communities and large and small towns, are surrounded by the largest virgin forest in the eastern United States.
At present, the use of wood throughout the region is variable in calories, from 17 percent in Vermont to 8 percent in New Hampshire and northern New York.
Gunn and his collaborators found in their research paper Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Timber Particulates in Forest Areas of the Northeast USA:
- Particles of sawmill residues show the strongest greenhouse gas emission benefits compared to fossil fuels and propane Wood pellet fuel Greenhouse gas emissions have been reduced by 54% compared with domestic heating oil, compared to natural gas 59%.
- up to 75% pulpwood and 25% sawmill residues can be used to make granules;
- Conversion of available pulpwood harvest into pellets, favorable to climate;
- Market price fluctuations or higher levels of harvest have a significant impact on the results.
While global concerns about greenhouse gas emissions and climate change can be prohibitive, it is important to understand: 'As individuals, we can make size-determining decisions that have a positive effect on the atmosphere,' Gunn said. The work shows that even our home heating and business options can make a difference.
The research material is based on support from the NH Agricultural Experiment Station and is funded jointly by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA and New Hampshire, and is also supported by the North American Forest Center, USDA Rural Development And spatial information organization's support.
