Extension News: Energy Archives

Project will locate, collect, and recycle marine debris

When it's full, the dumpster will be hauled to a waste-to-energy plant, where the debris will be burned to make electricity.

The ceremony launched The NH Marine Debris-to-Energy Project. Funded by a grant from the NOAA Marine Debris Program, the project aims to:

• Better characterize the sources and distribution patterns of ocean-based debris, especially "derelict fishing gear" (DFG)--nets, lines, pots, and other fishing equipment that has been lost, abandoned, or discarded in the marine environment. DFG is an extremely dangerous form of marine debris.
• Develop protocols for undertaking a unique underwater cleanup program to identify and remove DFG and other debris.
• Continue to investigate the sources of land-based debris.
• Mitigate the problem through education and outreach.

On hand at the Seabrook kick-off ceremony were the project's primary investigators: Ken La Valley, commercial fisheries specialist with UNH Cooperative Extension Sea Grant, and Jenna Jambeck, a UNH research assistant professor of civil/environmental engineering, as well as representatives from partner organizations: Jen Kennedy, director of the nonprofit Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation, and Alan Davis, district manager for Waste Management.

In his remarks, La Valley noted that getting the help of local fishermen 'wasn't a tough sell."

New Hampshire Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter congratulated the project coordinators and Waste Management for joining forces, noting it showed a maturation of the environmental movement by demonstrating, "we can find the answers by working together."

Main project activities

• Researchers will make an initial assessment of the volume of underwater marine debris using sonar for the first time for this purpose in New Hampshire.
• Commercial and recreational fishermen will become actively involved in removing DFG at sea and collecting it in the Waste Management dumpster at the Yankee Fisherman's Co-op.
• Fishermen will have access to bins where they can discard their fishing line for recycling.
• Anyone collecting marine debris will be able to report it online via an easy Web interface.
• Cleanups along the New Hampshire coastline will expand, involving more volunteers and creating more aesthetically-pleasing, healthier and safer beaches.
• Members of the public, schools, and scientific researchers will have access to interactive marine-debris data and GIS maps.
• Teachers and their students across the world will have access to marine-debris data to use in their lessons, and local schools will be able to work directly with project investigators and partners in viewing data, participating in cleanups and contributing to the database.
• Project staff and others around the world can use the data and protocols developed in this project to target further pollution-prevention and outreach efforts.
• The quantities of debris in the ocean and on the shore, potentially harmful to wildlife, people, vessels, and the economy, will diminish.

Project timeline

Spring 2008 Develop and launch Web-based system (developed at UNH Cooperative Extension) for reporting of marine debris, install the dumpster at the cooperative, and install monofilament recycling bins at several fishing locations along the coast from Durham to Seabrook.

Summer 2008 Conduct underwater mapping, start collecting data from fishermen and cleanup volunteers through the project's Web site.

Fall 2008 Publish a best-management-practices manual, hold a public workshop about the project, and offer training for best practices for dealing with marine debris.

Throughout the project, organizers plan to conduct shoreline cleanups and conduct informational sessions for fishermen, the public, and schools in the area.

More information

NH Marine Debris to Energy Project
Get involved!




Posted April 24, 2008 | Comments (0) | TrackBack

3rd annual Grazing Conference March 8

The daylong event will feature two nationally known grazing experts: Jim Gerrish, author of Management-intensive Grazing and columnist for the Stockman-Grass Farmer, and Sarah Flack, a grazing specialist and organic farmer from Vermont.

Gerrish will deliver the keynote address on the topic of Yeah, but that will never work on my place! also lead two workshops: Stock Density-the Most Powerful Tool in the Grazier's Toolbox and Extending the Grazing Season for More Money in Your Pocket. Flack will conduct a two-part workshop on Getting Started with Managed Intensive Grazing.

The afternoon sessions will focus on marketing grass-fed products. Featured speakers include grass farmers Ridge Shinn, Matt & Beth LeClair, Jim & Adele Hayes, and Ed Jackson.

Conference sponsors: Granite State Graziers, Natural Resources Conservation Service and UNH Cooperative Extension.

Download a brochure containing full conference schedule and speaker bios.

Register for the conference online

A new way of thinking about landscaping home grounds and public spaces

New Hampshire's rapid development over the past four decades has replaced natural plant and animal communities with landscapes that often appear as an afterthought, replicating the same few plants over and over again," says Mary Tebo, UNH Cooperative Extension's community forestry educator.

"This cookie-cutter approach weakens natural communities, reduces plant and animal species diversity, degrades soils and water quality, and destroys the look and feel of the land that form our sense of place. Another result of disturbance is proliferation of invasive plants that crowd out native plants and imperil endangered species. Invasives alone cover more than 100 million acres across the nation and cost U.S. taxpayers billions."

