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In Case You Missed it
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Top stories in past issues:
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Hopke Joins Workshop Judges
Dr. Philip K. Hopke is the Bayard D. Clarkson Distinguished Professor at Clarkson University, the Director of the Center for Air Resources Engineering and Science (CARES), and the Director of the Institute for a Sustainable Environment (ISE).
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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: [email protected]
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Wood Stove Design Challenge
BNL Workshop: Where sharing data trumps competition
Next week's Design Workshop at Brookhaven Lab is an experiment for manufacturers and inventors to share their test data and their technologies with an array of stakeholders who are coming together to help make wood stoves burn cleaner in consumers homes. Watch for daily updates on our facebook page, twitter and blog.
On Wednesday, Nov. 5 at 2:00, BTEC is hosting a free webinar featuring the teams competing in this year's Stove Design Workshop, which is testing and assessing automated stoves at the DOE's Brookhaven National Lab.
 AGH - This year there are at least half a dozen stoves on the market that have some automated feature that didn't exist on the market a few years ago. Many of these features help the stove burn cleaner, and are aiming at a demographic looking for easier operation. The trend is to tackle start up emissions with automated features, which is no small task. In Europe, fully automated wood stoves, like those in the Brookhaven Workshop, are taking off.
Proposals describing stove retrofit technology are due on Nov. 21 for the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency retrofit challenge. Finalists will have their technologies tested in an EPA accredited test lab.
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AGH Projects and Activities
Wood heating: Incentives, regulations & inspections
AGH - The Alliance for Green Heat continues to push the home improvement community to include wood and pellet stoves in energy audits, energy efficiency upgrades and incentive programs. Click above for a powerpoint presentation at the ACI New England Home Performance Conference that we did with BPI.
Update: USDA added to best heating fuel calculators
The Alliance for Green Heat reviewed scores of the most popular fuel calculators and found many of them to be biased and not transparent. USDA just updated theirs and we added it to the three best for wood heaters, along with hearth.com and EIA's.
Photo essay: wood stoves around the world
 Heating with wood stoves is more common in many countries around the globe. We made an attempt to show typical stoves in more than a dozen countries, exposing a widespread problem of reliance on old, inefficient stoves. The second in a series of photo essays.
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Washington Watch
Government report says wood & pellet heat dominates residential renewables
 AGH - The 2014 Winter Fuel Outlook released by the EIA on Oct. 7 predicted that wood and pellet heating would continue being the nation's fasting growing heat source. Wood and pellet heating grew 38% from 2004 to 2013, and now accounts for 2.5% of all home primary heating.
While EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy celebrated Energy Star Day, heralding the power of a label to help consumers and the environment, the EPA is proposing to discontinue a consumer label for wood and pellet stoves in the NSPS. The industry trade group, HPBA, agreed with EPA. We say that stove consumers deserve transparency and emission and efficiency info on stove labels!
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International News
EU take concrete steps toward ending energy poverty
The European Union and European and African countries joined forces for Sustainable Energy for All, taking the lead in fighting against energy poverty.
Greece: Let them eat wood
After taxing heating fuel beyond the reach of thousands of households, the government in Greece has taken the first step in banning the use of fireplaces and wood stoves in areas affected by dangerous smog levels, ironically an unintended consequence of the high price of heating oil.
Prices of imported pellets from US trending downwards
Transportation accounted for a quarter of the delivered price of wood pellets from the Southeast to the Netherlands. Prices for US pellets dropped across Europe. Heating pellets in Italy fell 4%.
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National
Tribes on front lines on wood smoke exposure
The EPA does not consider wood smoke an environmental justice issue, but they are funding the Tribal Healthy Homes Network that combats excessive indoor wood smoke in tribal homes.
States
Doing our part: Responsibility starts at home
AK: Whether regulation of the air quality issue remains in the hands of the state or is transferred to local control, being conscientious about what we burn and how we burn it can go a long way toward the goal of clean air in our community.
