Weekly Price of Oil
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February 28, 2012: $106.59
February 28, 2011: $97.10
Source: ycharts.com
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Office Equipment Needed
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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 credit. Contact:
melissa@forgreenheat.org
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Summer Opportunity
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The Alliance for Green Heat is currently seeking a full time summer intern or fellow to assist with a wood stove design challenge. Applicants should have an interest in engineering and have excellent communication skills. A travel stipend is provided. For more information click here.
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Wood Heat Poster
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Wood Heat Posters are available through the Alliance for $10 (plus $3.50 for postage). All sale proceeds are donated to groups supplying wood or pellets to low-income families who cannot afford to sufficiently heat their home. The initiative is coordinated by TARM USA. Please make checks payable to the Alliance for Green Heat and send to:
Alliance for Green Heat
6930 Carroll Ave, Suite 407
Takoma Park, MD 20912
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Join Our Mailing List
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And stay up to date with all things wood heat. To sign up,
click here
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Alliance for Green Heat Projects & Activities
Wood Stove Design Challenge Launched!
 February 28- The Alliance for Green Heat announced the public launch of a Next Generation Wood Stove Design Challenge that seeks to promote innovation in wood stoves. One blogger wrote about it here.
Sign Up to Sponsor the Challenge!
The Wood Stove Design Challenge is seeking institutional sponsors and companies that would like to sponsor teams or donate equipment. Sign up to sponsor any of the above here. To register an interest in competing in the Challenge, click here and get connected with potential sponsors.
The 2012 Atlanta Hearth Expo
 If you like wood and pellet stoves, Atlanta was the place to see clean ones last week, like the ten that are burning in the picture to the left. But if you were looking for innovative new stoves, you would have been disappointed. Many manufacturers are still waiting to make sure they know what the new EPA emission numbers will be before bringing out new products.
A Rhode Island bill, HB 7371, would make the state the first eastern state to adopt the progressive policies of Washington and Oregon on wood stoves. The bill, introduced by representative Art Handy and four other delegates, would phase-out wood stoves without EPA certification in densely populated residential areas. The Alliance for Green Heat supports this bill and urges hearth stores, manufacturers and the HPBA to get behind it.
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Washington Watch
Tax Software Unhelpful for Wood Stove Tax Credit
 Taking that 10% tax credit for a high efficiency wood stove you bought last year? If you use tax software, it can be difficult. TurboTax and Tax Act don't mention wood stoves. HR Block is the worst; theyprovided no obvious place to enter the info and told me that we were entitled to no credit. EPA Burn Wise  Burn Wise is the EPA partnership program about burning the right wood, the right way, in the right wood-burning appliance to protect your home, health, and the air we breathe. It is a great resource for those who burn wood and those who regulate it. Click here to install a widgit like the one on the right that displays weekly wood-burning tips directly on your Web page.
Pellet Boilers Now Classified as Conventional Heaters  Wood pellet boilers are now classified as a conventional, primary heating source, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and will now qualify for Federal Housing Authority Funding. This is especially beneficial for families in Maine who are looking for alternatives to home heating oil. Finally, pellet equipment is getting an equal opportunity. |
Low-Income Heating Spotlight
 Vermont Sustainable Heating initiative (VSHI) is made up of high school volunteers help provide low-income families with wood pellet stoves. The volunteers have installed stoves, delivered pellets, and replaced insulation for families who otherwise would not be able to afford to heat their homes this winter. |
Innovation Spotlight
New Lambda Meter Cables for Biomass Heaters
ETAS, a subsidiary of Bosch, has a new, less expensive product for biomass boilers. The CBS10x Smart Lambda Sensor Cable converts the signal of an oxygen sensor into analog current or voltage. How about for the wood stove?
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Pellet Standards
Pellet Grading Underway at PFI
With the accreditation of its first auditing agencies and test labs, the Pellet Fuels Institute (PFI) is enrolling pellet manufacturers into its pellet standards program. PFI worked with the American Lumber Standards Committee to create the first US third-party accreditation program providing specifications for pellet fuel.
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Carbon Accounting
Southeast Biomass Use Has Long-Term Climate Benefits
A study conducted by the Biomass Energy Resource Center of southeastern forests in the U.S. found that burning wood instead of fossil fuels for electricity will lead to higher levels of atmospheric carbon compared to fossil fuels for the first 35-50 years. After that initial peak, carbon levels will decrease as regrowing forests absorb carbon from previous combustion.
Counting the Family Carbon
 Craig Leisher, a social scientist at the Nature Conservancy, used www.carbonfootprint.com to compare his family's carbon footprint living in a New Jersey suburb to that of living in a cabin in the woods of Maine and heating with a wood stove. The results are surprising.