Looking to nature for guidance

"But what if we looked to New Hampshire's natural ecosystems for guidance? By following nature's lead we can create landscapes and gardens that not only add beauty and increase property value, but that also protect soils, promote species diversity, reduce pollution, minimize energy and labor costs, recycle wastes, support the local economy, and look and feel as if they belong in New Hampshire.

"That's the approach we take in our new book, Integrated Landscaping: Following Nature's Lead," says Tebo.

"Integrated landscaping features multi-layered plant systems that grow and change over time," she says. "It proceeds holistically. Every step in integrated landscape, from initial conceptual design, to plant selection, establishment and ongoing maintenance, anticipates or loops back to connect with every other step."

Besides Tebo, the book's authors include landscape designer and permaculturist Lauren Chase-Rowell, geographer and low-impact living advocate Kate Hartnett, and professional artist and teaching naturalist Marilyn Wyzga. The idea for the book emerged after a conference where the four women got to talking about the need for information that would help landowners faced with challenging environments such as wet or droughty areas or small, tight spaces make environmentally sensitive decisions about landscaping.

A grant from the N.H. State Conservation Committee (the "moose-plate" fund) got the book project underway.

A book anybody can use: homeowners, professional landscapers, municipal planners and community developers

"We've created a book anybody can pick up and create a beautiful, multi-functional landscape, whether their space is a postage-stamp garden, a parking lot island, a municipal park, or a large backyard," Tebo says.

"We invite readers to take a fresh look at their existing landscapes by asking questions such as: How does it follow nature's lead already? Does it keep soils covered? Are there any invasive species present? Are any plant layers missing? Plants that provide food or homes for wildlife? Can an individual tree or shrub become the foundation for a multi-layered plant system?"

Lavishly illustrated, Integrated Landscaping features original photos, drawings, and sketches on almost every page to provide clear examples of the concepts presented. The book also incorporates 12 plant-system models that help landscapers and gardeners apply the concepts of layering and visualize how plants can work together in a variety of different low- and high-stress settings.

Integrated Landscaping provides extensive plant selection charts and lists, worksheets for completing a comprehensive site inventory, plus appendices that offer more information on the many topics presented.

The 162-page book costs $20, plus $4 shipping and handling for mail orders

Order online

Peek inside Integrated Landscaping: Following Nature's Lead

Rooftop planting offers a host of benefits to urban environment

A balloonist floating over Manchester City Hall's Connector Building might look down on an expanse of perennial flowering plants growing in rooftop containers and think, "How lovely!"

But "green roofs" like this GreenGrid System deliver many benefits, both to the building below and to the overall urban environment.

UNH Cooperative Extension conceived the idea for the demonstration project and began recruiting partners from the Manchester community in 2002. The essential project components--an appropriate site, city approval, and funding--finally came together last May, enabling us to us to move forward and get the roof in place.

Benefits of a green roof
Most of the rain that hits a conventional city building's roof flows off over pavement and into storm drains, carrying pollutants such as gasoline, oil, antifreeze, sand and trash.

The GreenGrid roof will absorb up to 95 percent of an average rainfall. By slowly percolating through the plants and soil of the green roof, roof runoff occurs several hours after peak flows, giving sewer systems time to handle other runoff.

The plants and soils in a green roof serve many other functions, which include:

• Reducing the energy needed to heat and cool the building below.
• Saving money by extending the life of the original roof.
• Filtering air pollutants.
• Improving air quality.
• Absorbing noise.
• Reducing the risk of flooding and overflowing sewers.
• Providing habitat for butterflies and other pollinators.

The green roof components

• Four-inch deep containers manufactured from recycled plastic.
• Lightweight growing mix.
• Perennial plants in this system--sedums and chives--which withstand extremes of temperature and precipitation, and require almost no maintenance.

• The GreenGrid System didn't require any roof construction or redesign.
• Workers placed a slip sheet on top of original roof.
• Then they lifted the pre-planted containers into place.
• Installation took two hours.

Watch a slide show of the entire process, from filling planters to final installation on roof. Show includes both text captions and audio.

The Manchester City Web site will provide updates on the green roof, including updates on temperature monitoring and pollutant absorption.

Check out our project sign, soon to go up in City Hall Plaza

Learn more
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Green Roof page
Green Roofs/Healthy Cities Network
Penn State's Center for Green Roof Research
Michigan State's Green Roof Research Program
ecogeek Cool photos!

