Abstract:

Households in natural resource-dependent areas of the United States are particularly vulnerable to fuel poverty. Wood banks provide no-cost, local firewood to fuel-poor households. Little is known about key details such as where they are operating, who is accessing them, and why. To assess the mechanisms by which wood banks may help alleviate fuel poverty, we located 82 wood banks and identified that 20.7% of them operated in counties with high rates of poverty and firewood heating use, despite only 11.6% of counties satisfying those criteria, nationwide. Qualitative analysis of interviews with representatives from 21 wood banks identified four explanations for household fuel poverty preceding accessing a wood bank: economic poverty, health-related challenges, old age, and emergency need. In many cases, at least two of four vulnerabilities overlapped, indicating that a convergence of factors explains the establishment and use of a wood bank.

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