Biomass explained Wood and wood waste

Wood was one of the first sources of energy

People have used wood for cooking, heating, and lighting for thousands of years. Wood was the main source of energy for the United States and the rest of the world until the mid-1800s. Wood continues to be an important fuel in many countries, especially for cooking and heating in developing countries.

In 2023, about 2.1% of U.S. annual total energy consumption was from wood and wood waste—bark, sawdust, wood chips, wood scrap, and paper mill residues.¹

Hybrid poplar wood chips are unloaded in Crookston, Minnesota.

Source: National Renewable Energy Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy (public domain)

Industry consumes the most wood and wood waste for energy in the United States

Industry accounts for most wood and wood-waste fuel consumption in the United States. The top industrial users are wood product and paper manufacturers. They use lumber mill and paper mill waste to produce steam and electricity, which saves money because it reduces the amount of other fuels and electricity they must purchase to operate their facilities. In 2023, the industrial sector accounted for about 64% of total U.S. consumption of wood and wood waste. Wood and wood waste also accounted for about 8.5% of industrial sector end-use energy consumption and 7.2% of total industrial sector energy consumption.²

The residential sector is the second-highest consumer of wood for energy in the United States. Wood is used in homes throughout the United States for heating as cord wood in fireplaces and wood-burning appliances, and as pellets in pellet stoves. In 2023, wood energy accounted for about 4.0% of residential sector end-use energy consumption and 2.4% of total residential energy consumption. In 2020, 8.9% of all U.S households (about 11 million) used wood for energy (mostly for space heating). About 2.2 million households used wood as the main space-heating fuel.³

In the electric power sector, several power plants burn mostly wood to generate electricity, and some coal-burning power plants burn wood chips with coal to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions. Most of the commercial sector's wood use for energy is for heating.

• Wood and wood waste energy consumption by energy-consuming sectors—in trillion British thermal units (TBtu)—and their percentage shares of total U.S. wood and wood waste energy consumption in 2023 were:
• industrial1,224 TBtu64%
• residential450 TBtu23%
• electric power162 TBtu8%
• commercial82 TBtu4%

Last updated: October 29, 2024, with data from the Monthly Energy Review, April 2024; data for 2023 are preliminary.