State rebates boost regional adoption.

As states across the region look to decarbonize the thermal sector, decision-makers are looking at how modern wood heat stacks up to traditional and other renewable heating sources from an emissions perspective. Since the inception of its Feel Good Heat campaign, the Center has used the power of data and storytelling to highlight the environmental and economic benefits that modern wood heat provides to the Northern Forest and beyond.

The Center recently helped persuade a Maine agency to continue providing rebates to consumers who install wood pellet boilers.

Wood Heat in Policy Discourse

While single-room wood stoves are an accessible and familiar heating technology, whole-home automated wood pellet boilers and furnaces remain unfamiliar to many homeowners and carry a higher upfront cost. As with many other renewables, federal tax credits and state rebates are key tools to lower these costs and accelerate adoption.

Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont each have a rebate program for wood pellet boilers. New Hampshire Department of Energy rebates cover 40% of the purchase and installation of eligible wood pellet boilers and furnaces, up to $10,000. This has remained the highest value rebate of the three states. The Center and other groups have continually worked to preserve wood heat in the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard as a renewable energy tool that delivers cost-savings and climate benefits and supports the forest economy.

Efficiency Vermont rebates cover up to $6,000 for the purchase and installation of wood pellet boilers and furnaces. However, it is unclear whether this program will shift as a result of the passage of the state’s Affordable Heat Act. The Affordable Heat Act would incentivize cleaner heat options like heat pumps and automated wood heat primarily for low- to moderate-income households. The Vermont Public Utility Commission is currently tasked with developing a set of recommendations due to the Vermont General Assembly in January 2025. The 2025 Legislature will then have to vote again to pass the legislation before the Affordable Heat Act can take effect.

Efficiency Maine covers one-third of project costs, up to $6,000 for eligible wood boilers and furnaces. However, the program recently came under threat of being cut.

Efficiency Maine Reverses Course on Ending Rebates

Within Efficiency Maine’s draft Triennial Plan VI, the Board of Directors recommended removing its residential rebate program, citing the cost of wood pellet boilers and furnaces and their gross emissions. To date it is estimated that 700 homeowners have benefitted from this rebate, cumulatively saving them $3-4 million.

Alongside other partners, the Center prepared comments to the Board highlighting the life cycle emissions benefits and cost savings that modern wood heat provides from cradle to grave.

  • When accounting for all greenhouse gas emissions from sourcing, processing, and transporting, high-efficiency modern wood heat systems reduce emissions by 54% compared to oil and 59% to natural gas upon installation, according to an independent, peer-reviewed analysis.
  • For customers looking to shift away from fossil fuels, modern wood heat is both cost-effective and stable. While the upfront cost of wood pellet boilers and furnaces is more expensive than air-source heat pumps, the system lasts three times as long – 30 years compared to 10 years – and the fuel itself costs less on a BTU basis than all other heat sources except for natural gas. In 2023, wood pellets in Maine were 68% cheaper than the average cost of electricity as well as 17% and 32% cheaper than the average cost of fuel oil and propane, respectively.

“In my remarks to Efficiency Maine, I referred to Northern Forest Center’s recent webinar on ‘Wood Heat’s Environmental Benefits’ including ‘the intricacies of carbon accounting’,” said Bill Bell, executive director of Maine Pellet Fuels Association. “The Board really liked this ‘intricacies’ phrase, and Board Chair Glenn Poole used it in recommending that the proposed termination of the biomass boiler resident program be withdrawn.”