Residential market for fuelwood in Rhode Island: demand, supply, and policy implications

Thesis/Dissertation · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1985

OSTI ID:6483037

Mackenzie, J

Fuelwood consumption in Rhode Island has tripled since the 1973 oil shortage as a result of household substitution of wood for relatively more expensive heating fuels. A telephone survey of 515 randomly selected households in Rhode Island determined the incidence of wood-burning (25%), the quantities of wood households consumed, their reasons for burning wood, the manner in which they obtained the wood, etc. Households were hypothesized to behave like cost-minimizing firms in producing heat from the lowest-cost combination of inputs (wood and stove efficiency). It was further hypothesized that households process their own firewood as an alternative to purchasing it where the opportunity cost of household labor is less than the commercial value added, thus freeing household income for other uses. These hypotheses were put into testable form as a four-level econometric model containing (1) the discrete household decision to participate in wood heat production, (2) the determination of the cost-minimizing vector of inputs given heat output and relative input prices, (3) the discrete household decision to harvest its own wood and, (4) the determination of how much wood to harvest, how much household labor to invest in wood processing, and the implicit price of fuelwood. Both these hypotheses were well validated via econometric testing.

• Research Organization: Rhode Island Univ., Kingston (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6483037
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

09 BIOMASS FUELS
090400* -- Solid Waste & Wood Fuels-- (-1989)
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
299003 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Unconventional Sources & Power Generation-- Other-- (-1989)
DEMAND FACTORS
ECONOMICS
ENERGY SOURCES
FEDERAL REGION I
FUELS
HARVESTING
NORTH AMERICA
RESIDENTIAL SECTOR
RHODE ISLAND
SURVEYS
USA
WOOD FUELS