Not buying pellets this spring.

[alternativeheat]

Around here there is a scrubby white oak and also pine, generally found near swamp land and easily bug infested. Those are prime trees for pellet production, it's not as though there isn't enough of it around and they aren't good for much of anything else except to dot the country side, die , fall down and rot then get overtaken by vines. Not necessarily in that order but same result.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Looks ,like the pellet stove world can not expand much before it hits a supply wall. High pellet prices will put a lid on how far it can go.

 

[Peterfield]

There is nothing magical about pellets, they are just a commodity like most other commodities. When a commodity is over-priced, for whatever reason(s), folks who have alternatives will go elsewhere for the most part. Yes, we are fanatics here on the forum and they'll be a couple of posts that go something like, "I don't care what the price, I will keep burning pellets because I like the heat better." We need to remember that our group here makes up a very small percentage of pellet users so a casual user will most likely switch as soon as something out there is better price-wise, particularly if they can also avoid the maintenance that comes with burning pellets. They don't give a rat's a** about how they keep warm or whether they are saving the environment, they simply want to stay warm as economically as possible. Why do you think there are so many pellet stoves for sale, with some killer deals if one acts quick enough. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy burning pellets and love the heat and have enjoyed meeting a few of you over the past couple of years, but we are a minority here and the supply/demand quotient for pellet use will be determined by those that have never logged onto this forum.

 

[PinetreePellets]

They stopped producing pellets from just waste wood three years ago now..

This isn't entirely true. While there are lots of logs trucks headed for the chipper, the wood being chipped is lower quality and would be pulp wood or firewood, as you stated. One the other hand in order to keep your raw material consistent, clean and up to premium standards its hard to start with lower quality feed stock and end up with a quality pellet.

In Maine we have companies that offer pellets from reminence from saw mills or whatever but alot of the leftovers go to biomass power plants as well. I will be producing a spruce/fir pellet from clean debarked chips. I chose this route for a number of reasons but consistency of the end product is the primary reason for me.

 

[alternativeheat]

Looks ,like the pellet stove world can not expand much before it hits a supply wall. High pellet prices will put a lid on how far it can go.

I don't know, clear cuts get farmed and replanted, thousands and thousands of acres are plotted out in like maybe 50-100 acre sections. Probably give pines 7-10 years till it's clearable again in size of tree that would fill the need ( ask David of pinetreepellets, he might know better), maybe the same for poplar. So clear a 50-100 acre section, move on to another and clear that. The first is replanted then the second etc. So in the thousands of acres you always have supply, don't have miles of barren forest. A lot of the paper companies moved off shore, some went to South America where there is less regulation and even faster growing season. So the acreage being sold off is sustainable for pellets assuming some radical individual doesn't buy it up and lock it down, close it off etc. Which has happened to some degree already. IE willing participation is important.

 

[alternativeheat]

This isn't entirely true. While there are lots of logs trucks headed for the chipper, the wood being chipped is lower quality and would be pulp wood or firewood, as you stated. One the other hand in order to keep your raw material consistent, clean and up to premium standards its hard to start with lower quality feed stock and end up with a quality pellet.

In Maine we have companies that offer pellets from reminence from saw mills or whatever but alot of the leftovers go to biomass power plants as well. I will be producing a spruce/fir pellet from clean debarked chips. I chose this route for a number of reasons but consistency of the end product is the primary reason for me.

All I meant is it's not exclusively saw dust from lumber production and building scraps, some people might be under the impression that it is.

 

[TimfromMA]

There is nothing magical about pellets, they are just a commodity like most other commodities. When a commodity is over-priced, for whatever reason(s), folks who have alternatives will go elsewhere for the most part. Yes, we are fanatics here on the forum and they'll be a couple of posts that go something like, "I don't care what the price, I will keep burning pellets because I like the heat better." We need to remember that our group here makes up a very small percentage of pellet users so a casual user will most likely switch as soon as something out there is better price-wise, particularly if they can also avoid the maintenance that comes with burning pellets. They don't give a rat's a** about how they keep warm or whether they are saving the environment, they simply want to stay warm as economically as possible. Why do you think there are so many pellet stoves for sale, with some killer deals if one acts quick enough. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy burning pellets and love the heat and have enjoyed meeting a few of you over the past couple of years, but we are a minority here and the supply/demand quotient for pellet use will be determined by those that have never logged onto this forum.

I don't mind paying a premium for pellet heat but not when that premium is nearly 3x the cost of oil. I know that it won't be this way forever. I'll be more than happy to replenish the pellet stash when cost is not quite so skewed in favor of oil.

 

[PinetreePellets]

All I meant is it's not exclusively saw dust from lumber production and building scraps, some people might be under the impression that it is.

Depends on the producer, but you are correct it is not always from reminence of the wood working industry.

 

[Bioburner]

We had in MN a ethanol plant that went to wood chips for power. Quit using natural gas and produced their own electricity as well. Saving major $$$
MN has a lot of poplar grown for pulp. Most pine used in lumber now is not old growth.

 

[Peterfield]

I don't know, clear cuts get farmed and replanted, thousands and thousands of acres are plotted out in like maybe 50-100 acre sections. Probably give pines 7-10 years till it's clearable again in size of tree that would fill the need ( ask David of pinetreepellets, he might know better), maybe the same for poplar. So clear a 50-100 acre section, move on to another and clear that. The first is replanted then the second etc. So in the thousands of acres you always have supply, don't have miles of barren forest. A lot of the paper companies moved off shore, some went to South America where there is less regulation and even faster growing season. So the acreage being sold off is sustainable for pellets assuming some radical individual doesn't buy it up and lock it down, close it off etc. Which has happened to some degree already. IE willing participation is important.

In New England, for every acre of trees harvested for pellets, 1.7 acres of trees are planted so for now, it's a sustainable commodity in this area.

 

[Bioburner]

In New England, for every acre of trees harvested for pellets, 1.7 acres of trees are planted so for now, it's a sustainable commodity in this area.

Most areas seem to be about the same in the US