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When There's No Heat: "You Need Wood, You Get Wood"

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“Lots of people are on the edge of poverty and cannot afford unexpected events: a tree falls on your house or the power is out and your pipes freeze,” said Jessica Leahy, a professor at the University of Maine’s School of Forest Resources. “Heating their homes becomes one of those things that is especially hard to cover.”

The H.O.M.E. wood bank was designed for such emergencies. It is small, providing “bridge assistance,” often while people wait for state services. Ms. Hair said she expected increased need this winter. “There are people who wouldn’t qualify for state heating assistance, but desperately need some help this year because of Covid,” she said, right before dashing inside to put on warmer socks. “We don’t want more people to come into homelessness.”

Ms. Hair said she expected climate change to increase need as well. Warming temperatures — the state’s average annual temperature has risen 3.2 degrees Fahrenheit since the late 1800s, according to a 2020 report by the University of Maine — have led to more winters without an insulating blanket of snow. “In an open winter, pipes tend to freeze more,” said Ms. Hair, noting that people who live in trailers are particularly vulnerable to such damage.

Severe weather events, like the snowstorms that have hit Texas, can trigger major power failures, which have been on rise, according to a report by Climate Central. As part of their climate resiliency plans, at least a few Northeastern towns have recommended creating wood banks for when the grid fails.

 

Interesting idea for a need vastly overlooked. 

Read more here.

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Heres my take . Evert year all across the tornado belt houses are either torn apart by the twister or need tearing down from damage . Either way next time while watching the news about such storms and footage is shown of tons and tons of lumber ( no not treated ) are sent to land fills to rot . And when I see this happening without fail I think of BTUs ... all that lumber could be put to use to heat homes ! Texans have been known in the past to weather the storms but were woefully unprepared for the cold and snow of last week by not having an alternate source of heat  . Even firewood was in short supply and a lot of the homes had fireplaces so yes a “wood bank “ for any region is a great idea . But just think of this when you see video of truck loads of lumber headed out to the dump . I may have even been known to grab a pickup load of skids etc from work back in the day to use for heating the house , hell I still don’t take wood products to the dump ! 

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