By Mary Tebo, UNH Cooperative Extension community forestry educator and Green Roof Demonstration Project coordinator

Manchester Green Roof Project Funders

UNH Cooperative Extension in partnership with N.H. Division of Forests and Lands and USDA Forest Service
TFMoran Inc.
McLane Law Firm
Manchester Development Corporation
Lavallee Brensinger Architects Fund of the N.H. Charitable Foundation, Manchester Region
Weston Solutions, Inc.
N.H. Dept. of Environmental Services
Anonymous Fund of the N.H. Charitable Foundation
Breathe NH
SEPP - Enterprise Fund, administered by the City of Manchester Environmental Protection Division

In-kind Supporters

City of Manchester
Intown Manchester
Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce
UNH Manchester
Posted September 19, 2007 | TrackBack

Psst...want some free money? There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but there’s a lot of “free money” available to New Hampshire residents for sustainable-energy installations. New Hampshire energy utilities, the federal government, and some local governments have created these incentives to create more consumer demand for energy efficiency and renewable energy.

This article is aimed at Granite State homeowners and car owners, though incentives are also available for commercial building owners. As a residential customer you’ll need to know what activities qualify, how the programs work, and how to fill out the paperwork in order to receive these rebates, tax breaks, and other incentives.

In the end, you’ll benefit from improved energy performance at a lower cost and you’ll feel good about helping protect the environment.

The resources listed below include both New Hampshire–specific incentives and federal tax incentives that apply throughout the United States. It’s worth noting that most of the utility-based incentives are funded through the NH legislature-mandated System Benefits Charge on electric bills.

Have volatile energy prices and concern about global climate change gotten you curious about how to add more energy efficiency into your own way of life?

Read on for an invitation to the 2006 NH Green Buildings Open House from UNH Cooperative Extension Master Gardener, Laura Richardson, who co-founded the New Hampshire Sustainable Energy Association and serves as its current president. Laura also writes for NH Outside and serves on UNH Cooperative Extension’s newly formed Energy Advisory Board.

The Green Buildings Tour will introduce visitors to a wide diversity of real-world energy-efficient building strategies, including superinsulation, envelope construction, thermosiphoning air panels, and earth-sheltering, as well as passive and active solar space-and water-heating heating systems, daylighting and energy-efficient lighting appliances, alternative vehicles, solar greenhouses, food gardens, root cellars. and more.

Living Green
My life changed on a sunny fall afternoon in 1998, and I’d like to think that the 2006 NH Green Buildings Open House event on October 7 could change yours as well. Eight years ago, I toured several homes with energy-efficient and renewable energy features. I saw that energizing our lives with renewable energy isn’t that complicated; it just requires a shift in perspective and priorities. I was aware that some folks had chosen an energy-efficient lifestyle, but before experiencing a “green building,” I’d never really thought about it in the context of my life.

On that day in 1998, two New Hampshire homes changed my perception of how to live. From the standpoints of aesthetics, comfort, and practicality, these homes were lovely. Visiting them released me from conventional ideas of what a house should look like or how it should perform, and helped me understand how my own choices could change our environment for good or for bad. One choice in either direction, when multiplied by a population, can have enormous impact.

The conversation about energy and environment has been part of New Hampshire citizens’ dialogue for decades. Climate and geopolitical instability, finite fossil-fuel resources, volatile energy costs, health problems: we face a confusing and paralyzing set of quandaries. We can solve them. We need ideas and leadership and action. New Hampshire people are full of ideas, and even leadership. Action is up to the rest of us. Making change on the personal level is empowering and the ultimate results can have an impact.

Let’s face it: every day we make energy choices, learn new habits, and acquire new products. As individuals, we can make better choices in where and how and on what to invest our time and money. Why not invest wisely and responsibly, when these choices can make us even safer, more comfortable, and ultimately happier. The catch: often we don’t know what we don’t know.

Take the 2006 tour
New Hampshire is participating in the 12th annual National Solar Tour this year, with 31 homes and buildings on our local Green Buildings Open House tour. The 10 a.m-4 p.m. event is free and open to the public, no reservations required. Check the New Hampshire Green House Open House for specific information about the sites and how to get to them.

Sites on the tour show technologies like solar electricity (photovoltaics), solar hot water (solar thermal), solar hot air, small-scale wind systems, and geothermal heating/cooling systems. Some sites are connected to the utility grid, and some are independent energy producers off the grid. Many are highly efficient, with state-of-the-art insulation techniques, efficient appliances, lighting, and heating systems. Most incorporate passive solar design into an effortless, free-energy system.

Homeowners share their experiences with “green living”
Some of these places look so “normal” you would never guess their energy use costs the homeowner next to nothing. Some sites have been around for decades, others are brand new. Perhaps you are interested in just seeing these homes out of curiosity or to pick up a few pointers on efficiencies. Either way, the homeowners are ready to share their experiences. Each home is different, just as New England architecture itself has incorporated a little of everything. This event is like a smorgasbord: you can pick up ideas from each site and add them to your energy or lifestyle plate.

