Issues

Climate Change

The Potential of Biomass to Curb Global Warming

For most Americans living in the northern United States, heating produces more household carbon emissions than any other activity. Out of the 20 tons of carbon that the average American emits each year, five to 10 tons can be from heating if you live in the northern half of the US.

At a macro level, heating accounts for more carbon emissions, and thus more global warming, than any other activity in the residential sector. Heating results in an average of 345 million metric tons (MMT) each year, whereas air conditioning, the second largest source of emissions, accounts for about 147 MMT nationwide.

Per dollar invested, wood or pellet stoves and boilers can reduce more carbon emissions than any other heating energy source. In a significant portion of the middle of this country, a wood or pellet stove can supply 80 – 100 percent of necessary heat for small and mid-sized homes. Installing a high quality wood or pellet stove will cost about $2,500 to $3,500. That investment can easily reduce your carbon footprint by two to four tons per year, or 10 – 20 percent of your entire emissions. Few investments of this size can deliver such a big reduction.

The Salzburger Institute for Urbanisation and Housing (SIR) in Austria recently released a study, which showed that biomass pellets offer households the most efficient method for reducing their carbon footprint. By switching from a heating oil system to a pellet heating system, the average Austrian household can avoid up to 10,000 kilograms (11 tons) of CO2 emissions. This is more than the emission reduction potential of all other renewables and efficiency measures.

The SIR study also found that using highly efficient insulation materials throughout the home, a retrofit which on average costs four times more than installing a biomass heating system would only offer CO2 savings of around 3300 kilograms (3.6 tons).

How much carbon can the United States avoid through “green” heat?

The residential sector in America consists of about 127 million households (as of 2007). Approximately two percent already use wood and pellets as a primary or secondary source of heat - a huge population that is already preventing the addition of two to four million tons of carbon to the atmosphere every year. Even if prices of natural gas remain relatively cheap, oil prices rise, and government tax incentives increased, it is not inconceivable that another one percent of US households (1.2 million more homes) could start using biomass as a primary or secondary heat source within the next 5 years.

Currently, an average of 250,000 freestanding wood and pellet stoves are purchased every year. A wood or pellet stove is easily capable of offsetting one to three tons of carbon while meeting 60 percent of home heating needs, even in the northern half of the US. Many of those 250,000 stoves, particularly the larger ones that are used daily, will result in two or three tons of avoided carbon emissions.

If federal and state tax incentives for renewable energy in general, and biomass in particular increase in America, as fossil fuel prices increase, it is likely that wood and pellet stove sales could jump from an average of 350,000 or 400,000 per year in a short period of time (2008, a banner year for wood and pellet stove sales, saw nearly 300,000 stoves sold).

Collectively, these additional stoves coming on the market will soon be replacing enough oil, gas, electric and propane heat to avoid the emission of a million tons of carbon every year.

Poverty, home heating and carbon emissions in America

Home heating is the single largest home energy bill, and the need to address affordability of heating solutions is essential for low-income populations that disproportionately rely on biomass in many rural areas. Low-income households spend more than one-third of their annual energy costs on heating their homes during the winter. One survey by the National Energy Assistance Director’s Association revealed that 70 percent of the 35 million or so low-income households in the United States were cutting back on food to cover the cost of heating their homes in 2008.
Source: http://uspoverty.change.org/blog/view/help_keep_citgos_low-income_heating_assistance_program_going_this_winter

In colder states, heating can account for up to two-thirds of annual energy bills, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). On average, heating an American home with natural gas produces about 6,400 pounds of carbon dioxide. Use electricity, and carbon emissions average about 4,700 pounds. In Minnesota the numbers can jump to 8,000 pounds of carbon for natural gas and 9,900 pounds for electric heat. Cord wood and pellets are a much more affordable heating fuel with the potential to shrink skyrocketing energy bills. Coal is cost-effective in certain regions, but its high carbon emissions eliminate it as a viable alternative home heating fuel.