# How do I calculate the energy and emissions of kiln drying timber per cubic metre?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/timber-kiln-drying-energy-per-cubic-metre

Log the heat source and the fans. Steam or hot air from a wood waste boiler gives biogenic CO2, shown separately; fossil boilers and electric dehumidifier kilns count fully. Divide the period's fuel and electricity by cubic metres dried, and note species and moisture change, since hardwoods take longer.

## What to count

- Boiler fuel: wood waste, coal or gas, by kiln if metered.
- Electricity for fans and dehumidifiers at the local grid factor.
- Hours per charge and cubic metres per charge.

## Per cubic metre

Divide by cubic metres dried, and give the starting and final moisture. Drying from green to 8 percent uses far more energy than from air dried.

## For buyers

Kiln drying is often the largest energy step in solid wood furniture, so a measured figure makes a buyer's product footprint far more credible.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel, electricity and freight invoices into a dated, fingerprinted record per site, so each figure you send a buyer can be traced back to the documents behind it.

- [Wood waste boiler biogenic CO2](https://senseible.earth/answers/furniture-factory-wood-waste-boiler-biogenic-co2)
- [Biogenic carbon in timber](https://senseible.earth/answers/biogenic-carbon-in-timber-building-materials)
- [Wooden furniture footprint](https://senseible.earth/answers/wooden-furniture-carbon-footprint-per-piece)

Sources: [IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 2 Energy (fuel defaults)](https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/vol2.html), [ISO 14067:2018, Carbon footprint of products (iso.org)](https://www.iso.org)

Last reviewed 2026-10-21.