Dear friends,
With the dust of the mid-term election settled, we know that most of the champions of thermal biomass won re-election, with the notable exception of Paul Hodes (D-NH). But the political landscape has changed. One thing is certain: we must press forward and demand from our elected representatives that they wean this country from imported oil and invest in America's most common residential renewable energy system: biomass stoves and boilers. The wood stove is a uniquely American carbon success story and low and middle-income Americans are at the forefront of reducing fossil fuels with them. As the EPA ratchets down emissions levels, we will be poised to leverage the enormous potential of this technology.
Don't forget - please support our work and take part in the drawing for a wood or pellet stove - or a ton of pellets or cord of wood. Click here to support us. Your support enables us to stand up for working families in America to get access to much cleaner and more efficient biomass heating.
Thank you!
The Team at Green Heat: John Ackerly, Tatiana Butler & Keith Krosinsky
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Alliance for Green Heat Projects & Activities
Neglected by the US Government, Wood Stove is a Champion at Reducing Fossil Fuel Use The wood stove is an incredible American success story for reducing fossil fuel usage, but it is far from a success story in terms of particulate emissions. This is one of the main conclusions of a presentation by the Alliance for Green Heat during a webinar hosted on November 4th by the Biomass Thermal Energy Council, an influential new player in Washington promoting thermal biomass. For more click here, and to listen to the Webinar, click here.
Win a Wood or Pellet Stove
Win a free wood or pellet stove or fuel -- and support the Alliance for Green Heat! Contribute at least $35 and you will be entered into the stove and fuel prize drawing. You won't find better odds in a prize drawing than this! A big thanks to Quadrafire, Blaze King, Jotul, Earth's Flame and WoodPellets.com for donating the prizes. Contest ends on Dec. 1.
To enter click here!
Quadrafire: Mt Vernon Pellet Stove. Retail Price: $3899
Emissions Rate: 0.9 gr/hr
Jotul: F3 CB
Retail Price: $1599-$2035
Emissions Rate: 3.8 gr/hr
Blaze King: Princess 1006
Retail Price: $2308-$2402
Emissions Rate: 2.42 gr/hr
Earth Flame: Fireplace Grate
Retail Price: $799.99
Emissions Rate: 2.7 gr/kg
California Air Districts: A Case Study in Wood Burning Regulations
California has become an excellent case-study for the different approaches to reducing wood smoke. In this article we dissect the various laws and their permutations throughout California and highlight what we think are some of the most effective and progressive measures. Click here for more.
The Confusing Array of Biomass Emissions Graphs
There is a shortage of clear, relevant and unbiased graphics comparing different biomass devices to each other and to other heating appliances. The Alliance for Green Heat's chart measures appliances in grams per hour, the standard used by the EPA to regulate appliances. But few agencies or groups present data this way, preferring to use other yardsticks which is often confusing for the consumer. Click here for more.
AGH Board Members Detail Home's Carbon Footprint
To understand carbon impacts of residential heat, it helps to get personal. Three Board members and one supporter - Jon Strimling, John Ackerly, Josh Elmore and Peter Caldwell - of the Alliance for Green Heat calculated the carbon footprint of their homes in order to better understand home heating carbon impacts. The calculations were reached using the carbon calculator website; www.carbonfootprint.com. The average American home produces about 12 tons of carbon a year, according to most authorities, and 40 to 60% of that on average is used for heating. For the complete carbon footprint of these individual's homes, with photos, click here.
Wood Heat Poster Raises Funds for Charity
The best photographs from "Show Us Your Woodpile" contest are in a poster! The Alliance teamed up with Tarm USA who ran the contest and produced the gorgeous 20 x 24 poster. It's available for $10.00 plus $3.00 for postage. All sale proceeds are donated to the non-profit group Silent Heat, which distributes cord wood to families who can't afford to heat their homes. To purchase a poster and help a family in need, click here.
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Washington Watch
Thermal Biomass and the Midterm Elections: What To Expect?
The 2010 midterms will have wide ranging effects on policy-making, but it is unclear whether thermal biomass will benefit or lose from the changes brought by these elections. Many friendly faces will return, but our movement has also lost some allies. Many freshmen legislators are likely to embrace policies that support biomass heating, which tend to be less expensive and more beneficial to the average American than some current biomass and other renewable energy policies. For More Click here
Vice President Calls on Congress to Pass Home Star
Vice President Biden made a high profile pitch to Congress on November 9 to pass Home Star, which includes a $1,500 point-of-sale rebate for thermal biomass appliances, and for expanded tax credits for domestic manufacturing of "clean" energy equipment. The Alliance for Green Heat, a leader in the effort to get biomass appliances included in Home Star, has been engaging industry and the environmental community in eligibility issues. Click here for more.
Bi-Partisan Group Calls for End to Ethanol Subsidies
The National Taxpayers Union and US PIRG-Education Fund, a conservative and liberal organization, teamed up to produce a list of Federal programs that can be cut at no adverse effect to the American public in a report entitled, "Toward Common Ground: Bridging the Political Divide to Reduce Spending." Click here for more.
