Buying firewood remains expensive – prices well above last year
Firewood costs significantly more than last year. While the prices for lumber have just crashed, the prices for firewood remain very high.
Currently hardwood firewood costs around 30% more than before Year. With the actually less popular Coniferous firewood prices are even 45% higher than a year ago . At least that’s what the firewood prices recorded by the Federal Statistical Office show June.
The Technology and Support Center (TFZ) in Straubing has determined prices of 152 euros per cubic meter for one cubic meter of dry beech wood for the month of July, which is roughly the same high level as at the beginning of this year.
At Direct purchase from the local forest was the price increase lower and the prices lower, says the Industrial Association for Home, Heating and Kitchen Technology (HKI) based on a survey of the forestry authorities.
The Price for one cubic meter of firewood from the forestry department varies according to the surveys of the HKI between 35 and 58 euros. Here, forest officials assign marked logs on the forest path, so-called “polters”, to the person collecting them themselves.
The nationwide Average price for the cubic meter at the pile is then 48 euros and, despite high demand, is “only” 20 percent higher than in previous years.
This means that the Price for firewood when purchased directly from the forest rose less sharply , as if wood stove and fireplace owners buy the goods from the wood dealer, the data from the Federal Statistical Office and the TFZ show.
The HKI surveyed 30 state forestry offices nationwide to determine its prices. Overall, however, it is decidedly for the consumer difficult to compare the individual wood offers on the market. This starts with the different units of measurement and ends with the different delivery and processing conditions.
Most recently, the In any case, prices for logs remain stable at a very high level ( see grafic).
Fuel costs for wood, heating oil, pellets and wood chips
The specific fuel costs of the most important fuels – including wood – are With 9.9 ct/kWh for logs, 8.6 ct/kWh for pellets and 9.4 ct/kWh for heating oil, they are currently very close to each other, says the TFZ. Then are wood chips with 3.4 ct/kWh (35% water content) or 4.8 ct/kWh (20% water content) remains significantly more cost-effective than all other fuels considered.
The HKI has at its Price survey also takes another important aspect into account – namely the quality. “Due to the increasing demands from environmental associations and politicians that Wood not for heat generation, but should only be used for the production of timber and furniture, this year we also asked about the quality for the first time,” says Frank Kienle, Managing Director of the HKI.
“We got a clear answer throughout: Firewood is generally not sawable wood.”
Observe residual moisture and calorific value
The 3 cubic meters of dry hardwood according to the HKI has approximately the calorific value of 200 liters of heating oil.
In order for wood to burn in an environmentally friendly manner, the so-called residual moisture should not be more than 20 percent. With fresh logs, the high water content leads to incomplete combustion, heavy smoke and high emissions.
Only after adequate storage in a well-ventilated and dry place place, wood reaches the optimal residual moisture and can be used as fuel. This can be checked with a moisture meter available at a hardware store. Chimney sweeps and firewood dealers also provide advice on this topic.
source: https://www.agrarheute.com/energie/holz/brennholz-kaufen-bleibt-teuer-preise-weit-ueber-vorjahr-610246
source: https://www.agrarheute.com/energie/holz/brennholz-kaufen-bleibt-teuer-preise-weit-ueber-vorjahr-610246
