February 2016
Green Heat News
Issue No. 78

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Price of Oil

January 26, 2016: $31.45

January 26, 2015: $44.80

  

Source:www.ycharts.com  

Top stories in past issues

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 credit. Contact: info@forgreenheat.org 
Pellet Stove Challenge Update

The applications are in and the finalists in the Pellet Stove Design Challenge will be announced next week.  Unlike past years, stoves can be high performance stoves on the market, retrofits of existing stoves, prototypes or new stoves.  

Registration is open for the Pellet Stove Design Challenge that features a stove competition, demonstration cord wood stove testing, panels, workshops and more.  Registration is $100.

The Design Challenge has an extensive line-up of panels and workshops for experts in and out of the stove industry. The event will deliver a vibrant mix of academics, regulators, inventors, industry insiders, students and non-profit leaders.

Coverage of past contestants of stove challenges
Smithsonian Magazine covers MF Fire's Mulciber that won the 2014 competition. The new Maryland company continues to get impressive press coverage of its maverick designers who are bucking industry norms. Modeled after the Hybrid Steel, winner of the 2013 competition, this new Woodstock Soapstone stove is one of the cleanest ever. And, first American-made automated wood stove that eliminated adjustable air controls is now on the market.  Quadrafire did not enter it into a Design Challenge, but its designers participated in both previous events.

AGH Projects and Activities

More companies are disclosing actual stove efficiencies, but some of the big names are still holding out. An affordable Englander pellet stove came in at 79% efficiency, in the photo to the left. And the Enviro EF2 came in at 58%. (Enviro's website still claims the EF2 is 87% efficient.) 


Editorial - Influenced by states and groups that want to deploy more of the cleanest and most efficient appliances, the EPA is slowly beginning to treat the stove and boiler sector not only as an emitter of PM, but also as a way to reduce fossil fuel. 

We tested Curran, Nation's Choice, Pennington and American Wood Fibers Ultra Premium White Pine pellets.  The first three brands had very similar BTU, moisture and ash content.  Don't you wish someone tested all the major brands each year and published the results?
Washington Watch

People Magazine reports that Bernie Sanders chops his own firewood. Ok, but get with the program Bernie and upgrade that old, uncertified wood stove.
 
Federal low income energy payments can pay for wood stove repairs, as mentioned by this local Colorado program.

Focus on NSPS
 
Look for the label! This voluntary hangtag is a sign of a stove that is exceptionally clean, meeting the 2020 standars, and has a verified efficiency. Travis Industries, the maker of Lopi stoves, is the first major stove company to be approved to use these hangtags. Travis is a trailblazer of clean and efficient stoves. We urge consumers to look for this label on showroom floors. 
 
Recalls
 
US Stove is recalling 4,400 of their window mounted pellet stoves because of a fire hazard. Like the Quadra-Fire Mt Vernon pellet stove recall, the companies and industry newsletter appear to be doing little to advertise the recall. Consumers are entitled to a rebate of $868 or a credit of $1,200. Please spread the word.     

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From the Newsroom     
 
International
Canada: Vancouver, British Columbia is looking at Montreal as a model to end the use of uncertified stoves and only allow the installation of the very cleanest models.

Italy: In an effort to decrease air pollution, a small town mayor issued an ordinance burning the use of wood-fired stoves not equipped with filters that reduce toxic air pollution.  

Norway: A recent spate of bad air days caused the Norwegian city to introduce a controversial alternate-day car ban. Yet research shows the burning of logs in homes is a far bigger contributor to Bergen's pollution problems. 
 
States
 
CA: California's biomass energy plants, which burn woody waste to generate electricity, are folding in rapid succession.

CA: The California Air Resources Board urges alternative to wood heating, or at least upgrading to EPA certified appliances. 

CO: The ALA in Colorado is fighting for cleaner air by providing $900,000 in vouchers to help replace or retrofit old wood and coal stove appliances with new, efficient, EPA-certified appliances. 

MD: A grant program to conduct feasibility studies to reduce fossil heat and electric bills by using locally sourced low value wood fuel.  
 
MA: Editorial: Those who burn wood should a source available within 25 miles. They should replace older stoves with certified ones. They should burn seasoned hardwood; never trash.   

MA: A resident takes on open burning in a Mass. town and is met with widespread support for open burning.  
 
NH: Two departments are teaming up study air pollution in NH's
 wood smoke hot spot.

NY: A wood pellet company that will bring 20 full-time jobs to Herkimer County was approved to receive benefits from the Industrial Development Agency.  

NY: NYSERDA is seeking proposals from firms qualified to provide technical information, economic and technical modeling, and policy and economy analysis in renewable heating and cooling.
OR: Wood stove loan program as helped 172 homeowners replace polluting wood stoves in last 15 years.

VA: Volunteers with the Mount Vernon Baptist Church cut several truckloads of firewood to help people heat their homes. 
 
WA: Wood stoves are a big source of Vancouver's air pollution and a big reason why the city has come close to violating federal air quality standards.  
  
Upcoming Conferences and Webinars

Annapolis, MD, February 4, 2016
Hear from speakers about the energy and environmental policy considerations facing the General Assembly in the 2016 session.

Saratoga Springs, NY, February 9-10, 2016
This conference offers education in home performance and weatherization. Agenda proposals are now being accepted.

Randolph, VT, February 22, 2016
Help define and advance strategies to make Vermont a national leader in climate economy business development.

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).

Washington DC, March 1-2, 2016
Low income energy assistance advocates visit Capitol Hill to educate Congress on need for LIHEAP and impacts on recipients.

New Orleans, LA, March 17-19, 2016
North America's largest indoor-outdoor living industry showcase.

Burlington, VT, March 30-April 1, 2016
Almost 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. 

Little Switzerland, NC, April 11-17, 2016
Attend the Annual General Meeting of the Masonry Heater Association of North America at Wildacres.

National Firewood Workshop
Save the date: Keedysville, MD, April 21, 2016

Amsterdam, June 6-9, 2016
EUBCE covers the entire value chain of biomass from sustainability to policy to technology of both heat and power sectors.

Asheville, NC, July 24-26 
The PFI Annual Conference highlights the various applications of densified biomass.

Antique Stove Association Annual Show and Conference 
Save the date: Brainerd, MN, August 17-19


Misleading Advertisement of the Month
 
What NSPS? Exempt US Stove and Vogelzang stoves still widely available
This month it was hard to choose between any number of retailers who are still unlawfully selling stoves made by US stove and its subsidiary Vogelzang. Exempt stoves are still being sold by Toolfetch, Tractor Supply, AC Wholesalers, woodstovepro.com and wayfair.com.   


 
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The Alliance for Green Heat is an independent non-profit organization working to promote cleaner and more efficient biomass heating. Please consider making a generous contribution. The Alliance is a tax exempt 501 (c)(3) organization.
 
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A special thanks to those who have contributed $2,000 or more since Jan. 1, 2013

-- Arbolito Foundation 
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-- Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves
-- New York State Energy & Research Development Authority
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-- U.S. Forest Service
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