WORCESTER — The region just emerged from a brutal winter, which ended with the coldest March in 120 years.
As the price of heating oil and propane rose, there was also a mad dash for wood pellets — compressed sawdust and other wood materials — the fuel for an increasing number of families who are using wood-burning and pellet stoves and boilers to heat their homes.
"No one I know was prepared for this winter," said Krystal Lunsford, of Worcester. "Everybody ran out (of pellets)."
A growing number of Massachusetts households like the Lunsfords' have been turning away from oil and propane to using wood-burning stoves that pump air throughout the house.
The residential biomass heating market in the U.S. grew by 34 percent from 2000 to 2010, according a recent report by the Biomass Thermal Energy Council. Oil dependent markets like Massachusetts anticipate 20 percent residential and commercial growth through 2020, the council wrote.
Still, fewer than two percent of Massachusetts homes were heated with wood or pellets in 2013, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. For all of New England, where large swaths of the northern portion have less access to natural gas, that percentage moves up to 4 percent.
The regional shortage of wood pellets demonstrates how the industry has grown, said Joe Seymore, executive director of the Washington-based biomass council.
"This winter was definitely an aberration but it demonstrated demand," he said, adding that secondary retailers, like hardware stores, were caught off guard and did not have enough in stock for the region.
In Barre, Higgins Energy Alternatives Inc. owner Ron Higgins said that starting in February, as soon as a truck of pellets arrived, "poof," gone in an instant.
"Especially after this winter, where it might have been $1,000 to fill the (oil) tank, people are saying I don't just want to keep doing this," he said.
Several weeks ago, the store received an "ultra-efficient, ultra-low-emission" stove from Ireland. While he hasn't sold one yet, Mr. Higgins is optimistic that such technologies will become more popular.
The state of Massachusetts is promoting wood and wood pellet stoves as a heat source powered by renewable, New England-based fuel.
"Over the last five years a substantial new technology has come into the market," said Dwayne Breger, the state Department of Energy Resources' director of renewable energy.
The technology "brings it to a whole new level in terms of technology and cleanliness," he said. "Massachusetts, being one of the only states in the country still dependent on fuel oil in heating, we're looking for opportunities for renewable thermal, and biomass specifically."
He said the state has been looking into tax incentives and other policy moves to encourage growth in residential biomass heating.
A study released early this year by the state found that at the current rate of growth and without government subsidies, the industry won't "achieve significant market penetration until well after 2020."
The largest barrier to entry from the state and from the industry's perspective is the high initial cost of installing the technology.
Mr. Breger said the state is considering something "similar to a heat-loan program for low or no- interest loans."
In Worcester County, the state has worked with the Worcester Community Action Council to award $150,000 to help install wood pellet stoves in 30 low-income homes.
"We do see that biomass done right does offers seemingly very good economic benefits to the commonwealth," Mr. Breger said. "We'll be buying fuels from our neighbors who are doing good forest management and collecting waste biomass, etc. and producing pellets ... it seems like a (good) opportunity to bring our heating needs much more to a local level."
Conversely, Mr. Seymore said, about 80 percent of money spent on heating oil is leaving the region.
"Massachusetts is one of the biomass boom states for residential heating," he said.
Currently residential customers purchase wood pellets by the ton, which usually arrive in the form of 40-pound plastic bags, similar to mulch.
Yet as the market, and demand, advances, that process will look more like a propane or heating oil delivery: A truck hooks up to a storage unit and dumps the pellets in directly, which then feed automatically into the system.
Most Massachusetts households today store pellet bags near the stove and manually add the pellets to the unit. During the coldest winter days, adding pellets may be required daily.
It becomes a part of a normal routine, and is worth the savings, Ms. Lunsford said.
"In the pursuit of saving money and being a little bit green, we all do things that are a little more time consuming, and this is the one we chose," said Ms. Lunsford.
She and her husband, Doug, installed a wood pellet stove in their Amherst Street home in 2008, replacing what had been an oil-fired system. They estimate they recovered their initial $5,000 investment by saving between $1,500 and $2,000 per year on heating their home. That savings includes the $250 or so they spend to maintain their pellet stove each year.
"Everyone who comes to our house says they're getting one," she said. "These old homes, they're not exactly insulated very well, but you walk into our house it's actually warm."
"It's the charm of having a fireplace" but it heats the entire house after about 20 to 30 minutes of being turned on, she said.
Ms. Lunsford, originally from North Carolina, said one downside is that the stove, which pumps hot air throughout the house, results in a drier home.
"The idea of forced air isn't new to us," she said. "We're used to central air," and it's nothing some extra lotion and a humidifier couldn't fix.
While pellet stoves have a long shelf life, Ms. Lunsford said that if hers broke down, they would not hesitate to purchase a new one — especially now that the technology has improved since they made the purchase.
"There are some that are absolutely gorgeous," she said. While their stove has a remote control, which can alter the temperature from anywhere in the home, new models are more automated.
Some stoves compact the ash so that the tray only needs to be emptied a couple of times a year, and will even notify the owner via text message or email when it is time to do so.
"A lot of people associate wood heating with poor air quality and smoke," said Mr. Seymore.
Yet unlike a wood fire built in a hearth 40 years ago, these systems have been built to capture the harmful emissions, which can include carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, fine particles and other chemicals. Despite all that, the technology falls under the jurisdiction the Environmental Protection Agency, which in January announced a proposal to further tighten requirements.
There is also the matter of emptying an ash bin, though Mr. Seymore is quick to point out that the ash can be used as a fertilizer for a garden or lawn.
He the technology will continue to improve.
"There is still plenty of room when it comes to development ... you can push the efficiency systems even higher."
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