By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
Utilizing homegrown fuel sources for heating won’t only save homeowners money, the switch to locally grown fuel from foreign oil can help stimulate the northern Maine economy.
According to Mike Eisensmith, economic development director of the Northern Maine Development Commission, only 22 percent of all County dollars spent on fuel oil stays in the area. The other 78 percent leaves the region.
Aroostook County burns through approximately 5.9 million gallons of number-two fuel oil every year; with current fuel oil costs at $3.89 per gallon, that 5.9 million gallons comes with a price tag of $22,951,000.
Only $5,049,220 of that staggering sum will remain in Aroostook County.
Homegrown Aroostook-based pellet production has a current capacity of about 45,000 tons a year; (one ton of pellets has approximately the same heating equivalent of 117 gallons of number-two fuel oil).
“[Pending pellets cost of $250 per ton], if all those pellets were produced and used in our region, the basic impact would be $10,125,000 of wealth retained in the local economy and that doesn’t include any multiplier effects of increased employment for additional infrastructure such as installation/servicing of the wood appliances and delivery of the pellets,” Eisensmith explained.
What’s good for the Aroostook economy just happens to be good for individual homeowners (and their checkbooks) as well.
The average Aroostook resident burns 1,000 gallons of fuel per year (which produces the same amount of heat as 8.5 tons of pellets). If the average household spends $3,890 a year for fuel oil (assuming $3.89 a gallon), then the same home could be heated (using only wood pellets at $250 a ton) for $2,125 a year with a net savings of $1,505.
While cost savings afforded through the transition to wood pellets is pretty appealing, Eisensmith doesn’t see wood pellets replacing fuel oil entirely.
“It’s probably that many homeowners will not replace their oil furnaces with wood pellet furnaces as a primary heating source, but will instead purchase wood pellet stoves as a supplement,” he said. “The important point that should be understood [by the example above] is that for each gallon of fuel oil that is not used, the homeowner would save about $1.71 for the same equivalent heating unit.”
Eisensmith estimates that escalating fuel oil costs will only increase the financial incentive for homeowners to consider either supplement to or replacement of their oil furnaces with less expensive fuel sources.
To say the practice of heating with wood predates Aroostook County is an understatement, but a reemergence of wood heat may be just what homeowners need to help keep their checkbook happy.
“Cord wood and wood pellets are two similar, but different, alternatives that utilize locally sourced materials to mitigate reliance on fossil fuel sources that can be prone to pricing swings from market forces that are not as prevalent for natural resource-based sources,” Eisensmith said.
As part of the Mobilize Northern Maine Initiative, meetings will be held later this spring and summer to inform local energy consumers — both commercial and residential — on options they might consider for heating their homes and businesses.
For information about future meetings or how to obtain information regarding wood pellets, please contact Walt Elish at welish@nmdc.org or Eisensmith at meisensmith@nmdc.org; both can be reached by calling 498-8736.
