BURN 'EM IF YOU GOT 'EM
BIOMASS ENERGY MAKES GRAND SENSE
By Cindy Kleh / Photos by Cindy Kleh

NEAT HEAT: Dick and Dela Linke of Granby installed two outside boilers – one for their home and a larger one located next to their 7,000-square-foot shop. The Linkes buy their wood from local loggers – about three semi-truck loads per year – and the larger shop boiler (shown above) can take whole logs up to four feet long.

All summer long, I’ve been burning slash and piling up wood for the cold, snowy winter ahead in Grand Lake. It started out as a way to get a workout while reducing the fire fuels that littered the three-acre property. It filled the fitness bill, working my shoulders, legs and lungs in the process, but there were other benefits to my labor.

The pain from occasional bruises, splinters and lower back-aches I suffered from lifting big logs was alleviated by a feeling of satisfaction whenever I looked at the growing stack of beetle kill that will become our lone source of heat this winter.

Burning wood is not only a cheaper option than heat produced by electricity, natural gas or propane, it can also be a greener one. Trees are a renewable resource that do not require additional fuel to transport to Grand County. In addition, all of these dead trees present a wildfire danger, so any use for them is welcome.

Split and Delivered, It’s Yours
Steve Brenner has been selling firewood since 1994, well before the beetle-kill outbreak. Most of his business involves cutting and splitting logs, and tying up small bundles of wood for local gas stations, grocery stores and campgrounds. He also sells split wood by the cord to homeowners.

The beetle-kill epidemic has been both a blessing and a curse for Brenner. “The campgrounds have had their own wood to sell for the past three years,” explains Brenner. “The price of wood has gone down, and that means it costs less for me to buy truckloads, but there is also less demand for firewood with all this dead around.”

There have been new firewood companies that suddenly appeared with the extensive beetle-kill infestation, undercutting Brenner’s prices. “A lot of people got into the business thinking it would be easy,” he says, “but they’ve gone away when they realized how much physical work is involved.”

Advantages of Pellet Stoves
Other locals are opting for wood pellet stoves because they don’t want to hassle with stacking, splitting or carrying wood. “We used to always harvest our own wood,” says Pat Scholl of Parshall. But now that Pat and her husband, Duane, are in their mid 70s, they love their new outdoor pellet furnace because it’s easy to load and keep clean. The stove was purchased from All Fired Up in Kremmling, a business that specializes in outdoor wood-burning furnaces and wood pellet stoves. It heats two homes and a garage with an outdoor, water-wrapped boiler that looks like an upscale storage shed, and pipes run hot water to the three structures.

Pellet furnaces use a minimal amount of electricity, and require a nearby power supply as do all outside furnaces. Efficiency rates vary by model (burning 75 to 92 percent), but pellet furnaces generally have fewer particle emissions than wood stoves, resulting in less ash left over to clean. The pellets can be made from “garbage wood” – slash (debris that is too small for cord wood) and sawdust – and have a BTU output content that is four to five times that of cord wood. Confluence Energy in Kremmling and Rocky Mountain Pellet in Walden are two local examples of a national pellet supply system comprised of nearly 65 manufacturers.

GREEN SAVINGS: In the two years they have owned their wood boilers, the Linkes have seen their combined home and business gas bills go from around $1,500 per month in the coldest months down to about $25 per month.

Heating Both Home and Business
Dick and Dela Linke (of Linke Construction) installed two outside boilers – one for their home and a larger one located next to their 7,000-square-foot shop. In the two years they have owned their wood boilers, the Linkes have seen their gas bills (combined home and business) go from around $1,500 per month in the coldest months down to about $25 per month. The Linkes buy their wood from local loggers – about three semi-truck loads per year – and the larger shop boiler can take whole logs up to four feet long.

“It’s fairly trouble-free,” says Dick. “I haven’t needed any repairs yet, but sometimes it can get smoky if it’s not fed right or we have the wrong weather.” Also, burning dry wood and (buying high efficiency furnaces) will cut down on smoke.

Hello Wood Boiler – Goodbye Utility Bill
Martha Hut and Jon Rosen added an outside wood boiler one year ago that heats their home in Tabernash as well as providing hot water for the household. “Our electricity bill went up slightly last winter, but our propane bill was zero,” says Jon. “We have a lot of dead trees on our property (of 16 acres), and that’s the reason why we put it in. I leave the dead trees standing until we need them. The boiler is easy to load (the wood doesn’t have to be split to load it), but it does require a lot of physical work stocking it with wood twice a day during the coldest months.”

If the existing home has a hydronic heating system (infloor radiant heat) or a forced-air system, then the switchover is quite simple, claims Wayne Johnson, owner of All Fired Up, where Hut and Rosen purchased their Central Boiler E2400. If the home has electric, propane, or natural gas, the changeover is still pretty basic, and the original source of heat can be used as a back up if the family is gone for more than a few days. In addition, the boilers use a non-pressurized system, which eliminates the possibility of explosions.

Johnson explains that the initial investment can run from $6,000 up, but by eliminating a traditional heating bill, it can pay for itself in two to three winters. Government and manufacturing rebates may be available, so be sure to check before purchasing a system.

Throw Another Log on the Fire
The beetle-kill epidemic has been devastating to our forests, and heartbreaking to homeowners who loved their trees, but there is a silver lining to this cloud – cheap firewood that can replace fossil fuels for heating homes and businesses. So go green by burning blue!

This article is sponsored by Grand County Business & Economic Development Association (BEDA).
For more information on Energy Rebates and Programs, go online: www.gcbeda.com

READ MORE STORIES FROM THIS ISSUE:
• Winter 2011 Articles