All of these sites are hosted by generous people who, whatever their personal motivations, are willing to share their experiences with strangers, in the hopes that others will change their thinking, their habits, and ultimately their energy footprint; that they will experience the kind of paradigm shift that I had back in 1998. The people who invited me into their homes had no idea how their openness would affect me and how one day could catalyze my future. Based on anecdotal feedback, this type of event can be pivotal for many people, an eye opener, one of those fabulous “Aha” moments. I hope it happens to you.

Living off-the-grid since 2001 in a home powered by a 2.4 kW photovoltaic system, heated with a wood-fired boiler/gasifier, in a very efficient passive solar home, I have upgraded my lifestyle and my priorities. I did it willingly and have never regretted it. I encourage you to visit sites near you or more-distant homes with technologies that intrigue you. There’s no sales pressure and no commitment needed but an open mind.

Learn more about 30 other homes in the Green Buildings Open House Learn before you go about the energy- efficient features
you’ll find at each home on the tour.

NH Sustainable Energy Association’s Consumer Guide Products, services, and information for sustainable living in the
Granite State

By Laura Richardson, UNH Cooperative Extension Master Gardener and president of the NH Sustainable Energy Association

It’s hard to imagine that the field of spectacular yellow sunflowers now blooming in a four-acre field at UNH’s Kingman farm will end up as fuel for Dorn Cox’s farm equipment and feed for his pigs, beef cattle, and chickens.

Cox, a family farmer from Lee, has joined forces with UNH Cooperative Extension and the manager and crew of UNH’s Kingman Farm to conduct some applied research into the feasibility of using locally produced sunflowers to make biodiesel to help power the region’s farms.

Biodiesel, a fuel manufactured from vegetable oils, has attracted a lot of national attention as a domestically available fuel for engines that ordinarily run on petroleum-derived diesel.

 “I wanted to grow my own sunflowers, but we have a certified organic farm and I couldn’t get organic seed this year,” says Cox, who’s already using the biodiesel he processes from waste cooking oil collected from local restaurants to power some of his farm equipment. “I approached John McLean, manager of UNH’s Woodman and Kingman Farms, to see if he might have land available.”

Cox and McLean brought the idea to Becky Grube, UNH Cooperative Extension’s sustainable horticulture specialist. Becky also found the idea intriguing, and the three embarked on a pilot project to evaluate how sunflowers perform in this area and to test the feasibility of small-scale oil pressing.

“The project will measure the yield of oil, the feed value of the meal that remains after the oil has been pressed from the sunflower seeds, and the food quality of the oil,” says Cox, who has a degree from Cornell in international agriculture.

Grube took to the idea immediately. “Because they’re in a different plant family from most of our important cash crops, sunflowers might make a good rotation crop for many New England growers,” she says. “Plus, they can be planted with equipment that many farmers already have. Dorn used his two-row corn planter to plant the four acres at Kingman Farm. Also, sunflowers have multiple uses. The oil has excellent culinary properties and the meal that remains after pressing makes a nutritious feed for cattle and other livestock.

“Several questions remain, which we hope the pilot project will help to answer,” she says. “Will harvest and pressing for oil production be cost-effective and feasible on a fairly small scale? Will sunflower yields be sufficient to make them economically viable? Will the climate permit harvest of quality seeds without pest and disease problems?”

“The project is a model of farmer-driven research and teamwork,” Grube says. “Dorn proposed the idea and used his planting equipment and labor to sow the sunflowers. I contacted Land O’Lakes/Hytest seeds, who donated seeds of five hybrid varieties likely to be adapted to this area. John and the rest of the UNH Farm crew, including students, prepared the ground and have weeded and mowed around the plots. Seth Wilner, the Extension educator who manages the USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) grants program in New Hampshire came up with a small grant for the project.

“The experiment got off to a slow start, with the heavy rains this spring delaying the first planting until mid-May,” says Grube. “The second planting was delayed to mid-June. The first two acres are in full bloom right now and harvest will likely take place in a few weeks. Losses due to birds or heavy rains are still possible, but hopefully the harvest will go off without a hitch.”
 
Grube says if the harvest is successful, the team hopes to broaden the project and evaluate the economics of sunflower oil production by other local growers.

Cox says he ordered a small oil press from China that should arrive any day. He plans to harvest his crops at the end of summer and press them in late fall. He’s also begun fabricating a mobile biodiesel processing unit that will turn out about 80 gallons per hour. With such a machine, Cox says, “A couple of weekends each summer would produce all the fuel our operation would use in a year.”

