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Stay up to date with all things wood heat. All the cool kids are doing it! To sign up,
click here
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September 26, 2016: $45.60
September 26, 2015: $45.55
Source:www.ycharts.com
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Matt McArdle tragically passed away at age 49 while awaiting a organ transplant. Matt was Chair of the New York Bioenergy Association and developed new ways to use sustainably harvested renewable biomass fuels such as wood chips, wood or grass pellets. Matt worked with scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory to displace imported petroleum fuel in heating boilers, leading to patented technologies. Matt brought knowledge, enthusiasm, humor, diplomacy, and personal integrity to efforts to build the advanced wood heating market in New York. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family. He will be missed by all who knew him.
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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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AGH Projects & Activities
Residential wood heat in the U.S. is plagued by the same problems as Europe and scores of other cold countries: most stoves are old, obsolete and put out too much smoke. As a result, wood heating elicits a mix of appreciation, ambivalence and antipathy.
The simplicity of the non-catalytic stove makes it the most popular type of stove in North America by far. With most non-cats, the consumer only needs to worry about a single lever to regulate the amount of air in the firebox. But some consumers unwittingly buy a very unique kind of non-cat, a downdraft stove, and often regret it.
Renting houses with wood stoves can be tricky. The Alliance for Green Heat strongly urges landlords to sweep chimney once a year for the tenant. If the tenant is going to rely on wood, landlords should also consider pre-buying a few seasoned cords in the spring, and include it in the price of the rent. Otherwise, many tenants will use unseasoned wood.
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Focus on NSPS
Confirmed: HPBA and EPA will meet in court
HPBA and EPA have confirmed that the HPBA lawsuit over the 2015 NSPS is headed for court. After the EPA requested numerous delays, they told HPBA that they were unwilling to negotiate over the 2020 emission standards of 2.0 and 2.5 grams an hour and other issues.
Changes to the solid fuel burning domestic appliance regulation (SFBDAR) will improve air quality in communities throughout British Columbia in the long run, but do little to address the current problem of high levels of particulate matter due to residential wood burning.
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Washington Update
The nearly annual ritual of the biomass stove tax credit expiry is upon us. We are hearing what this writer says - the era of this energy tax credit is likely coming to an end. HPBA is pushing for an extension of the current language that enables most stove manufacturers to continue their misleading practice of claiming all their stoves are 75% efficient, when most aren't. We think that only those stoves that are actually over 75% efficient should get the tax credit.
New DOE rules that require most gas furnaces to achieve 92% efficiency are lauded by efficiency groups as a big step forward for both low and upper income consumers. An industry group is suing DOE and the litigation may have a lot of parallels with the HPBA suit against EPA wood heater regulations.
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The Public Debate - Are Stoves 'Green'?
I wonder about the impacts of smoke pouring out of my chimney. The planet just saw 11 months of record high temperatures. Should we all feel a pang of carbon guilt when we load another log on the fire?
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The Carbon Debate
More than half of the 751 million acres of forestland in the United States are privately owned, most by people with holdings of 1,000 acres or less. These family forests, environmental groups argue, represent a large, untapped resource for combating the effects of climate change. Can they be sustainably logged or used to gather firewood and still be eligible for carbon credits?
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Focus on Outdoor Boilers
British Columbia is requiring new outdoor boilers to meet setback limits from property lines which will limit installation of these high-polluting appliances to large lots in rural areas. Additionally, a sunset date has been established for high-emitting outdoor boilers that will see them banned in 10 years. The Alliance for Green Heat calls on more US states to consider adopting such rules.
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International
Canada: Vancouver plans to drastically reduce reliance on natural gas. They also have wood smoke problems and one of the solutions has been to switch from wood, a renewable to gas, a fossil fuel. We think ultra-clean pellet stoves, that reliably produce about half a gram PM per hour, are a great solution for places like Vancouver.
Canada: Many families face "energy poverty". Choosing between how much to eat and how much to heat, is all too common for the poorest residents in Ontario. A wood stove is one of the few ways to heat without using expensive electricity for many homes.
States
CT: Senator Murphy said he was able to learn about issues impacting local businesses, such as some upcoming Environmental Protection Agency rules on wood stove emissions.
