Fewer people burning wood

AUGUSTA — Fewer people are burning wood for heat, according to a State Planning Office survey of residential energy use. The survey showed that during the last heating season, a 10-year low of 31.5 percent was reached in numbers of homes using wood.

Only 6.6 percent of those using wood relied on it exclusively for heating. The average amount of wood has declined, also, from 4.9 cords during peak use to 3.9 cords.

The decline continues a 10-year trend, said SPO spokesmen. During the 1980-81 season, more than 55 percent of Maine homes used wood. The decline from more than 200,000 homes to 146,000 may be due to declining oil prices and inconvenience of wood heating.

Oil is the dominant heating fuel, supplying 70 percent of Maine homes. Wood is second with 31.5 percent; electricity, 14 percent; kerosene, 11 percent; propane, 2.5 percent; natural gas, 2 percent; coal, 1 percent; solar, 0.4 percent.

The average price per cord of wood during 1990 was $76, up from previous years and reflecting the sellers’ market after threat of war in the Middle East, according to the SPO. Prices ranged from $90 a cord for cut and split wood to $50 a cord for wood in tree length. In 1990-91 $12.6 million was spent on firewood.