Fighting global warming one truckload at a time

Bruce and I were cutting wood on the last day of deer season, risking getting a bullet in the back despite our orange vests and hats. Aside from the fresh air, here is a global warming balance sheet for our activity, figuring that wood is current account energy, versus fossil fuel.

The Smithers method assumes the following equivalents to one cord of average dry hardwood: 150 gallon No. 2 fuel oil, 230 gallon LP gas, 21,000 cubic feet natural gas, 6,158 kwh electricity.

A standard cord is a well-stacked pile of wood 4 feet by 4 feet by 8 feet. A cord of red oak weighs 4,886 pounds green or 3,350 pounds air dried. So a truckload (about 1/3 cord) should weigh between 1,115 and 1,640 pounds.

Then you have to figure the average efficiency of the heating appliance. Electric is 100%, a typical high efficiency furnace is 80%, a good wood stove is estimated at 50-60%.

So Bruce figures the visual is - a 55 gallon drum of fuel oil savings per truck load, or closer to 40 gallons assuming less efficient wood stove. Assuming we use about four gallons of gas for the truck and chain saws, the net energy benefit (and CO2) benefit is significant. Gasoline emits about 5-6 lbs of CO2 per gallon.

1,000 cubic feet of natural gas = 115 lbs of CO2 (http://cdiac.ornl.gov/pns/faq.html.) So one cord = 21,000 cubic feet = 1.2 tons of C02, or about 800 lb of CO2 per truckload saving.

MGE's CO2 footprint for electricity is about 2.2 lbs of CO2/kwh. So 6,158 kwh of electricity = 6.77 tons of CO2, or about 2.25 tons per truckload.