Featured Project article by Michael Eisensmith, Northern Maine Development Commission

In May of 2010, two organizations in northern Maine, the Aroostook Partnership for Progress (APP) and the Northern Maine Development Commission (NMDC), began a strategic planning process that has become known as Mobilize Northern Maine.  After several months and many meetings that convened dozens of individuals and organizations, the Mobilize Northern Maine leadership team identified Renewable Energy as one of the best opportunities for significant regional economic impact.  

The working group formed to look at Renewable Energy became convinced early on that increasing the use of biomass - wood pellets and wood chips - in residential, municipal and commercial locations would lead to better retention of local consumer dollars currently being spent on oil, gas and electricity as heating sources.  The wood feed stock is available in the region and local businesses exist that can provide the necessary pellets and chips thus creating more of a closed loop for resource harvesting and usage.  

#2 fuel oil is the primary heating source for the vast majority of residents and businesses in northern Maine and despite the brief pricing crisis in 2008, this continues to be the case.  A survey of fuel oil utilization in Aroostook County performed in 2010 indicated that 5.9 million gallons of fuel oil are consumed each year.  At current pricing ($3.20 per gallon), the annual cost to regional consumers is $18.8 million dollars.  Further analysis of the cash flow for this $18.8 million indicates that only $4.2 million dollars is retained in the region with the remaining $14.6 million dollars leaving the local economy.  Pellet pricing is hovering around $250.00 per ton and utilization of the 45,000 ton capacity existing in our region would result in a little over $11M dollars of retained wealth.

Next steps in the process for northern Maine will be to look more closely at some of the issues that have surfaced; such as lack of public awareness of pellet furnace (vs. pellet stove) availability, capability and ease of use, and certainly the high initial cost of purchase and installation.  The Biomass working group will be developing strategies over the next few months on these and the other questions that consumers will have about the costs and payback of conversion from oil to pellet heating systems, but we believe this is a prime example of a win for the consumer and a win for regional businesses.  At current prices, the average homeowner will save just over a $1,000 per year in the cost of oil vs. wood pellets and this number will increase as the disparity between pricing for oil and pellets grows.  This reality creates a compelling starting point for the argument on conversion that we will be presenting over the next several months.

For more information contact Michael Eisensmith at Northern Maine Development Commission (207) 498-8736, ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) and/or visit www.nmdc.org.