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Firewood and Chips» Calaveras Healthy Impact Product Solutions (CHIPS) Cross Referenced Case Studies: >>International WoodFuels LLC Firewood is the primary source of home heating and cooking fuel for billions of people worldwide, and for many homes and businesses in the Sierra. Firewood is also used to power boilers for both heat and electrical power generation. Hardwoods (mostly deciduous trees), and both heavily resinous, and less resinous softwoods (needle-bearing conifers) burn at different rates, and produce dissimilar residual material. New, efficient woodstoves are engineered to capture the heat in an enclosed system, and dissipate it slowly, to allow that “all-night log” to be much smaller than before -both burning less wood, and filtering escaping air. In parts of the Sierra and other forested regions, pipe-delivered or truck-delivered energy such as gas or propane, and grid-tied electricity may be inaccessible, unreliable, or not cost-effective. In many of these areas, open fireplaces and old woodstoves and ovens are still the norm, as they are costly to replace. Factoring in health costs, overall cost-savings of using less wood in these new systems, and overall environmental benefits of improved air quality from the transfer of fuel wood from open forest or open fireplace burning to these enclosed systems; and regulatory issues (in California, especially), some governments and environmental organizations are partnering with forest industry, health care, energy and manufacturing, to cost-share the retrofitting of rural homes and businesses with these new efficient wood heating systems. Local woodcutters and retailers, and installation and maintenance contractors also benefit from this local energy production and delivery system. A full cord of firewood equals a volume of stacked wood measuring 4ft x 4ft x 8ft (128 cubic feet). This category includes retrofit programs, and other programs for the sustainable production and multiple uses of firewood and chips. For community firewood gathering and delivery projects, see Fuels Reduction: Firewood Gathering. Many forest-based businesses use the chips produced as by-products of manufacturing to fire boilers for heat and energy for their operations; some produce enough energy to sell back to the grid. See Heat and Energy: Cogeneration and see Forest Products: Lumber: Collins Pine. New Case Studies Coming Soon: |
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