Wood heat cost comparison
Fuels sell in incompatible units — cords, tons, therms, kilowatt-hours — so the only honest comparison is dollars per million BTU of heat delivered into the room, after each appliance's efficiency. Enter your local prices; the defaults are rough national figures, and your real prices vary a lot by region.
| Heat source | Fuel energy | Efficiency | $ / MMBtu delivered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cord wood (EPA-certified stove) | 22 MMBtu/cord | — | — |
| Wood pellets (pellet stove) | 16.4 MMBtu/ton | — | — |
| Natural gas (95% AFUE furnace) | 0.1 MMBtu/therm | 95% | — |
| Electric resistance (baseboard/space heater) | 3,412 BTU/kWh | 100% (COP 1) | — |
Assumptions (read before trusting any fuel-cost table)
- Cord wood: 22 MMBtu per full cord of seasoned hardwood (a 128 cu ft stacked cord; species range roughly 15–30 MMBtu). Burned in a stove at your entered HHV efficiency — certified stoves run about 60–85%, listed on every model page.
- Pellets: 16.4 MMBtu per ton (PFI premium-grade typical), at your entered pellet stove efficiency.
- Electric resistance: COP 1 — every kWh becomes 3,412 BTU in the room. A heat pump would deliver 2–4× that per kWh; this row is baseboard/space-heater electric, the common comparison for wood heat.
- Natural gas: 95% AFUE condensing furnace, 100,000 BTU per therm.
- Not counted: stove/chimney purchase and installation, chainsaw fuel and your own labor for wood, electricity to run a pellet stove's blowers (~100 W), duct or distribution losses, and the fact that a stove heats one zone while a furnace heats the whole house. Free or cheap wood changes the math completely — which is the honest reason much of wood heating happens.