Energy prices spark return to wood

Price of oil revives stove, fuel sales nationwide

SANDPOINT - Every time the U.S. realizes that it might not be able to afford its passion for petroleum, a funny thing happens. People rethink the value of wood as an energy source.

Whether in the form of firewood, pressed logs or wood pellets, sales take off whenever gas prices spike. Our on-again, off-again romance with oil is a relatively recent dalliance compared with our long-term relationship with wood. And every time we get burned by this fickle, expensive mistress, we run back into the arms of a union we can depend on.

“It's kind of like back in 1973, with the oil embargo,” said Ken Russell, owner of the Stove Corral in Sandpoint. “Wood was huge for a while. It seemed like everybody was putting a wood stove in.”

In places like North Idaho, that trend continued right on into the next decade. Things changed - at least for the “townies” who had access to natural gas - when the cost of that energy source, coupled with the convenience of warming up with the flick of a switch, caused the love for wood to sputter and die. It didn't help that older model wood stoves had a reputation for being inefficient, hard on the environment and just plain dangerous when it came to things like the potential for chimney fires.

But like a spurned lover ready to bounce back, wood-burning technology was quietly cleaning up its act, waiting for its moment to return. Pellet stoves offered a cleaner, more efficient alternative to firewood. And, more recently, wood stoves themselves have made dramatic gains in efficiency.

All it took was the next disaster - man-made or natural; either one will do - for consumers to take a second look at wood fuel and decide the old gal didn't look so bad after all.

“After Katrina, our gas stove sales fell by 70 percent and wood stoves increased by at least that much,” said Jim Fulling, owner of Mountain Stove & Spa in Sandpoint. “And that's nothing compared to what it is today.”

Hurricane Katrina mangled 30 oil platforms on the Gulf Coast and closed nine refineries in the summer of 2005. The result was a drop of more than 20 percent in domestic oil and gas production and the first in a series of petroleum-related body blows to the U.S. economy. Since then, fuel prices have continued the relentless drubbing to the point where automakers are bemoaning slow sales of once-popular large trucks and SUVs. General Motors, which was forced to announce the closure of its Hummer plant, apparently decided that there was no longer a need for an oversized urban assault vehicle in an era of $4-plus gasoline.

“People now believe that fuel costs are never going to go down again,” Fulling said.

This same belief has caused consumers to review everything from the way they drive to the way they heat their homes. And it is the latter category that has reshaped and revived the stove industry.

“If you had asked me a few years ago whether the wood stove would ever catch on again, I would have told you ‘no,' ” said Russell. “And I would have never dreamed that wood would take over from gas. In 2005, my business was 60 percent gas and 40 percent wood. Last year, it was 70 percent wood and 30 percent gas.”

“We saw an increase in wood stove sales last year, you betcha,” said Mary Bush, assistant manager of the Co-op Country Store. “And it wasn't just the hippie folks who were buying them. I've talked to a lot of well-to-do people who are making the switch.”

The biggest savings come when comparing wood with the costs of fuel oil or propane, Fulling said. For some customers, the price differential that keeps natural gas about 10-15 percent more expensive than burning wood is still within their financial pain threshold.

One commercial woodcutter who operates yards in Bonners Ferry and Athol, however, said wood is an even better bargain after doing the math in a different way.

“At our prices, which average about $155 for a cord of wood, we're 30 percent more affordable than natural gas if you crunch the BTUs,” said Shane Smith, co-owner of Blacksmith Farms.

“We've almost doubled our volume every year for the last four years,” added Smith, who sold 7,500 cords of wood last year into the Spokane market alone. “Even people with existing wood stoves are buying more wood. There's an intense panic going on with the fuel craze and people are looking for any way to cut costs.”

The U.S. Forest Service office at the Sandpoint Ranger District reported anecdotally that there has been a steady increase in the number of firewood-cutting permits issued in the past few years, but said, other than going back and hand-counting those permits, it has no way to quantify the change.

Wood-fuel manufacturers like Lignetics, Inc., in Kootenai, and North Idaho Energy Logs on Moyie Springs, have seen the same kind of run on pressed logs, which producers say burn cleaner because the moisture content can be controlled to levels as low as 7 percent.

“We really started noticing it when energy prices were going up a couple of years ago,” said Clark Fairchild, manager of the North Idaho Energy Logs plant.

Since about the time Katrina struck land, the Moyie Springs plant has run two shifts and increased production by 40 percent.

“But we have to be careful not to oversell,” the manager said. “We can't really cut loose with production because we're dependent on the sawmills for our raw materials.”

At Lignetics, which began producing wood pellets in 1978 and later purchased the Presto Log brand and started manufacturing that line, the plant in Kootenai also has an artificial production ceiling caused by lower building lumber output in the face of slower housing starts. At its plants in Virginia and West Virginia, however, Lignetics has a steady supply of chips and sawdust in the form of hardwood lumber and furniture factory waste.

Most of Lignetics' business comes from wood pellet sales, which are booming nationwide, according to company president Ken Tucker.

“We started bagging residential fuel in 1984, and did about 200 tons that year - less than 1 percent of our overall business,” he said. “Today, 98 percent of our business goes out of here in a bag - about 140,000 tons.

“In areas where people have to depend on propane or heating oil - like in those New England states where fuel oil is the heating fuel of choice - this is a good niche market,” Tucker continued. “People all over the country are revisiting wood and pellet stoves. There's a resurgence in that technology as people get more and more uncertain about fossil fuel prices.”

Customers who use electric heat also have been switching to wood fuels, as oil prices impact the cost of producing that service.

“Remember when they were pushing the all-electric ‘Medallion' homes as a way to save money?” Tucker asked. “You don't see that any more.”

Converting to a wood or pellet stove - even with fuel savings realized over time - can be pricey on the front end. The cost for a wood stove starts at about $1,000, with pellet stoves starting at between $2,000-$3,000,” Fulling said. A stove chimney will run another $1,000 or so, and stove installation can be around $300-$600, depending on the unit.

Wood fuel costs - which are “more reasonable than the other energy sources out there right now,” according to Blacksmith Farms' Shane Smith - are not insignificant. A ton of wood pellets can retail for about $180, stove vendors said, and firewood will cost the buyer anywhere from $150-$200, depending on the variety.

But even after running away from oil and back to wood, her power over us lingers on. Like everything else, from driving to work to buying groceries, wood fuel is now growing more expensive as oil prices continue to rise.

“Our costs keep going up, too,” said the North Idaho Energy Logs manager. “The price of fuel for trucking in the raw material and the natural gas we use for the drying process have driven the prices up.”