Wood Stove Design Challenge Updates  

New Wood Stove Design Challenge Press 

Three great articles about the Challenge have surfaced in Popular Mechanics, the Nashua Telegraph (New Hampshire Paper) and the DOE Brookhaven website. There was also an interesting article from Alaska about an inventor designing a electricity producing wood stove. 

Meet Challenge Finalists & Partners at the HBPExpo

Going to the Expo in Orlando next week? Check out the booths of the Wood Stove Design Challenge finalists and meet some of the Organizers as well as David Agrell the Popular Mechanics reporter covering it. Click the title for booth numbers and contact info.

 

9 Reasons Wood Stove Manufacturers Don't Use Sensors

Temperature and oxygen sensors make scores of products operate as cleanly and efficiently as possible by regulating combustion, reducing particulate emissions and maximizing efficiency. So, why hasn't any North American manufacturer integrated them into wood stoves yet? 

5 Things That Make a Great Stove

Building a stove is simple. Building a great stove is hard. A great stove (1) reduces fuel use by 50 percent, (2) reduces black carbon by 60 percent, (3) reduces childhood illness from particulates by 30%, (4) is affordable and (5) gets funded. This is a list for developing world cookstoves, but it could be similar to one for wood heating stoves. Read about the quest for great wood cook stoves.

New Partners & Sponsors (& Opportunities Available)

DOE Brookhaven National Laboratories joins as a partner of the Wood Stove Design Challenge and the Masonry Heater Association of North America joins as both a partner and a sponsor. Additional sponsorship opportunities are available. If interested, contact melissa@forgreenheat.org. 

 

Thank you to our sponsors:

Alliance for Green Heat Projects & Activities 

Rebates for Stoves Reach Less Affluent Families 

Initial data released by the Maryland shows there have been more wood and pellet stove rebates awarded per capita in the more rural and less affluent counties of Maryland. This provides some early indication that the Clean Burning Wood Stove Grant Program has succeeded in delivering more benefits to the areas it was intended to help.   

Maryland Wood Heat Retailer Survey  

The Alliance is undergoing a survey of Maryland wood and pellet stove retailers to provide the state with helpful feedback on its rebate pilot program. If you are a retailer who sells stoves to Marylanders but did not receive a link to the survey from us, please email melissa@forgreenheat.org.  

Utah Adopts Innovative Outdoor Wood Boiler Regulations 

A last minute attempt by a manufacturer to derail new outdoor boiler regulations in Utah failed. The State's Air Quality Board passed innovative and balanced regulations that allow the installation of EPA qualified outdoor boilers in rural counties but ban them in populated counties that do not meet federal air quality standards. 

 

Focus on Renewable Portfolio Standards

Rekindling Wood Energy in America        

A group of wood energy experts including university professors and foresters like Lew McCreery of the USDA (left) wrote an opinion piece on the importance of including thermal biomass in Renewable Portfolio Standards. If not properly crafted, new renewable policies will waste biomass energy, they say.

Maryland Pushes for Thermal in RPS

Bills in the Maryland House and Senate would give credit to thermal biomass under the state's RPS. Solar thermal and geothermal are already included. The State Department of Legislative Services determined that this could have a meaningful impact on small businesses with minimal impact on the state's budget.  

Norway, NYT, Firewood & Colbert 

Firewood Splits Norwegians - and Stephen Colbert too  

Norway: A recent Norwegian firewood television program, viewed by 20% of the national population, has been the subject of much international curiosity. But Americans can't fathom why so many Norwegians were glued to the image of a fire burning on screen for eight hours. Stephen Colbert explains.   

Firewood, Education & Film             

New EPA Burnwise Video: Wet Wood is a Waste        

The "Wet Wood is a Waste" PSA explains how to use a moisture meter to test wood to see if it is dry enough to burn. Moisture meters are available in all sizes and can cost as little as $20. Properly dried wood should have a reading of 20% or less.    

Another New Burnwise Video: Split, Stack, Cover, Store 

This video provides 4 easy steps on how to dry wood for proper use: Split wood to a variety of sizes but no larger than a six-inch wedge, stack wood away from a building and off the ground,

cover the wood with a tarp or woodshed and store the wood to dry for 6-12 months. 

Build a Safer Fire and Breathe Easier
FEMA, known for hurricane and tornado relief, has produced a series of videos illustrating how to use and maintain fireplaces and wood stoves.  

Focus on Stoves  

Pellet Stoves Heating Up as Oil Prices Rise 

The spike in home heating fuel prices, the bitterly cold weather and a tax credit that went into effect at the start of the year are all incentives pushing many New Hampshire residents to turn to wood pellets to heat their homes.

Know Your Wood-Burning Stoves by Popular Mechanics

Throughout history, wood stove technology has developed to heat homes, but not all of it has been equally clean and efficient.  Popular Mechanics takes a look at how cordwood-fueled stoves have progressed over the years, culminating in various types of ultra efficient stoves that will be on display at the Wood Stove Decathlon in November.

Photo of the Month: Smoking Gun