Future of air quality enforcement in Fairbanks unclearAK: The failure of Proposition 2 means the Fairbanks North Star Borough has the chance to regulate air pollution for the first time in four years, but a cautious approach aimed at involving the community means local controls won't likely be part of the plan. AZ: Arizona is soliciting cost-share proposals for woody biomass utilization projects. Applications are due by Dec. 15. Woodstove replacement program returnsCA: In response to popular demand, officials announce the return of the Woodstove Replacement Program for property owners who want to upgrade to cleaner and more efficient heating systems. City launches firewood program: $75 per half cordCT: The city soon will be getting into the firewood business, selling residents half cords for $75 provided they're willing to pick it up.
Biomass proving a cost-effective energy solutionOH: Energy-efficient commercial and industrial woody biomass boiler systems are gradually building an excellent track record in schools, hospitals and municipal complexes across the Midwestern states, including one at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Ohio. MA: In the summer of 2014, Massachusetts enacted legislation that guarantees the award of tradable credits for systems that use renewable fuels to generate heat. This article describes the process that led to enactment of this historic legislation. Local firms would sell wood - if they had itMA: In the coming cold winter months, many Massachusetts residents are looking forward to warm, crackling fires in their homes. But there may not be enough wood to go around.
Heating pellet prices rising ahead of winter
MI: Winter weather is right around the corner and homeowners are looking ahead at efficient ways to heat their homes.
MT: The county health department is taking steps to address air quality violations. Meeting these standards is important not only for citizen health, but also for economic reasons.
NH: Across New Hampshire, firewood is in short supply. A wood bank in Antrim is also feeling the shortage.
NY: Need firewood for the winter? Good luck. October is here and cooler temperatures are around the corner, but don't be surprised if you have trouble finding seasoned firewood.
NY: SUNY joined NYSERDA and the New York Biomass Energy Alliance in celebrating National Bioenergy Day with activities to educate the public about cleaner, more efficient ways to heat with wood and the value of sustainable forestry.
OK: A lot fewer trees blew down this past Spring in Green Country thanks to a quiet year for storms, but that means there'll be a lot less firewood available this winter.
 VT: There is more demand from homeowners, and an increasing market for hardwood used for heating in big woodchip boilers. The cold weather last year outlasted many woodpiles and exhausted the stockpiles of wood dealers. VT: The first thing Ricardo Leon did when he and other Vermont Castings executives took over ownership of the manufacturer last year was to tell employees that the company was bankrupt. VT: With wood heat options, you get a local fuel. Along with Vermont grown, harvested and sold cordwood, the state has one wood pellet mill, Vermont Wood Pellet Company in North Clarendon.
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Upcoming Conferences and Webinars
The Collaborative Stove Design Workshop 
Brookhaven Nat'l Lab, Nov. 4-7, 2014
Building on the Wood Stove Decathlon, this event will focus on automated stoves and bring experts together to study, test and improve automated stove designs.
Nov 5, 2014, 2-3pm EST The webinar will explore the possible high tech future of wood heating and how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could test these stoves to allow them onto the U.S. market.
Vancouver, BC, November 17, 2014 At the WPAC AGM & Conference you will receive the insider information about the Canadian pellet market.
Washington DC, December 7-10, 2014 BECC is the premier event on understanding individual and organizational behavior and decision-making related to energy, greenhouse gas emissions, climate change, and sustainability.
Save the date: ETHOS 2015
Kirkland, WA, Jan 23-24, 2015
The premier annual North American conference on cookstoves and heat stoves in the developing world.
Seattle, WA, February 2-3, 2015 ACI is excited to return to Seattle, WA for the 2015 Northwest Regional Home Performance Conference!
Lancaster, PA, February 18-21, 2015
The National Chimney Sweep Guild is now accepting speaker proposals for presentations at the NCSG 2015 National Convention.
Wels, Austria, February 25-26, 2015
With more than 600 participants every year, the European Pellet Conference is the largest annual pellet event in the world!
Nashville, TN, March 5-7, 2015
The annual trade show for North American stove, barbecue and patio manufacturers, distributors and retailers.
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