As for his experience working with the UNH farm crew and Cooperative Extension, Cox says, “They’ve been fantastic. Within a couple days of approaching John [McLean], we had a project up and running.”

by Peg Boyles, UNH Cooperative Extension Writer/Editor
Photo by Faye Cragin, WWW and Media Specialist

Does the sharp climb in heating oil prices—now above $2.20 a gallon, with no end in sight— have you dusting off that old wood stove in the corner or researching the latest wood stove technology?

If so, then you will also want to spend some time contemplating where you are going to get your firewood. As a rule of thumb, a cord of dry hardwood fuel yields about the same usable heat as 200 gallons of heating oil, a ton of hard coal, or about 4000 kilowatts of electricity. By comparing the cost of other fuels with cordwood, you can figure out the savings you’ll realize by burning wood to heat your home.

Fuelwood needs time to dry
Don’t expect to go out in the backyard when the weather turns cold to cut down a few trees to saw up and throw into the new stove. It takes time to cure and dry firewood. Burning green firewood is very inefficient, and it can be unsafe. The moisture content of green wood averages 60 percent to 80 percent by weight, depending on when it was cut.

Evaporating all that water in your stove will use as much as 15 percent of the potential heat in your firewood, so you are better off letting nature do it for you by air-drying your wood before you burn it. Burning green wood also promotes a buildup of creosote in the chimney, increasing the risk of a dangerous chimney fire.

It will take about six months to air-dry a cord of cut and split wood to 30 percent moisture content and a year or more to reach 20 percent moisture content. So if you haven’t started cutting and splitting your wood pile, you won’t catch up before cold weather arrives this fall. That means you’ll probably need to buy dry cordwood this year and plan on using any wood you cut now during the 2006-2007 heating season.

Brace for higher prices
If you haven’t bought a cord of cut-and-split firewood in a few years, you might be surprised by the prices. A quick perusal of your local weekly newspaper or “shopper” will show advertised prices exceeding $200 for a cord of dry wood.

Don’t be too quick to assume the high price of dry firewood is a reaction to the sudden surge in demand. The firewood business is labor-intensive and requires a lot of transportation. During the 1990’s, when oil was cheap and firewood profits where thin, most large firewood dealers started to automate the production of firewood through the use of firewood processors in an effort to stay competitive. These processors are designed to cut and split log-length wood (16-foot logs).

In response, many firewood dealers started to buy in log-length wood by the truckload from local loggers. This strategy worked well until demand for hardwood pulp surged two or three years ago. Suddenly, firewood dealers who were used to paying $30 to $40 a cord for log length had to pay $80 to $100 per cord for the same wood. They had to pass these costs along to their customers. Add surging prices for insurance (especially workman’s compensation) and fuel to run the equipment, and the old standard of $120 to $140 cord of firewood quickly rises to $200.

If you’re still balking at paying $200 a cord for firewood, don’t delay too long, because prices are bound to increase as winter gets closer and supplies disappear. Dry firewood has been very difficult to purchase the past couple of winters because demand exceeded supply.

Wood-buying saavy
If you’re in the market to buy three or four cords of dry wood for the winter, I suggest you look in your local newspaper or “shopper,” or ask your neighbors and friends about dealers they might know. Be sure you are buying dry wood. Ask the dealer how long the wood you plan to buy has been drying since it was cut and split. Learn the species mix of the dealer’s wood, too. The denser the wood, the longer it will take to dry. Oak, for example, may take more than a year to dry to 20 percent moisture content.

Be sure to clarify what measure of wood you are buying. By state law, a cord of wood is 128 cubic feet of air, bark, and wood. That’s a pile of wood 8 feet long by 4 feet high by 4 feet wide. A vendor may legally sell a fraction of a cord, but must represent it accurately as such (e.g., a half-cord). Remember that stacking a cord is an imperfect skill, so the cord will vary in slightly in size every time it is stacked.

Receiving and storing firewood
It’s a good idea to meet the delivery truck before the load is dumped to make sure you are satisfied by the mixture of species and cleanliness, and to tell the driver where you want the wood dumped. Most firewood dealers don’t want to return to your house to reload their truck.

Unless you’ve arranged otherwise, it’s up to you to restack the pile. Stack it outside in a well ventilated area off the ground (used pallets make a good platform if you don’t have a woodshed). Don’t cover your stacked wood until about a month or so before you begin to use it, to encourage natural air circulation to drive the moisture from the wood.

Even if you’re buying your firewood, the work of stacking it, loading your stove all winter, and removing the ashes will enable you to understand the old adage “wood warms you twice.”

