April 2016
Green Heat News
Issue No. 80

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Price of Oil

March 28, 2016: $37.99

March 28, 2015: $48.83

  

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: [email protected] 

Pellet Stove Challenge Update

The Pellet Stove Design Challenge begins, Wednesday, April 6 and will feature dozens of technical, cutting edge presentations. Most of the powerpoints will be publicly available in coming weeks.  The winner(s) will be announced Friday afternoon, April 8. 

The future of residential pellet heating is in flux, not only because of rock bottom oil and gas prices, but also because more affordable heat pumps and other technologies are entering the market.

This is an except of a much longer, and more technical paper by Prof. Gael Ulrich -"BioCombustion Institute Bulletin #3." Gael calculated the efficiency of six popular pellet stoves, finding a wide difference.  The highest, the Italian made Piazzetta Sabrina was 76% efficient and the lowest was the Enviro M55 Insert at 51% efficient.

Existing test standards for biomass room heating appliances have supported technology development tremendously in past decades. Due to today's changing and more demanding requirements, however, there is the obvious need for refined testing procedures in order to differentiate between poor and excellent products.
 
Other Design Challenges
 
The competition focuses on two broad categories: Fostering the development and deployment of new innovative products and business models that will expand the use of sustainable energy in Pennsylvania, and fostering the development and deployment of innovative community-scale sustainable energy programs/projects in Pennsylvania.  A great opportunity for thermal biomass projects.

This technology competition seeks strategies to quickly dry firewood. More than 30,000 clean cookstoves were installed in Colombia to provide rural farmers a cleaner cooking technology. However, due to the abundance of free, local - but wet - firewood in Colombia, some of these clean cookstoves are actually consuming more wood, and producing more soot than open fires would.  
    
AGH Projects & Activities
 
Grant funds will be used to propose options for programs that remove existing older stoves, and replace them with new, wood burning appliances that meet or exceed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 2020 New Source Performance Standards wood heater regulations.   
   
We published a blog in February about how HHT companies and other leading stove brands had not published their test lab reports as required by law. Within weeks, they responded, and published the reports on websites for Quadrafire, Harman, Vermont Castings and others.
 
EPA Regulation Update
 
This Discussion Paper suggests a process for transitioning to test methods for residential wood heaters that are more representative of how cordwood fueled heaters are used in people's homes. The EPA seeks input from any interested party on how to improve current cordwood test methods and balance representation of in-home use with precision and variability concerns as the Agency considers the development of a reference method. 
    

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From the Newsroom     
 
International

Australia: A planned ban on the collection of firewood from public reserves and parks in the state's northwest is shortsighted and city-centric, according to Northern Victoria MP Daniel Young.  
 
Canada: A chart of household heating fuels shows the percentage of Canadian homes  that are heated with wood. According to the chart, almost one in five Canadian homes use wood for heating. 
 
France: Paris plans to import thousands of tons of wood per year from the United States as part of plans to use more renewable energy in its urban heating systems.  
 
States
 
AK: If approved, it would be the first time the borough has required residents to get rid of a heating device thought to be contributing the area's particulate pollution problem.  

CA: Come November, homeowners in San Francisco Bay Area won't be allowed to put fireplaces in new homes. When they sell homes with existing fireplaces, they'll be required to notify buyers of the potential health hazards that come with burning wood.

CA: It'll be really interesting to learn what the ALA's assessment of fine particulate matter pollution (PM 2.5) is for the San Joaquin Valley which, by the way, is consistently ranked the worst in the nation for this particular pollutant.
 
CT: "As soon as I walked into the front door our detector said the carbon monoxide levels were very high," said Weston fire Chief John Pokorny. "We found that their woodstove had a leak and caused the carbon monoxide to back up into the house."    
 
CO: Resident of five counties - Boulder, Denver, Jefferson, Larimer and Weld - will be able to receive $750 - $3,000 to change out old stoves for new ones.  Stoves that meet the 2020 EPA emission standards get $1,000 and pellet stoves get $1,500.
 
MA: The news should come as good news to several town officials who in recent times have advocated encouraging people to burn wood more cleanly to improve air quality locally.  

ME: Legislation in Maine aims to support local pellet producers by encouraging public postsecondary educational institutions to give preference to Maine pellets in heating fuel contracts.  

MN:As emerald ash borers munch their way ever further into the Northland, one fact seems certain: A lot of trees will be lost. 

MN: A bill introduced to the Minnesota State Legislator would grant homeowners a tax credit equal to 33% of the costs of a residential biomass heating system.  
 
NH: Via a contractual arrangement unique to biomass heat in the US, Wilton, New Hampshire-based High Mowing School replaced fuel oil with a biomass district heating system from Xylogen.
 
VT: The Northern Forest Center is expanding a program that helps Vermonters switch to high-efficiency wood pellet boilers to provide heat for homes, businesses and other properties.  
 
WA: Students measured the amount of a trace element from wood smoke inside their homes and found it present in indoor air samples, even during a burn ban.

WV: A wide variety of state rule changes died when delegates objected to the adoption of a federal regulation that aims to reduce pollution from new wood-burning stoves.
 
Upcoming Conferences and Webinars

Upton, NY, April 6-8, 2016
A pellet stove technology competition, workshops, hands-on-learning, roundtables, and much more. 

Nashville, TN, April 9, 2016
Workshop on the new regulations for firewood in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the new business opportunities that have sprung up to meet public demand.

Charlottesville, NC, April 11-14, 2016
The dynamic event unites industry professionals from all sectors of the world's interconnected biomass utilization industries.

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

Keedysville, MD, April 21, 2016
The workshop is a one-day educational and networking event to provide the firewood processing industry the latest knowledge on processing, kiln drying and marketing of firewood.

Takoma Park, MD, April 30, 2016
Music, films, speakers, exhibitors and workshops all focused on building community and improving our environment. Administrator Gina McCathy is keynote and the Alliance for Green Heat presents on wood and pellet technology and policy options. 

Albany, NY, May 25-26, 2016
Through interactive and innovative sessions, attendees will learn about updates on energy assistance programs, low-income energy policy, and best practices for low-income consumer engagement.

Denver, CO, June 6-8, 2016
For 28 years, our annual conference is the nation's leading annual meeting of energy assistance leaders.

24th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition 
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, 2016 
The PFI Annual Conference highlights the various applications of densified biomass.

Antique Stove Association Annual Show and Conference 
Save the date: Brainerd, MN, August 14-16, 2016 $100 registration (including brunch and a dinner cruise). Questions? 218-828-1981.
  Save the date: Escanaba, MI, October 11-13, 2016 
Program, registration and sponsorship/vendor details forthcoming.



 
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A special thanks to those who have contributed $2,000 or more since Jan. 1, 2013

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