Recently released U.S. Census figures show the number of households heating with wood grew 34 percent between 2000 and 2010, faster than any other heating fuel. Electricity showed the second fastest growth, with a 24 percent increase over the past decade.

In two states, households using wood as a primary heat source more than doubled—Michigan (135 percent) and Connecticut (122 percent). And in six other states, wood heating grew by more than 90 percent—New Hampshire (99 percent), Massachusetts (99 percent), Maine (96 percent), Rhode Island (96 percent), Ohio (95 percent) and Nevada (91 percent).

Census data also shows that low- and middle-income households are much more likely to use wood as a primary heating fuel, making low- and middle-income families growth leaders of the residential renewable energy movement. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, residential wood heat accounts for 80 percent of residential renewable energy, solar 15 percent and geothermal 5 percent.

“Heating with wood may not be hip like solar, but it’s proving to be the workhorse of residential renewable energy production,” said John Ackerly, president of the Alliance for Green Heat, a nonprofit organization based in Maryland.

The rise of wood and wood pellets in home heating is driven by the climbing cost of oil, the economic downturn and the movement to use renewable energy. The Census Bureau does not track the reason people switch fuels but in states like Maine and New Hampshire where rising oil prices are squeezing household budgets, it is clear that many families simply feel the need to cut heating costs.

“The rise of wood heat is good news for offsetting fossil fuels, achieving energy independence, creating jobs and helping families affordably heat their homes,” Ackerly said. “However, wood heat’s rapid rise is not just from people using clean pellet and EPA certified wood stoves. Many people are also dusting off old and inefficient stoves and in some states installing outdoor boilers that create too much smoke.”

Over the past decade, the number of households using two of the most expensive heating fuels significantly declined: propane dropped 16 percent and oil heat dropped 21 percent. Some of those homes undoubtedly switched to wood. Switching from fossil fuels to commercially purchased wood heat can reduce a home’s heating bills by half or more. Those who cut or collect their own wood save much more, using their labor to zero out heating bills.

Currently about 25 percent to 30 percent of the 12 million stoves in the U.S. are clean burning pellet stoves or EPA certified wood stoves, according to the EPA and other sources. Americans have installed about 1 million pellet stoves since the 1980s when they were invented.

Wood now ranks third in the most common heating fuels after gas and electricity for both primary and secondary heating fuel use, but ranks fifth, after oil and propane as well, when only primary heat fuel is considered. As of 2010, 2.1 percent of American homes, or about 2.40 million households, use wood as a primary heat source, up from 1.6 percent in 2000. About 10 percent to 12 percent of American households use wood when secondary heating is counted, according to the Census Bureau and the EIA.

The rapid rise in wood heat as a primary heating fuel is mainly a rural phenomenon, and to a lesser extent a suburban trend. According to the U.S. census, 57 percent of households who primarily heat with wood live in rural areas, 40 percent in suburban areas and only 3 percent in urban areas.

Replacing an old chimney can be time consuming and costly, especially when, more often than not, placing a chimney liner inside your burnt up bricks is more than enough to revitalize any old chimney. We offer a choice selection of chimney liners here at Copperfield Chimney Supply Distribution, as well as all the information you will need to install your new liner. We also offer live online support and a call care center to answer any questions you may have.

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We here at Copperfield Chimney Supply Distribution are concerned for your safety. Old brick chimneys hide dangerous carbon buildups, which can cause dangerous chimney fires. We recommend that all chimneys, new and old, be fitted with appropriate chimney liners to make cleaning easy and effortless. Come visit us at www.woodstoves-fireplaces.com today and see what we have to offer.

Now that all the leaves are changing colors and winter is nipping at our doorsteps many people are turning on the heaters. To save money in the winter many people have turned to wood-burning stoves or burning in their fireplaces to help cut costs. There are many things to consider when choosing firewood such as safety and the amount of heat desired. More

A fireplace is the centerpiece of any room and home. It provides a place for family and friends to gather to tell stories, catch up, and warm up on cold nights. When you are looking to have a fireplace installed into your home, you want something that is not only aesthetically pleasing but built to industry standards for safety and reliability. Whether you are interested in wood burning fireplaces, gas, or electric fireplaces, choose Napoleon fireplaces.

Napoleon has over 30 years of experience manufacturing fireplaces, inserts, as well as stoves that are not only efficient and up to the industry standard, but are also beautiful. Installing Napoleon fireplaces into your home will give any room a beautiful focal point that will draw the whole family in. Copperfield Chimney Supply is a proud distributor of Napoleon fireplaces and other hearth products.

More than 2,000 children ages 5 and younger suffered burn injuries from gas fireplaces from 1999 through March 2009, according to research conducted by Carol Pollack-Nelson, Ph.D., an independent safety consultant.

The problem: the glass front on gas fireplaces gets blistering hot. Hot enough, according to Dr. Pollack-Nelson, to cause severe burns. Curiosity about fire leaves children particularly vulnerable.

Industry standards for gas fireplaces allow the temperature of the ceramic glass to reach as high as 1,328°F. Tempered and annealed glass is allowed to reach 500°F and 446°F, respectively.

Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, and Consumer Federation of America submitted a letter to the Consumer Product Safety Commission this week supporting a petition for a mandatory safety standard for gas fireplaces. The petition requests that CPSC “develop a mandatory standard for gas fireplaces that requires an integral protective barrier, guard or other device for any accessible surface (e.g., glass fronts) that, if contacted is hot enough to cause severe burns.”

In addition, the groups urged the Commission to include in its standard the following elements:

• A performance requirement for this barrier/screen; the temperature of the barrier/screen should not exceed the temperature at which it could cause serious contact burns when used according to manufacturer instructions.

• The barrier/screen should be installed as part of the unit and not as a separately available piece that has to be purchased apart from the gas vented fireplace. Once the unit installation is completed by a professional, the fireplace barrier/screen should be in place.

We hope that manufacturers and the CPSC take action quickly to help reduce these horrific burn injuries.