The Future of Wood Chippers
At Yardbeast we ask ourselves constantly about the future of our industry. Is there a future for wood chippers? How are wood chippers perceived by the notion of climate change, are they positive tools to help overturn the grizzly trends or the other way around? Is utilizing wood chippers more of a generational thing? Or will kids today think about owning a chipper when they become homeowners in the future? How about electric wood chippers, will this be a thing?
To put it bluntly, we concluded that chippers are not only staying, but the chipper needs will increase in the future on an industrial and residential level. Below we outlined key thoughts on why we think that is.
First, chipping is a necessary step towards the production of biomass in the renewable energy sector. You need to transform the fallen dead trees or at risk of toppling (as much as 14,000 trees/sq.mile in California hazard areas alone1) into sizable chips that can then be converted into pellets and feed water vapor boilers that will turn gas turbines and produce electricity. Biomass now accounts for almost 45% of the renewable energy production in the United States2.
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On a residential level, there is greater awareness of sending green waste to landfills, it is not environmentally friendly, especially when you have large wooden properties. We can note that by looking at the search trends on Google for wood chippers from the past 8 years. The spikes seen on the graph are due to seasonalities.
We can see there is a continuous growth of interest year over year. This is probably due to the fact of people looking for ways to become more sustainable, by reducing their green waste on their own that doesn’t involve lighting a fire, or reutilizing the green waste for compost and other uses. Wood chips are great for garden looks and some use them for particular purposes such as creating horse bedding stalls and biomass boilers. The uses are just too many!
Thinking of wood chippers adopting the electric highway, we think it is possible. And it will happen sometime in the future. We are paying close attention to the lawnmower industry that is currently experiencing the shift with the introduction of electric and robotic mowers. Due to the nature of the chippers by utilizing brute engine force to break wood and the fact that the chippers are often utilized in areas far away from the home, it will require some ingenuity to carry around batteries that will deliver enough operation time for a chipping session.
If you own property with a significant wooden amount, then owning a chipper makes sense. By chipping your green waste with a chipper you not only get to help push our industry forward but you become more sustainable in contrast to burning waste and clogging up landfills who then need to dispose of it. In short, chippers are here to stay and the future looks strong by taking on the opportunity to convert green waste into a useful source.
Sources
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Biomass Power Association, Chart with data of April 2018, by the U.S Energy Information Administration. (https://www.usabiomass.org/biomass-forest-management/)
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Biomass Power Association. (https://www.usabiomass.org/about/)
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Google Trends (Media)
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