By Tim Fleury, MerrimackCountyForest Resources Educator

For more information:

• Estimating Firewood from Standing Trees Describes a simple technique for woodlot owners who cut firewood on their own land.
• Fuel Value Calculator Compares the cost of different home heating fuels.
• Guide to N.H. Timber Harvesting Laws - Important to know the laws, if you are going to cut your own trees.
• NH Arborists Association - This site contains a list of certified N.H. Arborists, professionals who remove unwanted or hazard yard trees and may have fuelwood for sale.
• Safe Timber Harvesting - Read this if you plan to cut your own trees.
• The Warmth of Wood More on the benefits of burning native wood.
• Where Does Firewood Come From? Learn more about New Hampshire’s commercial firewood suppliers.
• Woodburning Saavy Please download our fact sheet to review or improve your knowledge of how to burn wood safely in your home.

Splitting and stacking firewood in the 80-degree heat of a steamy July afternoon, I got to thinking about the old-time saying, “Wood warms you twice.” As someone who’s burned wood, and only wood, to heat my home for 36 years, I came up with a long list of ways wood warms me and my family—and we don’t even fell the trees or clean our own chimney:

• Sawing the load of 16-foot logs into 16-inch rounds.
• Splitting rounds into two, four, or sometimes six or eight pieces so they dry faster.
• Stacking the split wood in the woodshed
• Hauling armloads of wood from the shed into the house during heating season.
• Loading the stoves and basking in their radiant warmth. Ahh!
• Preheating the water we use for bathing and dishwashing.
• Warming our bellies with winter soups, stews and sauces simmered on the stovetop.
• Cleaning out the ash pans and hauling buckets of ashes into the cellar for storage in steel garbage cans.
• Spreading the accumulated ashes on our lawns and gardens in the spring.

By any standard, our household firewood operation qualifies as primitive and labor-intensive. We have a new Husqvarna 350 chainsaw and tools to maintain it, two 8-lb. splitting mauls (just in case the motivation strikes two parties simultaneously), four wedges, a lightweight axe for splitting kindling and a cheap plastic wheelbarrow for moving split wood across the driveway to the woodshed. We accomplish the rest of the work with what my dad always called the “Armstrong model.”

Firewood economics

Living in a state that’s 84 percent forested, I’ve always assumed it makes economic sense to burn wood for heat, even in those years when I bought my wood cut, split, dried, and delivered. With the price of propane and home heating oil expected to jump $300-$500 for the average New Hampshire household this winter, a lot of Granite Staters may have thought about turning or returning to native wood to heat their homes.

But poor conditions for logging in the spring and strong pulpwood market competing for the same material have also driven up the price of firewood this year. Here in central New Hampshire, prices range from $180 to $200 a cord for split, seasoned firewood—up from about $140-$160 last year.

Since we bought our load of green logs for roughly $60 a cord, even after amortizing the cost of the chainsaw and adding what we’ll pay for the fuel and parts, we’ll still come out way ahead. I’ve seen charts that indicate woodburning households could pay between $170 and $225 a cord and still beat the price of heating oil at its current average of $1.49 per gallon.

Wood supports a way of life

Wood does more than keep me warm, though. It supports my values and my way of life. Wood heat dries the laundry we hang on wooden racks around the stove in winter, simultaneously humidifying the dry indoor air. It provides my family with a concrete form of homeland security, keeping us warm and able to heat water from the gravity-feed well when the power goes off. Wood ashes neutralize the acid soil in my big vegetable garden and add important minerals my veggies need for optimum health.

In a nation where obesity has reached epidemic levels and threatens to overtake smoking as the #1 public health concern, working up my winter wood supply certainly helps me keep my weight in check. The experts say a person my weight burns between 325 and 500 calories an hour doing various wood-working activities. This weekend, I spent more than 12 hours lifting, splitting, hauling and stacking wood—the exercise equivalent of walking or running about 55 miles. Not bad!

Burning wood supports the N.H. economy

Joe Broyles, energy program manager at the N.H. Office of Energy and Planning estimates that two-thirds of the nearly $2 billion New Hampshire consumers spend on energy products leaves the state. But the money I spend to buy my firewood stays right here in New Hampshire. The firewood business represents a significant and essential component of New Hampshire’s forest industries, which collectively provide jobs for 10,000 to 15,000 New Hampshire residents and pump $1.7 billion directly into our state’s economy.

Burning wood takes savvy: learn how

Even if you don’t cut down your own trees or learn to use a chainsaw and splitting maul, home woodburning does require savvy. You need to learn to evaluate the quality and energy value of the wood you buy. You need to learn how to season and store your wood, install and maintain your heating equipment for safe operation, burn wood safely, maintain your chimney and handle your ashes.

A couple of tips about selecting and buying firewood: “It’s worth building a long term relationship with your wood supplier,” says Sarah Smith, UNH Extension forest industry specialist. “That’s the best way to ensure your producer is selling you a good cord and a good mixture.”

UNH Extension forester Nory Parr adds, “Everybody talks about wanting only oak and ash—the premier hardwoods—but people should remember that all wood burns. Burn only junk wood from trees that don’t have a higher value as sawlogs or veneer logs and you’ll be leaving the forest in better shape.”

