Prices for firewood and wood pellets almost double due to energy crisis
Clean Energy Wire
Prices for firewood and wood pellets are almost double what they were the same time last year, figures from Germany’s federal statistics office (Destatis) have shown. In August 2022, prices for the timber-based products were 85.7 percent higher than they were a year earlier. More people in Germany have turned to wood as a heating source due to rising gas prices caused by Russia’s war on Ukraine. The higher prices are partly due to this increased demand, as well as higher procurement and transport costs in the timber industry. Prices for wood-based heating chips were even higher, at 133.3 percent more than what they were a year ago.
Rising gas prices in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are causing more Germans to look to other sources of heating. There has also been an increase in the sale of electric heaters, although experts warn these are even more expensive to run than gas central heating.