MA: The Renewable Thermal Program Coordinator will assume the responsibilities to coordinate the successful implementation of renewable thermal project and market development.
MD: WHAG's Nina Kapur paid a visit to our manufacturing facility in Smithsburg, MD to see a Catalyst test unit in operation.
MD: A growing industry that's harvesting "woody biomass" from forests for energy generation could gain a toehold soon in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. ME: Brothers Adam and Matthew Fronczak sit astride three industries dear to Patten - forestry, farming and milling - and it can make for some scattershot workdays.
ME: Ashland-based Northeast Pellets has been awarded a contract to provide pellets to the University of Maine at Fort Kent, an agreement that has a potential $5.25 million impact on the local economy.
MT: The Libby School District is looking toward the future with a proposed energy-efficient and cost-effective biomass plant.
NY: The goal of Renewable Heat NY is to create a self-sustaining wood heat industry that can deliver high efficiency and clean biomass heating options for New Yorkers.
NY: As many fossil fuels experienced price drops, firewood, wood chip and wood pellet suppliers throughout Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties sold less product and lost revenue.
PA: Some regional agronomists have devised a way to press grass into pellets. They hope to jump start what could be the next biofuel home heating market.
PA: While the going has been tough for the folks at Kingdom BioFuel, their new wood pellet mill in Peach Bottom, PA is up and running, pressing out wood pellets for customers in PA and MD.
WA: As part of Kittitas County's effort to come into compliance with federal air quality standards and fend off regulatory measures, the county considers joining the PM Advance Program with the U.S. EPA.
WA: A 3-year project between will study wood-smoke pollution in the Lower Valley, as well as starting environmental advocacy on the topic as early as high school.
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Misleading Advertisement of the Month
The Pel Pro PP60 claims "EPA-Certified 89.5% Efficiency" on its website, implying to consumers that their exaggerated efficiency is certified by the EPA. Pel Pro is owned by Hearth & Home Technologies and AGH wrote to one of their PR officers in August, asking whether HHT supported such language. HHT replied that they were looking into it several times, but did not provide any substantive response. The EPA name should not be used to support an LHV efficiency. (This stove has the lowest PM of any stove on the market - 0.28 grams an hour and sells for under $1,000. AGH bought one and independently tested it and does not yet understand how it could have burned that clean in a lab.)
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Upcoming Conferences
Escanaba, MI, October 11-13, 2016
Program, registration and sponsorship/vendor details available.
Burlington, VT, October 13-14, 2016
Vermont's annual convention bringing together key players in the clean energy sector.
National Bioenergy Day
Various locations, October 19, 2016
Participating organizations will open their doors to their communities to demonstrate the benefits bioenergy provides on a local level.
Plymouth, NH, October 20, 2016
Organized by the NH Wood Energy Council; policy, public health, and technology will be discussed.
Springfield, MA, October 19-20, 2016
Discover the latest in smart home technology, building science and technical updates, industry trends and more.
Baltimore, MD, November 10-12, 2016
The Tree Care Industry Expo is the world's largest largest tree care show and conference. A firewood wood bank forum is included.Long Beach, CA, November 14-17, 2016Registration is now open for both the In-Person and Virtual Conference. Albany, Nov. 30 - Dec. 1, 2016 A meeting to discuss options to reduce old, high emitting wood stoves.
Portland, OR, January 23-24, 2017
Join weatherization professionals working in the residential energy efficiency industry for a cutting edge educational experience. Las Vegas, NV, January 30-Feburary 1, 2017A unique forum designed expressly for the HVACR community.
This is the largest annual pellet heating event in the world.
Atlanta, GA, March 1-4, 2017 HPBExpo attracts thousands of distributors and retailers that live and breathe the indoor-outdoor lifestyle.
Louisville, KY, March 15-18, 2017
The NCSG National Convention features the nation's largest trade show focused on the chimney and hearth industry.
Burlington, VT, April 25 - 27, 2017
Speakers, panel discussion, tours, the expo and more make this the premier thermal biomass event for industry, government, researchers and non-profit stakeholders.
Minneapolis, MN, April 10-12, 2017 This dynamic event unites industry professionals from all sectors of the world's interconnected biomass utilization industries.
Denver, CO, October 5-15, 2017
Fourteen college teams will compete in the DOE competition.
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