The Model Neighborhood Wood Heat Initiative has helped install state-of-the-art, high-efficiency wood pellet boilers in 23 homes and eight nonresidential buildings. Participants have saved more than $180,000 buying wood pellets manufactured in Maine instead of fossil fuel from out-of-state sources.

The Maine Model Neighborhood is one of four that the center has started with local partners to motivate homeowners and commercial building owners to switch to “local heat” across the Northern Forest. Berlin, New Hampshire, led the way, where 40 homeowners and several nonresidential property owners installed boilers. In Vermont, the program is assisting homeowners and working lands businesses in the Northeast Kingdom. In New York, the program will focus on the communities of Saranac, Saranac Lake and Tupper Lake. “We have a tremendous renewable resource in the region,” said Maura Adams, program director of the Northern Forest Center. “Wood pellet manufacturing is using only a fraction of the wood that used to go into paper making, and this new industry is benefiting the region. Altogether, our programs have generated more than $3.5 million benefit to the regional economy and will result in more than a 3,000-ton reduction of carbon dioxide.”

The Model Neighborhood Wood Heat Initiative in western Maine is a partnership of Western Maine Community Action and the Northern Forest Center.