Consult these sources to increase your savvy about heating your home with wood

• Buying Firewood: Know What You’re Getting - Here we offer brief guide to buying firewood.
• Wood Heating Savvy - This fact sheet covers the basics of wood heating safety.
• Safe Timber Harvesting  - Read this if you plan to cut your own trees.
• N.H. Association of Arborists - This site contains a list of certified N.H. Arborists, professionals who remove unwanted or hazard yard trees and may have fuelwood for sale.
• Guide to N.H. Timber Harvesting Laws

by Peg Boyles, UNH Cooperative Extension Writer/Editor

The 20 percent challenge
What’s the potential for energy savings in New Hampshire's homes? I believe most homes can reduce their overall energy consumption by an average of at least 20 percent. By my calculations, that could deliver a collective economic benefit of more than $200 million in annual savings for New Hampshire residents.

Such huge savings may sound like pie-in-the-sky, but credible studies by Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy show that we can make our homes much more energy efficient.

Here’s a brief outline of ways that owners of existing homes can reduce their fuel bills. (See below if you rent your home or have plans to build a new one.)

If you have $100 or less to spend
Tackle the little stuff that adds up. There are plenty of free ways to save energy, from turning down your water heater temperature to cleaning your refrigerator's condensing coils. No-cost and low-cost tips can be found at Cornell University Cooperative Extension and at U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star Web sites.

Keep in mind that some energy-saving ideas can have unintended and unwelcome consequences. For example, redirecting clothes dryer vents inside may make your house warmer, but the extra moisture could cause hidden condensation in your walls and attic. Even worse: the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning if the dryer uses natural gas or propane.

The following low-cost ideas will typically pay you back in energy savings in less than a year - a one-year payback equals a 100 percent return on your investment!

• Changing the five most frequently used light bulbs with Energy Star-rated compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) can cut a typical household's electricity bill by $60 per year. With instant rebates at New Hampshire retailers or through the NHSaves catalog, the total bill for five CFLs now comes to less than $20. (This link for PSNH customer is also applicable for Unitil, GraniteState Electric, and NH Electric Cooperative residential customers in NH). In many homes, CFLs can replace a dozen or more light bulbs in light fixtures and table lamps.

• A family of four can save more than $100 per year in fuel and water bills by installing “low-flow” devices. Some low-flow devices do a better job than others at providing a vigorous flow while using less water. Look for “laminar spray” faucet aerators rated at 0.5 or 1.0 gallons per minute (gpm), and showerheads around 1.5 or 1.75 gpm. There are also 1.5 gpm kitchen aerators available. Specialty retailers such as the NHSaves catalog or Niagara Conservation Products typically offer the better-engineered low-flow devices.

• Insulate all accessible hot water pipes. This recommendation is doubly true for houses with hot water or steam heating systems. Self-sealing plastic foam pipe insulation is inexpensive and easy to install. Look for the thickest insulation you can get - a one-inch-thick foam wall is preferable, but hard to find.

• Sealing air leaks in a house is one of the most cost-effective energy improvements, but the challenge is knowing what to do. Caulking and small canisters of spray foam are inexpensive, and the Energy Star Web site has an excellent 22-page DIY Guide to Air Sealing (Warning, large 1.8 MB file).

If you have $500 to spend
At this level, invest in even more air sealing. A blower door - a powerful fan in a snug frame that fits in an outside door and measures air leakage in cubic feet per minute to determine precisely how leaky a house is—is the single most important energy diagnostic tool. It’s possible to get a professional blower door test for $300 or less.

Beyond its diagnostic functions, the blower door shows where to focus air sealing efforts. Blocking where cold air is entering and warm air is escaping is a key component to making homes energy efficient. Often air leaks are in out-of-the-way locations, such as the top of basement foundations, around kitchen cabinets, near kitchen and bath plumbing, around bath fans, through recessed can light fixtures, around chimneys, near wiring penetrations, at attic-wall junctions, and around hatches.

Another helpful air sealing guide is the Iowa Energy Center's Home Tightening and Insulation (large file - 1.6 MB).

Programmable thermostats, available for less than $100, will automatically turn down the temperature setting during sleeping and working hours. They can be relatively easy to install and most systems are low-voltage. However, if you have baseboard electric heat, hire a licensed electrician to handle the 220-volt wiring. Most programmable thermostats allow different settings for weekdays versus weekends, and some allow different settings for every day of the week.

Spending $2,000 or more
A $2,000 package of home energy efficiency investments may generate $400 in annual energy savings, an annual return of 20 percent.

