Progress 10/01/14 to 05/31/17
Outputs
Target Audience:Maryland single family homeowners (7,000) were surveyed ref to firewood and wood pellet useage. The target audience for the final report is MD policy makers and forest industry representatives. Changes/Problems:Originally planned to complete report during the winter 2017, however due to graduate student challenges with data entry and analysis the final report was postponed to May 2017. However, the planned objectives were met. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?There have been 5 professional training programs offered via power point presentations. Audiences included MD DNR Forest Service, SAF MD/DE meeting, Maryland Forests Association regional meetings and Master Logger programs. Once the final report is printed, additional programs will be developed to release findings. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Yes, preliminary results have been presented to the audiences as listed above. Additional programs will be offered to MD policy makers, forest industryand DNR forestry officials in 2018. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Methods Following Dillman's Total Design Method, the research was conducted by mail survey with option to complete electronically. The survey instruments were edited and pretested. In February 2016, a package containing two sets of surveys (one for current wood users and one for nonusers) were mailed to 7,000 randomly selected Maryland single family homeowners located in rural and suburban areas. The number of surveys sent to each County is stratified by the percentage of single family household by County for a total of 7,000 households. Respondents were instructed to complete Survey A for wood users if they heat with wood or Survey B for nonusers. All survey information was not traceable to individual respondents. Surveys were coded to keep respondent information confidential. Survey Respondents Criteria Only single family homeowners who are over 18 years old are selected as respondents. Renters were excluded because they may not be able to make decisions on major modifications to homes such as adding chimneys and new heating devices. While some would argue that renters consume more wood than homeowners because they have lower income levels (Christiansen et al. 1993), this research followed the methodology used by the previous similar study performed in Norway, which is solely researching the behaviors of single family homeowners (Sopha, Klöckner, and Hertwich 2011). Respondents' housing unit type was defined as a one unit detached home excluding commercial properties, condos, estates, apartments, and multifamily units. Households located in rural and suburban areas were selected. This is because these households are assumed to be more likely to use firewood and wood pellets as home heating sources than households located in urban areas since zoning regulations may prevent homeowners from adding a chimney to existing property. Similarly, homeowners living in Baltimore City were excluded. The classifications of the residential zoning categories (Table 1) provided by Maryland Department of Planning (MDP) are adopted to define the rural, suburban, and urban areas in this study. Rural areas are defined as areas in the category of "Very Low Density". Suburban areas are defined as areas in the category of "Low Density". Urban areas are defined as areas in the categories of "Moderate Density" and "High Density". Respondents will only be selected from "Very Low Density" and "Low Density". Table 1. MDP Generalized Zoning Text. Residential Zoning Categories Very Low Density max density > 0.2 du/acre and <1.0 du/acre Low Density max density > 1and < 3.5 du/acre Moderate Density max density > 3.5 du/acre < 10du/acre High Density max density > 10du/acre Note: du is short for dwelling unit(s) Stratification Strategy In December 2015, the respondents' mailing list was obtained from the MDP property tax database of all 776,240 Maryland single family homeowners in rural and suburban areas. This list did not contain federal, state, municipal, or corporate ownership. This list was filtered for duplicate names and invalid addresses, leaving the total number of population for this study 443,798. The addresses of 7,000 single family households were randomly selected from this population in the MDP database. The list was randomly stratified and sorted by County. For all the single housing units located in very low and low density zoning areas in Maryland, the percentage for each County was calculated. The number of respondents selected in each County is proportional to the calculated percentage (Table 2). Table 2. Stratification Summary: Number of Survey Sent to Each County County Filtered Single Family Residences Percentage # of Surveys Deployed Allegany County 4,967 1% 78 Anne Arundel County 44,805 10% 707 Baltimore County 37,131 8% 586 Calvert County 17,477 4% 276 Caroline County 3,506 1% 55 Carroll County 24,289 5% 383 Cecil County 11,955 3% 189 Charles County 18,721 4% 295 Dorchester County 3,563 1% 56 Frederick County 23,408 5% 369 Garrett County 2,418 1% 38 Harford County 21,821 5% 344 Howard County 45,738 10% 721 Kent County 2,600 1% 41 Montgomery County 66,148 15% 1,043 Prince George's County 56,219 13% 887 Queen Anne's County 10,239 2% 161 Somerset County 1,025 0% 16 St. Mary's County 19,274 4% 304 Talbot County 7,218 2% 114 Washington County 8,495 2% 134 Wicomico County 5,889 1% 93 Worcester County 6,892 2% 109 Total 443,798 100% 7,000 Note: Survey Development Based on whether the survey respondents utilize wood as their heating sources or not, respondents were separated into two groups, wood users and nonusers. Two sets surveys were developed (Appendix A: Firewood/Wood Pellet Users Survey Instrument and Appendix B: Firewood/Wood Pellet Nonusers Survey Instrument). Respondents were instructed to complete Survey A for wood users if they heat with wood or Survey B for nonusers. For wood users, the questionnaire captured the following information: their annual firewood and/or wood pellets usage from March 2015 to March 2016, primary/secondary heating sources, types of wood heating appliances, problems encountered when purchasing wood, and where they acquire their wood. The primary heating source is defined as the source used 50% or more of the time and secondary source is the source used less than 50% of the time. Additionally, wood users were asked to report what motivated them to use wood and whether they have participated in the Clean Burning Wood Stove Program administered by MEA. Similar to the wood users' survey, types of the primary heating sources of the nonusers were asked. Nonusers were instructed to choose from several statements which are the challenges for them to heat with wood. Regarding the Clean Burning Wood Stove Program, nonusers were asked whether the incentives provided were adequate to motivate them to convert to wood. Furthermore, the threshold prices of the natural gas, propane, oil, and electricity for homeowners were assessed. Threshold prices are prices at which homeowners will convert to wood heating. The survey instrument was reviewed by experts in this area. Then, a pretest was administered to five homeowners who also provided their personal insight on the survey as a whole. The Institutional Review Board (IRB)'s protocol was followed. All information was confidential and cannot be traceable to individual respondents. Survey Implementation Process The Mason-Dixon Polling and Research group in Washington D.C. was contracted to administer the survey, collect survey data and enter it into an Excel database. The survey implementation process followed Dillman's Total Design Method (1978). On February 19, 2016, the initial notification letters (Appendix E) introducing the participants to the survey team were mailed out (Bob Tjaden and Cuiyin Wu) to inform the participants of the objective of the research. One week later, on February 26, a survey package including an instruction letter (Appendix F) with self-addressed envelope, a branching-out postcard (Appendix H) and two sets of questionnaires (Appendix A and B) were mailed first class. If the respondents wanted to receive a free Firewood Calculation Keycard magnet (Appendix I) and more information about the University of Maryland's Extension Program, they could fill out the branching-out postcard. A total of 7000 survey packages were sent out. Respondents had two options to complete survey, either through the paper version or the web site. One week later, follow-up post cards (Appendix G) were mailed to all recipients as a thank you note for those who completed the survey and a reminder to other possible respondents to complete the survey. Two weeks after the initial survey mail out, another follow up postcard was mailed. All surveys were completed by March 15 2016.
Publications
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Wu, Cuiyin & R.Tjaden. 2017. Maryland Residential Firewood & Wood Pellet Utilization Analysis: A Survey to Determine Local Interest and Assess Current and Future Market Potential. 104 pp.
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