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Stay up to date with all things wood heat. All the cool kids are doing it! To sign up,
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Caitlin Madera, an AGH 2014 policy intern, is now the Clean Energy Program Manager at the Maryland Energy Administration where she manages the wood and pellet stove rebate program. Top stories in past issues |
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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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Pellet Stove Challenge Update
 Applications from university teams, manufacturers, and others for the 2016 Pellet Stove Design Challenge are due on Tuesday January 26. Stoves can be already on the market, adaptions of existing stoves or completely new designs.
Registration is now open to the three day Design Challenge event, held at Brookhaven National Lab from April 6-8, 2016. The event will be an intensive mixture of panels, workshops, pellet stove testing and networking.
Panels and workshops at the April Pellet Stove Design Challenge are geared to industry experts, regulators, the testing community, academics, and others.
The three newest teams competing to be finalists are Stuv, a Belgian company, Seraph, an Illinois company, and the engineering department at the University of Maryland, who won prizes for their cord wood stove in previous challenges.
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AGH Projects and Activities
Comparing wood pellets
The Alliance for Green Heat purchased several popular brands of wood pellets and had them tested by a third party test lab for moisture, ash content, and BTUs. The results, shown below, show less of a difference in these key criteria than we expected. Efficiency, CO and stack temp test results forthcoming.
When we rated 6 popular pellet stoves in October, one unexpected discovery was that the stoves produced far fewer BTUs than listed. Quadrafire claimed triple the BTUs we could get from the stove and Harman claimed 2.5 times. Even the EPA listed numbers, provided by labs, that far exceeded what we could get. The EPA provides no guidance to consumers and some stakeholders think this should change.
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Washington Watch
 President Obama signed a bill that includes an extension of the $300 tax credit for wood and pellet heaters that are 75% efficiency or greater. In previous years, manufacturers claimed that every single stove they made was at least 75% efficient, flouting the letter and intent of the law. The Alliance is calling for greater transparency and integrity in the process this year.
A stove manufacturer took issue with AGH claiming that manufacturers have misled tens of thousands of consumers. He says that using the B.41.5 standard, at LHV, "most stoves will pass." Following his comments, AGH replies.
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Focus on NSPS
 As of January 1st, EPA exempt models from Vogelzang will no longer be sold by U.S. retailers. New rules don't apply to homeowners, however, who can resell units that are not in compliance with emission standards.
Exempt stoves linger on market
Ace Hardware and Tractor Supply were still selling off their inventory of exempt Vogelzang and US Stove heaters as of Monday, January 4. The stoves are illegal to sell as of Jan. 1.
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Focus on Europe
 A groundbreaking seminar in Copenhagen delved into a familiar problem: excessive smoke from wood stoves. It explored innovative European policies, regulatory solutions, and emerging automated stove technologies. Several of these speakers will be attending the 2016 Pellet Stove Design Challenge to meet US counterparts.
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International
Canada: With 10 days to go to the deadline for Montreal residents to declare their wood-burning fireplaces or stoves, only about half have done so.
States
CA: The San Joaquin Valley's strict residential wood-burning rules are benefiting the region's older residents, who tend to more vulnerable to pollution, according to a new study.
CT: An eyewitness news team investigates a pellet delivery company offering less than exceptional service.
IL: Greenhouse gas emissions from wood pellet-based electrical plants are between 74 and 85 percent lower than those of coal-firing plants, a University of Illinois study revealed.
MA: A grant from the state of Massachusetts will cover about 75% of the cost of switching from oil to pellets for this school.
ME: A developer's plan to turn the former Dr. Carl Troutt School into a small-scale wood pellet manufacturing facility will likely be delayed until mid-2016.
ME: Program offers Rumford-area homeowners $1,000 to replace their dirty heat stoves. This new program is a small one, confined to 10 towns in the Rumford area and funded with $41,000.
MO: U.S. Rep. Jason Smith tried o repeal EPA regulations in a rider tacked onto a wide-sweeping energy bill.
NH: Economic impacts of NH's biomass-producing industry is pegged at $72M. Eight wood-energy power plants across the state provide 8% of the state's electrical needs and serve as an economic engine for many rural communities.
NH: Environmental studies students at Keene State are monitoring the particulate matter from residential wood burning stoves, fireplaces, and outdoor furnaces that cause poor air quality.
NH: Froling Energy wants to expand and automate its facilities to meet the growing demand for dry wood chips, and is counting on a $150,000 grant from the N.H. Public Utilities Commissions to help.
PA: The Pellet Fuels Institute has announced the qualification of pellet fuel manufacturer Energex into the Pellet Fuels Institute Standards Program, a third-party accreditation program.
UT: After years of delay, the EPA has requested public input on two proposals for addressing Utah's regional haze plan, which environmentalists say would do little to clear gunk from the skies.
VT: A state board has passed a plan to give nearly $350,000 for a proposed wood pellet production plan in Vermont that will cost a total of 5 million dollars.
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Upcoming Conferences and Webinars
Orlando, FL, January 23-27, 2016
Part of the 2016 ASHRAE Winter Conference. Kirkland, WA, January 29-31, 2016
The largest annual North American gathering of the cook stove community. Saratoga Springs, NY, February 9-10, 2016
This conference offers education in home performance and weatherization. Agenda proposals are now being accepted. Verona, Italy, February 24-28, 2016
Progetto Fuoco is a global event for wood-fire heating, with an international exhibition of plants and materials. Wels, Austria, February 24-26, 2016
A conference to present the work of young researchers in the field of energy efficiency (English only).
New Orleans, LA, March 17-19, 2016
North America's largest indoor-outdoor living industry showcase. Burlington, VT, April 29-May 1, 2016Almost 2,000 attendees are expected at what has become one of the fastest-growing biomass thermal energy conferences in the US.
Upton, NY, April 6-8, 2016. A pellet stove technology competition, workshops, hands-on-learning, roundtables, and much more. Stove designs now being accepted for the competition.
New York, NY, April 21-22, 2016. Last year, the conference established itself as one of the nation's foremost and widest-ranging conferences on energy technologies.
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Misleading Advertisement of the Month:
 Enviro claims its stoves have "EPA tested efficiencies" between 75-87% for their pellet stoves and 82-84% for their wood stoves. Claiming these figures as "EPA tested efficiencies" misuses the EPA name and misleads consumers. Enviro may make good stoves, but they don't do right by their customers by saying their efficiency numbers are "EPA tested efficiencies."
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