Wood and Energy in Maine

Telephone surveys of Maine households conducted in 1979 and 1980 indicate a transition to wood heating in response to a series of conventional energy price increases and uncertainty in conventional energy supplies. Maine households consumed 575,000 cords of wood in the winter of 1978-79; 731,000 cords were burnt during the next winter. The airtight wood stove has become the most commonly used wood-burning apparatus. Survey data of residential wood cutting, purchasing, and burning were analyzed by household tenure, wood-burning apparatus, and county. Residential use of wood for energy constitutes a new demand on the forest resource, increases local income and employment, displaces fuel oil and electricity, and may compromise household safety.