www.zerohedge.com by TYLER DURDEN
The global energy crisis has led to a spike in natural gas, heating oil, propane, and power prices, making the cost of heating a home this fall/winter very expensive. As a result, Americans are panic buying cords of wood and stoves to deflect soaring fossil fuel prices.
Bloomberg spoke with US firewood vendors who said sales are booming ahead of winter. They reported the price of a cord of wood is skyrocketing.
At Firewood By Jerry in New River, Arizona, a cord of seasoned firewood — roughly 700 pieces or so — goes for $200 today. That’s up 33% from a year ago. At Zia Firewood in Albuquerque, the price is up 11% since the summer to $250. And at Standing Rock Farms in Stone Ridge, a bucolic, little town in the Hudson Valley that’s become popular with the Manhattan set, the best hardwoods now fetch $475 a cord, up 19% from last year. – BloombergÂ
Randy Hornbeck, the owner of Standing Rock Farms in Stone Ridge, New York, said his sales are already 27% higher than all of last season. “Everybody wants firewood,” he said, calling the start of the cold season a “crazy one.”
Some of the increased demand Hornbeck is speaking about comes from white-collar workers moving out of metro areas to suburban or rural locations over the last 18 or so months and have discovered their homes are outfitted with stoves and or fireplaces. The price for heating a suburban home is much higher than an apartment in the city, and perhaps with soaring energy inflation, wood is the cheapest way to heat a home (at the moment).
Besides the price jump in firewood, wood stove dealers are reporting overwhelming demand. “You can’t get a stove until at least April,” Lakin Frederick, an employee at Central Arkansas Fireplaces in Conway, a suburb of Little Rock.
Customers have told Frederick that the spike in energy prices, such as heating oil, natural gas, and propane, is the reason why they’re resorting to woodburning this year. He added wood has become scarce in his area because “there are not enough people who are cutting and supplying wood right now.”
Bloomberg points out several firewood booms in US history:
Over the course of American history, there have been any number of booms in the firewood business. One of the earliest episodes came during the British siege of Boston at the outset of the Revolutionary War. That winter, the price of a cord — a centuries-old benchmark measuring 128 cubic feet — soared to $20, the historian David McCullough documented in his book “1776.” That’s the equivalent of some $635 in today’s dollars, according to calculations by the website in2013dollars.com. In more recent times, just about every major spike in energy prices in the past half century has triggered a rush into woodburning among some segments of the population. These fevers invariably fade as soon as the energy crisis does. -Bloomberg
Today, the energy crisis is felt worldwide will inflict more financial pain on working poor families as cold weather sets in. The Biden administration is attempting to cool red hot inflation by releasing strategic petroleum reserves to arrest crude prices, which is likely to backfire.
“Everyone is extremely concerned about how they are going to pay for the cost of home heating,” said Brian Pieck, the owner of House of Warmth Stove and Fireplace Shop in New Milford, a town in rural western Connecticut. He said that concern had led people to panic buying woodstoves, adding his sales for woodstoves over $2,800 are up 50%. “Our manufacturer is working feverishly around the clock.”
Hornbeck’s wealthier customers in the Hudson Valley are buying firewood no matter the cost. He has already sold 3,300 cords of hardwood and will deplete reserves by February. Some of his clients are already locking in orders for next season.
According to EIA figures, just 1% of US households use firewood or wood pellets as their primary heating source, and about 8% use them as their secondary heating source.
A global energy crisis has metastasized and pushed the world into panic buying fossil fuels ahead of the Northern Hemisphere winter thanks to ambitious green policies.
Interesting I was waiting for this – we have used wood for heat for over 10 years now so …..
several things – if people a buying it of course the cost goes up as apposed to harvesting yourself – how much you save on energy can be very subjective … NOW if you think there will be no other source .. IE the gas get’s turned off well then yeah it’s a good deal – here is another gig … after about 1-3 years people go back to gas / electric heat – to much work and dirty .. wives complain ( woman are many times a source of problems for men to perform what is necessary )
Now if one decides to harvest for them selves the investment can be in the thousands .. BUT for us it paid for it’s self in about 2 no more than 3 years ….
Chain saw _ have to admit I bought more than one over the years so .. but a decent saw will be about 500 to 600 and that is not a real big one either moderate size… plus all the extra chains needed …
I was lucky that I inherited all the hand tools from when dad owned the farm …. axes – log rollers – wedges – sledge hammers on so on .
OK you can get buy with out this next item .. but you’ll be sorry if you don’t get it ..
About 800 to 1000 for a log split-er – you’re reall gonna want this …- again maintenance cost .
I made the mistake of getting a honda engine …. yeah they are good except this one .. the GC model has only a 200 -250 hour life span …. so I had to put another engine on it after a few years ….
You have to have a truck and or trailer to haul the wood …
The last thing … storage .. now for me I had to buy a Carolina car port for a wood shed .. you have to keep it dry or the wood is worth less .
saw 600
Spliter -$1000
Wood shed $1000
Stove $1000
$ 3600 and this is really not accurate it’s much more but …….
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NOw if you took the time to read all this dribble … here is the real killer … what really is a no way around problem from heating with wood …
You’re fu**** federal Gov ….
What ? What do you mean ?
Last year I called up US Stove Co .. I have a 1500 model wood furnace .
Got a hold of a good gal that knew the products and had common sense .. yes I was lucky .
Hey I don’t see it on the website … don’t tell me …… ?? YEP she said . The EPA came out in may of 2020 and mandated all wood stoves over X size have to meet emissions … they have to have a catalytic converter in them. ( ME ) Yeah I had been reading but though they were going to stay away from the bigger stoves . ” No they got them too . ”
Do you plan on producing a 1500 that will meet specs and selling it ?
Not at this time there are no plans to do so .
OK thanks .
Then I went on Facebook and got real lucky and found one about 2 hr from me that was all but new …. I paid the same for a used one that is 10 years old that I did for my new one
$1000
As I look on FB for stoves _ to keep up on what is going on . The larger ones that are no longer being made . Are selling quickly . I am seeing stoves that are in rough shape that are going for higher that value prices … in my mind .
So people what to heat with wood .. OK be ready to perhaps get disappointed .
The federal gov is in your toilet – you mattress tag and now your wood stove .
According to EIA figures, just 1% of US households use firewood or wood pellets as their primary heating source, and about 8% use them as their secondary heating source.
Oh here is something else .. Insurance … depending on with who and were you are located … Insurance rates can be HUGE … now here in Indiana it’s not bad … my buddy lives in Little Rock and it’s a nightmare they kinda mandate a fire proof room for the stove … he was an agent at one time and told me the story it was real restrictive . .