Skyrocketing prices for natural gas have Europeans scrambling for alternative energy sources. In Germany, where households face a 480 euro rise in their gas bills, people are resorting to stockpiling firewood.
The fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sunk Europe into the worst energy crisis in decades. From Italy to the UK, governments are racing to replace natural gas supplies from Russia and curtail the higher costs for industry and households. But consumers, too, are having to adapt, from cutting back on showering to firing up the chimney.
The German word for firewood, “brennholz”, reached peak search volume on Google in mid-August:
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https://i.ibb.co/Hqm5Mbd/zeroone.jpgThe rising cost of natural gas and firewoodAlmost 50% of homes in Germany are heated by natural gas, with another 25% using heating oil. In the past, less than 6% used firewood.
That share is set to be higher this year. As natural gas prices soared, so have those for firewood and wood pellets:
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https://i.ibb.co/Qmx9rBz/zerotwo.jpgHeating furnaces and wood stoves are also selling out.
Suppliers of the raw material are struggling to keep up, leading to scarcity of firewood. Earlier this summer, Germany’s Federal Firewood Association said the market was all out of wood.
The lion’s share of firewood used in Germany—80% according to the association—is typically sourced domestically. Now German firewood suppliers are buying from Poland, leaving some residents in both countries to collect brushwood. To prevent panic-buying, one seller has been rationing purchases to three boxes of wood at a time.
The process for drying out wood is long, compounding the ability to meet demand. Ideally, it takes six months to a year, because the more moisture wood contains, the less efficient it is at burning.
Over the long run, the firewood rush also raises environmental concerns. Trees do not replenish quickly and are not a viable substitute for replacing oil and gas, according to scientists. The fumes from burning wood also contain toxic chemicals.
Although Germany’s government deems burning wood for fuel as carbon-neutral, experts say the designation is not clear-cut. The combination of burning wood and cutting down forests may increase carbon emissions.
https://qz.com/germans-are-looking-to-firewood-for-energy-as-natural-g-1849461406....
Beautiful uptrend charts for firewood.
Is it possible that firewood is the new bitcoin? How long before start ups roll out stablecoins pegged to the value of firewood commodities internationally?
Domestically cultivating swathes of fast growing bamboo or paulownia tree for use in wood stoves during winter could help to regrow and regenerate firewood in a way that is sustainable. The worst scenario here is for old growth forests to be targeted. Those would take decades to replace and their greater size would lead to larger quantities of carbon emissions as the wood is burned.
Its also been said that smaller diameter bamboo dries faster than larger diameter trees. Bamboo is a type of grass. Which could translate to it being more carbon neutral in contrast to most trees. Bamboo can also be used for many other applications aside from firewood. Which makes it a good investment even if the firewood application dries up, eventually.
The article mentions that burning wood releases toxic chemicals. Burning termite treated lumber will release arsenic fumes into the air. I'm not certain about naturally grown wood having toxic substances however.