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Scam Alert
Year After Year "Miracle" Amish Fireplaces Find Unwitting Buyers
Don't be fooled by advertisements claiming to sell Amish "Miracle Heaters". The company, Heat Surge, runs expensive, full page advertisements for these heaters in prominent magazines and had a booth at the Atlanta Expo to sell their wares to hearth dealers. Despite claims, the company's heaters that sell for $200 or $300 put out the same amount of heat as a regular $40 electric heater.
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From the Newsroom
International First Users Apply for the Heat Incentive An umbrella manufacturer and a holiday cottage owner have become the first two applicants for the UK's Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). The RHI was launched last year to make it more financially attractive for industry and businesses to install low-carbon heating systems. It is expected to increase the number of installations by a factor of seven. The EU 27 brings renewable heat goals to life The EU 27 set the goal of reaching 21% of alternative energy for electricity and 20% for heat by 2020. Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia in particular have increased their import of wood pellets. US Army Goes Green - in Germany. How about here? The U.S. Army Garrison in Baumholder, Germany has installed six new furnaces that produce heat by burning wood pellets. Baumholder has about 50 buildings that are currently heated with oil burning furnaces. The wood furnaces replace the aging heating oil furnaces and relieve seven buildings of their oil dependency. National Air Progress AK: Fairbanks, Alaska has approved a compromise that allows the borough to approve coal furnaces and other stoves if they meet emission limits equivalent to those established by the EPA for similar appliances and re-establishes limits on "opacity." Sides Ready for New Round on Outdoor Wood Furnaces CT: The annual battle over wood boilers in Connecticut is underway again. Connecticut is the only Northeastern state that has no emissions requirements for outdoor wood furnaces. The opposition to regulation is not nearly as strong as it was in NY or PA, but the proposals for regulation have often included banning use of existing boilers.
 NH: A pellet boiler subsidy program slated to expire this month has been extended indefinitely in Berlin, New Hampshire. The program which started in Fall 2011 provides subsidies that cover 75% of the transition costs associated with installing and operating pellet boilers.
 NY: Despite the warm winter, firewood continues to be a profitable business in New York City. Burning firewood is a status symbol, not source of energy, for residents of New York City. Firewood sold in New York City must be treated and at up to $400/cord is some of the costliest in the country.
PA: Tilden Township has new rules for outdoor wood boilers. One section mandates that chimneys extend at least 15 feet from the roof ridge of a stove and at least 2 feet above the highest peak of any residence within 500 feet. Penalties range from $100 to $1000. Pellet Stoves: A Heating Alternative? VT: One resident has saved nearly $1,000 in one season of using her wood pellet stove. After one more year, the new renewable energy heating unit will have paid for itself. Columbia Valley Wood Stove Change-Out Program WA: The Columbia Valley Stove Change-Out Program in Washington helps residents replace old stoves with new, certified wood stoves or heat pumps. Funds are limited, so households should apply early. EPA Deadline Drives State to Boost Air Rules WA: Pierce County failed to meet EPA standards for fine particles and was designated a nonattainment area in October 2009. Bills that would let regulators ratchet down levels at which burn bans are called and set moisture limits on firewood are moving through the legislative process. |
Upcoming Conferences and Webinars
Fourth Annual Northeast Biomass Heating Expo
Saratoga Springs, NY March 21 - 23
This exhibition is the successor to three very successful Heating the Northeast with Renewable Biomass conferences.
Fourth Annual Northeast Biomass Heating Expo: Agricultural Biomass Seminar
Saratoga Springs, NY March 21
An all-day focus on the technical and commercial opportunities and challenges to the wider use of agricultural biomass in heating applications is being offered as a complement to the Northeast Biomass Heating Expo 2012.
Masonry Heater Association Conference
North Carolina, April 17 - 21
This conference is open to MHA members only. For information on how to become a member, click on the link above.
Heating the Midwest Conference & Expo
Eau Claire, WI April 25 - 27
This event will bring together leaders in the biomass thermal renewable energy industry to discuss and formulate strategies for expanding the use of biomass in the Midwest.
Pellet Fuels Institute Annual Conference
Mashantucket, CT July 29 - 31
An Opportunity for the biomass fuel industry to gather for three days of educational opportunities, vendor exhibits and networking. Attendees include manufacturers, retailers, industry suppliers, government officials and others.
US Biochar Conference
Rohnert Park, CA July 29 - August 1
A conference designed to advance our understanding of the economic, science, and policy issues related to biochar as both an amendment for soils as well as an agent to sequester carbon.
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