About Us
Our Story
Goodwood® Products from Summit Views LLC is a woman-owned California business that developed and now markets a cleaner-burning eco-friendly firewood for fireplaces, woodstoves, and outdoor fire pits. What began with a grant from the USDA Forest Service (to utilize and increase the value of excess biomass by producing densified wood fuel) evolved into a brand of products that is now preferred by high end resort and recreation facilities.
We are an innovator-level Green Certified business located in Watsonville on California’s Central Coast. Our area’s diverse population and environment – the beautiful Monterey Bay, growing fields and mountain forests – inspire the work we do. Our location also enables us to personally serve many of our business-to-business customers throughout Northern California, as well as our local residents.
Our Mission
The Goodwood® mission is to bring us one step closer to a future where local renewable resources are sustainably managed — where excess biomass never goes to waste or chokes our forests, but is used instead to produce cleaner energy and carbon-neutral fuels.
We care deeply about healthy human and nature interaction, and are committed to ensuring environmental and social justice for our employees and our community.
Know What You're Burning
Just because it’s recycled doesn’t mean it’s okay to burn.
People buy firelogs because they are convenient – they provide a fire without the lugging, stacking and fire-building skill needed for firewood. However, there are two very different types of firelogs – wax-based and all-wood firelogs – and it is important to understand the difference.
Wax-based firelogs
The common firelog that you find at the supermarket, individually wrapped in coated, colored paper, is made up of a mix of industrial by-products — typically about 60% petroleum or vegetable wax mixed with various industrial by-products plus sawdust or other combustible residual materials such as cardboard, nutshells, spent coffee grounds. Chemicals are added to create colorful effects. The waxed colored-paper wrapping around wax-based firelogs lights the log, which then burns down like a candle.
Many manufacturers of wax-based logs do not identify the specific ingredients in or around their firelogs. The EPA, the American Lung Association and local air quality agencies ask that we avoid burning dubious materials such as colored paper, plastics, rubber, and other trash that gives off harmful chemicals. They also have advised discretion when burning common paraffin-based candles indoors. Paraffin (petroleum wax), a by-product of the oil refining industry, and plastic are derived from non-renewable fossil fuels and release toxic chemical emissions such as benzene and toluene when burned. Since it is often unclear what you’re burning — if the materials in your firelogs are not clearly identified – DON’T BURN THEM!
Why we think all-wood firelogs are best
We prefer “densified” wood firelogs because we know exactly what they’re made of – pure wood. Goodwood Firelogs are made from 100% clean surplus – not recycled – wood shavings from milling operations. 100% renewable resource materials. This woody biomass is compressed so densely that the wood’s natural lignin actually melts and binds the wood particles together, without the use of petroleum or chemical binders. Due to their lower moisture content and density, wood firelogs burn hotter and cleaner than regular firewood, with 50% fewer emissions and less ash.
Our all-wood firelogs create the ambience of natural wood and, unlike wax-based logs, can be used in all types of fireplaces, woodstoves, chimeneas and firepits. You can even cook over them. Pound for pound, they produce more heat than firewood – with a net heating value of 7800 BTUs per pound as compared to 5100 BTUs for typical firewood. Densified bio-fuels such as wood firelogs and wood pellets make going green easier – they utilize wood that would otherwise be landfilled, they produce significantly less woodsmoke emissions, and, unlike fossil-fuel-based products, are carbon-neutral when burned (i.e., the same amount of carbon gets released through burning as through decomposition).
PLEASE USE RENEWABLE RESOURCES – FOSSIL FUELS ARE FOR DINOSAURS!
Bay Area Resorts Spare the Air
WATSONVILLE, CA — An increasing number of Bay Area resorts are using Goodwood® Firelog Bags in their wood-burning fireplaces to help reduce woodsmoke pollution without compromising this important guest amenity. By switching from firewood to all-wood firelogs, large-scale users can help keep pollution levels from exceeding new stricter air standards. Reducing woodsmoke can help reduce the number of days when those standards are exceeded and fireplace usage is restricted.
Going green is important to hospitality and recreation industries. Initiatives like Asilomar Conference Grounds’ Green Thread® Environmental Program and Fairmont’s Green Partnership are fundamental to company operations. In keeping with these programs, resorts are switching from regular firewood or wax-based logs to easy-lighting Goodwood Firelog Bags in their fireplace suites. Guests are able to enjoy the sought-after ambience and experience of real wood, while using a greener, cleaner-burning product.
“Most people in the Bay Area are familiar with ‘Spare the Air’ announcements,” says Jennifer Young, owner of Goodwood Products. “But most people don’t know there is an all-wood alternative to firewood that can reduce woodsmoke emissions by about half. Resorts in our area are making a difference by building awareness of this green, clean-burning alternative to regular firewood, wax logs and gas.”
Goodwood Firelogs are densified wood firelogs made from surplus mill shavings diverted from landfills. This biomass material is compressed – “densified” – into all-wood firelogs, bound only by the natural lignin in wood, without the use of waxes and additives typical of supermarket firelogs. Densified fuels, such as wood pellets and wood firelogs, are preferred by air quality and environmental agencies as they burn with 25-50% fewer particulates than firewood and are carbon-neutral renewable, sustainable resource products.
Goodwood Products are sold directly to resorts, recreation facilities, retail stores and residences. Cases of the popular easy-lighting Firebags and Grab & Go Boxes are also available online through the company’s Online Store.
FAQs
POUND FOR POUND:
– Due to their high density and low moisture content (approx 5%), Goodwood Firelogs pack about 8600 BTU’s per dry pound.
– Seasoned hardwood firewood (approx 20-25% moisture content) has a net heating value ranging from ~6600-7600 BTU per pound.
A PALLET vs A CORD (after accounting for moisture losses and a well-tuned EPA-certified stove at 70% efficiency)
– A full pallet (2100lbs) of Goodwood firelogs has a net heating value of approx 15.4 MBTU’s.
– A cord (128 cubic feet) of well-seasoned hardwood with 20% moisture content has a net heating value of approx 13.2 MBTU’s.
YES! Densified fuels, including all-wood firelogs and pellets, are preferred for woodstoves and heating. It is important to understand your fireplace, chimenea or wood stove heat rating — some manufacturers say not to burn more than two densified wood logs at a time because too much heat may be produced.
The wood shavings used for Goodwood Firelogs are the by-product of lumber millworking. The diversion of this clean woody biomass from landfill to wood firelog production ensures that tens of thousands of pounds of millwaste are utilized rather than landfilled each week.
As with any firewood, the duration of a wood fire varies depending on airflow, placement of logs and tending. Pound for pound, all-wood firelogs burn longer than regular firewood. In an open fireplace, our easy-light 5lb bag typically burns for 1-1.5 hours. Our easy-light 7.5lb Grab & Go box burns for about 2 hours.
For our all-natural package we chose burlap made from jute, a fiber derived from the woody stem of an annual plant that grows like a weed throughout Asia and West Africa. Jute lights easily, burns cleanly and has a pleasant, natural scent. After the jute bag is lit, it ignites the woodchips and firelog chunks inside.
Goodwood products are distributed directly to Bay Area resorts and recreation customers via cargo van or LTL Freight. Click Here to learn more about wholesale pricing and delivery.
Residential customers can purchase from our Online Store for UPS package delivery to your door.
Bulk logs by the box, pallet or half-pallet can be purchased directly at our warehouse. Click Here for more info.