Oil

Save 67% by Burning Woodchips

Running a 200,000 Btu/hr boiler for a heating season (about 1,800 hours per year) with an oil cost of $.95/litre will end up costing you $10,982.

For the same amount of heat you’d need 30 metric tonnes (120 m³) of woodchips at $120/tonne ($30/m³) or $3600/year.

That’s a saving of $7,382/year or 67%.

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Calculations are based on an 85% efficient oil furnace and 93% efficient woodchip boiler.

Propane

Save 70% by Burning Woodchips

Running a 200,000 Btu/hr boiler for a heating season (about 1,800 hours per year) with a propane cost of $0.75/litre will end up costing you $12,119.

For the same amount of heat you’d need 30 metric tonnes (120 m³) of woodchips at $120/tonne ($30/m³) or $3,600/year.

That’s a saving of $8,519/year or 70%.

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Calculations are based on an 92% efficient propane furnace and 93% efficient woodchip boiler.

Purchased Wood

Save 49% by Burning Woodchips

Burning 26 bush cord of dry hardwood a year at a cost of $270/cord gives an annual fuel cost of $7,121.

For the same amount of heat you’d need 30 metric tonnes (120 m³) of woodchips at $120 metric/tonne ($30/m³) or $3,600/year.

That’s a saving of $3,521/year or 49%.

Plus Save Time & Labour

You’ll also save about 100 hours per year by not having to stack the wood, fill the boiler every day, clean out the ashes, or do all the other maintenance most wood boilers need in order to be efficient.

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Calculations are based on a 65% efficient cordwood boiler and 21,000,000 BTUs per cord.  Woodchip boiler efficiency of 93%.

Own Wood

Make a Profit by Burning Woodchips

If you were to sell the 26 bush cord of wood that you normally burn each year for $270/cord you’d make $7,020.

It would then take you about 20 hours to chip enough of the left over branches to cover your heating for the year.

That extra 20 hours of work has made you a profit of $7,020.

Plus Save Time & Labour

You’ll also save about 100 hours per year by not having to stack the wood, fill the boiler multiple times per day, clean out the ashes, and do all the other maintenance most wood boilers need in order to be efficient.

Wood Pellets

Save 48% by Burning Woodchips

While our woodchip boilers will burn pellets more efficiently than other systems, the processing cost of pellets makes it hard for them to compete with wood chips as a fuel.

If you burnt 26 tonnes of pellets a year at a cost of $275/tonne, that would be a fuel cost of $6,875/year.

For the same amount of heat you’d need 30 metric tonnes (120 m³) of woodchips at $120/tonne ($30/m³) or $3,600/year.

That’s a saving of $3,275/year or 48%.

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Calculations are based on an 90% efficient pellet boiler and 93% efficient woodchip boiler.

Subsidised Natural Gas

0 Carbon Footprint – same cost with Woodchips

The significant subsidies provided on natural gas in many regions significantly reduce the real cost and makes it similar in cost to woodchips. The savings here are all for the environment.  Burning with woodchips has a 0 Carbon Footprint.

Running a 200,000 Btu/hr boiler for a heating season (about 1,800 hours per year) with a subsidized natural gas cost of $0.32/litre will end up costing you $3,523.

For the same amount of heat you’d need 30 metric tonnes (120 m³) of woodchips at $120/tonne ($30/m³) or $3,600/year.

That’s a cost of $77/year for burning woodchips with a 0 Carbon Footprint.

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Calculations are based on a 58.6 kW (200,000 btu/hr) boiler, operating 1,800 heating hours per year, burning 11,009 litres of natural gas at 92% efficiency. Woodchip boiler efficiency of 93%.