The Economics of Firewood

As I work to procure and stock firewood for this winter, I'm learning that the economics of firewood are unusual.

Here in suburbia, firewood is basically a waste product. Urban and suburban forestry produces more waste wood (both logs and woodchips) than can readily be consumed in our gardens and fireplaces. Since only a few nutcases like me actually attempt to heat using firewood, there's basically no substitution effect between firewood and other fuels like oil and natural gas (though there is a power plant in St. Paul which burns woodchips to generate heat and electricity).

But firewood is also very bulky and heavy, and labor-intensive to transport and prepare for burning. So buying large quantities of firewood is relatively expensive, between $150 and $500/cord delivered, though this is still cheaper than the equivalent amount of natural gas heat at today's prices. This expense is mostly labor and transportation.

For someone who is trying to save money by heating with wood, the net result is that if I try to buy the wood from a dealer, I'll lose a large fraction of my cost savings. But if I'm willing to put in several person-days of labor, it isn't hard to find places where I can get free firewood in exchange for hauling it away. Granted, the quality isn't always the greatest (hardwoods like oak and maple have twice or more heat value per cord than lesser-grade wood, and "green" or fresh wood has a higher moisture content and doesn't burn as well), but if the price is right, I can just burn more of it.

So far, I have about 3/4 cord of firewood split and stacked and ready to go. I have probably another 1-2 cords in the backyard ready to be split and moved closer to the house, some of which is partly rotten and so not good for much in the way of heat. There's an old downed treetrunk in our yard which has been dead but off the ground for several years, and is probably good for another half cord or so. All the wood in my backyard has to be moved close to the house before the ground freezes, since our backyard is on a steep slope and it isn't practical to move logs up the hill when the ground is icy.

In addition, my parents have a large yard with several downed trees which I can cut up and haul off, for another cord or two. So between my yard and my parents', we should have enough wood for this winter. I'd like to have 3-4 cords stocked for the winter, which should be enough to run the fireplace flat out for most of the winter.

For next year, I've identified a couple of large trees in our backyard which need to come down to make room for other, more desirable species. I also suspect that finding free firewood will be easier in spring than in fall.