Europe’s energy crisis has forced some people to turn to less costly heating sources such as firewood. But as demand increases, the public is facing rising prices, shortages and even reports of firewood theft. Foresters are using GPS devices to follow their logs while others fear the environmental impact of increased air pollution and tree cutting. In Moldova, Tudor Popescu splits firewood that will heat his home in the capital of Chisinau. As the nights turn colder, the load of firewood has been growing higher around him his supplies for the coming winter. In the past, Popescu depended on natural gas for warmth in the mornings and firewood at night. But gas is now in short supply, following Russia’s major cut to gas exports. Russian energy business Gazprom has threatened even more reductions. “I won’t use gas anymore, so it’s going to only be wood,” Popescu said. “But what I have isn’t enough.” The demand for firewood in Europe is not limited to poorer nations like Moldova. Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic’s state-owned forests are seeing much stronger demand for the limited amounts of firewood they sell as part of their sustainable forest programs. The German forestry service has reported getting requests for firewood from people who had never sought firewood before. The people seemed not to know that the firewood process takes two years. That is how long it takes to fully dry the wood so it will burn in wood stoves, said the forestry office in the southwestern state of Hesse. German forest rangers also report increased incidents of people gathering fallen wood in forests, often not knowing it is illegal.
