Wood pellets?

13.6 BTUS per ton.
Wood pellets are Green.
How does wood stack up to other energy sources?

They are building new pellet plants in N MN, mostly to use scrap wood from sawmills. But, with the decline of the paper industry we have a surplus of wood. When the emerald ash borer gets to our area we will have a lot of dead ash, hopefully it can be harvested before that happens. I understand most of the wood pellets are shipped overseas.

Sawmill in TH sends their scrap chipped wood/sawdust to make wood pellets.

EVA
Enviva Partners, LP is listed on the NYSE.
They make wood pellets. So far it's a good stock to invest in.

(quoted from post at 04:55:27 10/04/21)How does wood stack up to other energy sources?

Click to expand...

it depends.
there is an energy calculator at https://www.pelletheat.org/compare-fuel-costs

we've been burning pellets for about 20 years and we like them. if you have to buy fire wood it may not be any higher $ wise and no tools, splitting, bugs ect . When we 1st started Nat gas prices were pretty high and i was buying pellets at $150/ton. the last few years Nat gas has been cheap and pellets have been high like the picture. I've never paid that much and a couple local feed stores (not TSC or menards) are usually cheaper. I don't usually have good luck with some brands that TSC carries. THere is a pellet plant about 7 miles north of me that we know the owners. they started out just doing sawdust for animal bedding and then got into pellets from scratch. One of the sons still farms and direct markets farm to table in Chicago and a few locals. THeir dad passed away a few years ago and they had a big tractor auction (Dale Shrock) that some of you may have gone to so that ties this topic back to tractors.
..anyway. so the last couple years we've used more nat gas.


we may use more pellets this year since Nat gas $ has bumped up some in price and will go higher i think if this infrastructure bill passes giving the epa the ability to regulate methane (aka nat gas). this could also affect farming as it opens the door for the epa to regulate farm methane as well which is estimated at $2500/head of beef for example. its not in the bill directly but opens the door so write your representative.
pello costs

Is that 13.6 million BTUs per ton? The number of BTUs per bag (averaged) should be available on the bag or on the manufacturer's website. From that you can compare the cost per BTU between different fuels. Also factor in the efficiency of the furnaces, some gas furnaces have mid-ninety percent efficiencies, while other furnaces with higher stack temperatures might be in the 60 to 80 percent efficiency range and get worse when they need cleaning. Divide the cost per BTU by the furnace efficiency to get your true cost per usable BTU. For example if your fuel cost is $0.10 per 1000 BTUs and your furnace is 75 percent efficient your cost for the usable heat is:

$0.10 per 1000 BTUs divided by .75 efficiency equals $0.133 per 1000 useable BTUs

There is a pellet mill in Woodville Texas that started under the name German Pellets, all production went to Germany via the Port of Port Arthur Texas. A couple of years ago two of the big silos at the docks caught fire and burned for many weeks. Name of the plant has changed but they are still shipping out of the same Port. Very few people here use wood as a primary heat source, most fireplaces are for decoration and atmosphere.

What makes you think burning wood is green ???
Because the EU says it is.
You do know they have a alternative motive for saying that.

Hmmmm ..... so much for cost savings if buying in bulk by the pallet. I assume the 'Save Big Money' part is referring to both the bag or pallet purchases. I have no idea, is that a good deal for price?

It's the same price per bag, single or by the pallet. I guess they mean you 'save' money by burning them. Mark.

The only green thing about wood pellets is they come from trees.

I noticed the prices at rk a couple weeks ago and wondered why would folks spend so much for them. It isn't as much work or messy as wood but still?

The EPA Declared That Burning Wood Is Carbon Neutral.
You can believe it or NOT!

Menard's rarely offers any quantity discounts. Save Big Money is an advertising theme for Menard's chain of stores, it is even in the store song which plays in a continuous loop over the PA in every store.

I buy a pallet every year, I try to get it on their 11% sale. I mix it 50/50 with corn and burn it in my shop stove, been doing that for 20+ years. The pellets clean up the burn and make it easy to get it going but the real BTU's are in the corn.

I burned them in one farm home I owned, all I can say for sure is they, were much cleaner and convenient then when I packed in firewood each day, I kind of liked them. As Ive said before having heated with wood, chips, coal, corn, electric resistance heat, Heat Pumps LP Gas and Natural gas, Coal and wood were the warmest mmmmmmmm, heat pump the coldest brrrrrrrrrr lol

I thought the Greenies liked sustainable heat sources (trees) but I cant keep up with what they like or don't like ?? Im pretty sure they don't like coal (they claim too dirty) or Nuclear (they claim unsafe) or Hydro Electric (killed a fish somewhere) or Wind (killed a bird somewhere) and Solar (don't like the mining, waste and disposal problems) so maybe passive solar or geo thermal or wood is okay for them ?? darn if I know but to each their own likes and opinions is fine by me.

Yall take care, stay warm however yall please, best wishes to everyone

John T

Whether wood is burned or left to rot its all ends up being the same thing.

Oh I believe the EPA <q>SAID</q> that burning wood is carbon neutral.
I just do not believe everything some bureaucrat tells me.
If you do I got a bridge for sale.

While it is true that a burning a tree releases the same carbon the tree captured while it was growing a tree burns much faster than it grows. It takes years if not decades for a newly planted tree to recapture the carbon. Then we are burning oak trees that take centuries to grow and replacing them with fast growing pine trees that do not capture the same amount of carbon. And don't forget to add all the fossil fuel carbon released logging and processing these so called green trees.

Rather than just jumping on the band wagon do your research and you will see what I am saying is true.
But then again you do have the choice to not believe facts if you choose to.

They forgot to figure in all the fuel it takes to harvest process and haul it to the consumer

The lumber company I worked for used to sell sawdust for bedding. But when a hammer mill was added to utilize the rips it made to many slivers for bedding They switched to selling it to a pellet mill. The sawdust was all kiln dried hardwood which makes superior pellets

True! From the stink coming off some wood burners I suspect natural rotting is cleaner and more efficient than some wood burning furnaces.