At this level it makes sense to hire an energy professional to conduct an assessment and provide advice. These assessments range in cost from about $200 to $600, depending on the size of the home and the amount of services requested.

Before hiring an energy professional, ask about their field experience, the training and certifications they have (such as Home Energy Rater), and the specialized tools they use: blower-door, possibly an infrared camera, combustion testing equipment, energy modeling computer programs, etc. Ask for references from homeowner clients and follow up on them.

A professional home energy assessment should always include a blower door test (see above).“Seal tight and ventilate right,” is the adage of home energy professionals. It answers the common question, “Will my indoor air quality suffer if my house becomes too airtight?” While theoretically possible, most New Hampshire homes have the opposite problem - they are much too leaky. Even very tight homes can be fitted with cost-effective fresh air ventilation systems. In many cases, the solution is as simple as installing high quality bathroom fans vented directly to the outside. Controlled ventilation wastes much less energy than uncontrolled air leakage.

Consider adding insulation to your attic, generally the most cost-effective area to add insulation to a home. Even if your attic is insulated, don’t assume you have enough. The U.S. Department of Energy recommends R-49 (R-value ) worth of insulation in New Hampshire attics.

The two most popular insulating materials are fiberglass batts and blown cellulose insulation made from recycled newsprint. Studies have shown that cellulose insulation does a better job of keeping cold air from migrating through the insulation than fiberglass batts, but fiberglass is easier for do-it-yourself installations.

All homes should have an effective, properly installed vapor barrier above the ceiling to block the movement of moisture-laden air into the attic. Ask an energy professional whether this could be an issue for your home.

There are plenty of additional energy improvements you might consider for your home, including, in rough order of cost-effectiveness:

•  Duct sealing and insulation for forced hot air heating systems
•  Kneewall air sealing and insulation in Cape-style homes
•  Energy Star Replacement refrigerator (if >12 years old)
•  Wall insulation
•  Solar hot water system
•  Basement insulation
•  Replacement windows and doors (often not very cost-effective)
•  Photovoltaic solar electricity system

Pay attention to your heating system
Natural gas, oil, propane, and even wood-fired heaters need to be cleaned and adjusted regularly to operate safely at the greatest efficiency. Choose a reputable heating contractor who will conduct combustion tests and maintain your heater regularly.

However, a completely new heater may not warrant the expense. Evaluate your heating system's overall efficiency by multiplying its total combustion efficiency (conversion of fuel energy into heat energy) times its distribution efficiency (delivery of heat energy). The Iowa Energy Center (large file) and Energy Star (large file - 2.0 MB) both have good guides to home heating and cooling.

Renters and future homebuilders
Renters may convince the building owner to invest in energy performance. Let them know about the Appraisal Journal study showing that a home's resale value increases $20 for every $1 annual reduction in energy costs. Future homeowners of new-construction homes have plenty of opportunities to build a high performance home, including Energy Star Homes and LEED for Homes programs.

Although understanding the complex energy systems in our homes and taking steps to improve their efficiency can feel daunting, the rewards for doing so go beyond saving money. Home efficiency improvements lessen the demand for imported fossil fuels, conserve resources, reduce air pollution, keep dollars in the local economy, and increase home comfort. What a bargain!

By Andy Duncan
Duncan, a UNH Cooperative Extension Community Tree Steward, member of the Merrimack County Extension Advisory Council, and former environmental science professor, currently works for a building energy performance company.

• Energy Star
  Provides information about the federal government's Energy Star program. Includes an extensive section on saving energy through home improvement.
  
  
• Home Energy Checklist: Reduce Your Energy Costs
  Practical, seasoned advice on reducing the fuel costs, with helpful myths-versus-facts sections.
  
  
• Home Resource Efficiency - Rocky Mountain Institute
  Practical and holistic advice to reduce energy and other resource use by the preeminent gurus of resource efficiency.
  
  
• NHSaves
  NHSaves is the joint program by New Hampshire's electric utilities to manage energy efficiency programs funded through the System Benefits Charge found on every electric bill. Numerous efficiency programs, from Energy Star Homes to the commercial lighting replacement program are available.
  
  
• A Consumer Guide to Buying Energy Efficient Products for the Home - Consumer Federation of America
  Provides helpful information on purchasing energy efficient heating systems, appliances, and other household items.
  
  
• Home Energy Saver - Lawrence Berkely Lab
  This project by the federal Lawrence Berkely national laboratory includes an online energy audit tool plus extensive resources on turning energy improvement recommendations into reality.
  
  
• Energy Cost Calculator
  An Excel spreadsheet that provides a simple comparison of the relative costs of different heating fuels.
  
  
• America's Low “Energy IQ:” A Risk to our Energy Future
  Subtitled “Why America Needs a Refresher Course on Energy,” based on polling conducted by Roper.