Because it isn't baked and steamed, the natural color will be preserved. Sustainable Woods Cooperative serves about 100 timber owners in Central Wisconsin. Most of the members are not timber professionals, but they live in rural areas and own trees that are suitable for lumber. And we used an aluminum roof from an old shed for part of the solar collection system. It was free and it was the perfect material.
Solar kilns come in many sizes.
A timber group in Vermont built a solar kiln and used solarpowered fans to circulate the heat, but Birkemeier said it cost several thousand dollars more than the Spring Green kiln and was more complex to operate. Birkemeier's company, Timbergreen Forestry of Spring Green, has sold kiln plans to timber users in Maine, Vermont Alaska, Australia and Costa Rica. There are plenty of saw mills in Wisconsin, he said, but there's a shortage of kilns. The Sustainable Woods Cooperative kiln is on 4.5 acres, that also includes a saw mill, owned by the cooperative. The first finished wood is expected this summer, and the kiln could be open to noncooperative members if there's excess capacity, Birkemeier said.