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From the Newsroom
International Lowimpact.org makes compelling case for wood stovesLowimpact.org, a British co-operative community, argues for the myriad benefits of wood heat compared to traditional fossil fuels and even renewable options like wind and solar. It's clean, sustainable, local and most importantly, cheaper than the competitors. For MoreUnited Nations: Biomass can mitigate climate changeWood energy offers significant, cost-effective and perpetual opportunities for greenhouse gas emission reductions, according to a new report by the Food & Agricultural Organization, a UN agency. Additional benefits offered are employment creation in rural areas, energy security, better waste control, and potentially benign effects with regard to biodiversity, desertification and recreational value. Wood energy can significantly contribute to sustainable development both in developed and less developed countries. For More
National Is It green to Heat With Wood?Erika Howesare of C-Ville argues for the benefits of wood fuel as a renewable and local fuel source for heating. Particulate matter is the only concern and is likely the result of the use of an OWB instead of an EPA certified wood or pellet stove. For More
Open Burn Logging: Slash or Grind it for Bio Fuel?"Either we grind it or they burn it," said Todd Chamberlain from Renew Resources in reference to the piles of wood waste left behind on the new logging sites around Princeton. Chambrlain is overseeing a pilot project along with Weyerhaueser Silviculture Forester Trenna Macleod that is turning the left over pile of wood debris into hog fuel." For More
PFI Board Approves Standards Program. "On October 7th, the PFI Board of Directors unanimously passed the latest version of the PFI North American Residential / Commercial Densified Fuel Standards Program. This approval allows the program to be forwarded to the EPA well within EPA's requested timeline to have an enforceable industry standard in place." For More
StatesLab Chief: Biomass Heat Tied to Timber Industry
AK: "The cost of pellets that I pay, a million BTUs is costing me $25.76. If I use fuel oil at $3.25 it would be $30.19. There's a modest reduction in cost, about 14-percent. The payback on a pellet stove, if you have to pay the retail prices here in Sitka, is about seven or eight years." For More
New Report Questions Effectiveness of Outdoor Boiler Set-backs
CT: A new report by Environment and Human Health, The Dangers from Outdoor Wood Furnaces, provides data showing that common set back limits for outdoor wood boilers are not sufficient to protect human health. The report is based on air quality studies in Connecticut, the only state in New England other than Rhode Island that still allows the installation of unqualified outdoor boilers. The study showed that a house 100 feet from an OWF had 14 times the levels of PM 2.5 as houses not near an outdoor wood furnace and 9 times the levels of the EPA air standards. For MoreMaine Lags on Heating Transition
ME: More than two years after fuel oil hit record prices, Maine has done very little to switch its homes and businesses to alternative heating systems, an energy consultant says. "Are we going to learn from 2008, or are we going to pretend it's not going to happen again?" Higginbottom asked. For More
N.C Lets Duke Energy Use Trees as Renewable Fuel
NC: Duke Energy Corp. won an important victory this week when N.C. regulators ruled that wood chips from trees are a renewable energy source. The company estimates that biomass will account for 88.5 percent of its renewable capacity. Most of that would come from wood, spokesman Jason Walls said recently. For More
DEC Revises Rules For Outdoor Wood Boilers
NY: A new set of regulations on outdoor wood boilers will go to the Environmental Review Board on Monday. Released this week, the rules include changes made after public hearings last summer. Chief among the changes made, New York State would ban use of outdoor wood boilers in northern counties from June 1 to Aug. 31. For More
Vermont College Gets Top Green Honors
VT: Green Mountain College, a small liberal arts college in Poultney, VT, was named the country's No. 1 green school in Sierra Magazine for its sustainability efforts. By 2011, the college hopes to become carbon-neutral through a combination of biomass power, cow power, solar power, and carbon-credit purchases. For More
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Upcoming Conferences & Webinars
US DOE's EECCBG/SEP Webinar Series-
Energy Efficiency Rebates Program 101
November 15, 12 - 2 PM EST
This webinar will offer information on residential and commercial energy efficiency consumer rebate programs.
To Register, Click Here
The ACEEE 30th Anniversary Policy and Analysis Conference December 7 - 8, Washington, DC
ACEEE's 30th Anniversary theme is to assess 30 years of progress in energy efficiency, and build a vision for the next 30 years. The conference will explore energy efficiency policy needs and opportunities in the wake of the Nov. 2nd elections and articulate long-term goals.
For More 2011 Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference February 8 - 10, Washington, DC This year will focus on putting into practice the ideas and strategies for a new green economy around the country. The 2011 Conference will highlight successful state and local initiatives; emerging and growing green sectors; efforts to create a Green Infrastructure Model through smart transportation and urban development; successful work development programs; and model partnerships between government, the private sector and local interests. For More |
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Current Wood Heat Incentive Programs
Darrington Wood Stove Change-out Program: Washington Click Here
Feather River County Wood Stove Change-out Program: California Click Here
South Central Oregon Economic Wood stove Rebate Program: Klamath, OR Click Here
Residential Bulk-Fed Pellet Boilers Rebate Program:
New Hampshire Click Here
An Alliance for Green Heat study of study of these and other incentive programs is funded in part by the Forest Service's Wood Education Resource Center:
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Did You Know?
Americans who heat with wood reduce CO2 emissions from fossil fuels by approximately 17.7 million tons per year. Click here for details on this figure.
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Poll of the Month Results
October Poll Results:
Should counties require that firewood be sold with less than 20% moisture?
-A solid 53.3% of respondents voted yes.
-26.7% voted no.
-The Remaining 20% had no opinion or did not know.
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Research Fellowship
The Alliance has an opening for a Research Fellow. This Fellowship will provide an excellent opportunity to promote renewable energy and delve into policy research. We are accepting applications on a rolling basis. Come join a small team of advocates who believe in the clean and efficient use of biomass for heating homes and businesses.
For more information: http://www.forgreenheat.org/about/employment.html
Or email Tatiana at: tatiana@forgreenheat.org
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Office Equipment Needed
Have a printer, scanner or computer that is still relatively up- to-date and in good working order that you don't need? Donate it to the Alliance for Green Heat and get a tax write-off. Contact: Keith@forgreenheat.org |
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