AGH analysis
- With the Step 2 deadlines for stoves just a year away, most stove manufacturers say they are ready or will be soon. Many retailers also say they are ready, while others prepare to deeply discount stoves that can't be sold after May 2020
SBI, Travis & Kuma test all their stoves with cordwood
SBI, Travis and.Kuma have switched to cordwood testing to certify their lines of stoves to 2020 standards. When the EPA posts its updated, online list of certified wood stoves, consumers and change-out program managers can see which stoves were designed to burn cord wood. Some fear that companies testing with cordwood may gain an edge in the market. On the right are recent loads from certification reports, showing some contrived, artificial shaped crib loads.
NPR
- About 25,000 wood-burning furnaces are sold every year in the United States. If the Trump Administration sticks to the long-planned timelines, Lamppa furnaces think they may capture 10 percent of this market share with the cleanest unit available. HPBA calls the impact of the timeline "draconian."
E & E News
- "Interesting choice," Miles Keogh, executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, wrote later on his Twitter account. Keogh also asked whether the tweet was meant to send a signal to the industry that "a favorable outcome" could be on the way for two rulemakings launched last year.
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BTEC
- Over 100 House members signed a letter supporting renewable energy investments! Contact your representatives and urge them to add their name and include the BTU Act to make the most efficient biomass heating systems part of it.
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Last month we used the wrong link for a blog on a retailer who recalled the highs and lows of 4 decades selling stoves - the oil embargo, Y2K, Hurricane Katrina and the impact of new EPA regulations. Here is the right one.
AGH/Biomass Magazine
- Some myths never seem to die. They morph from grains of truth in academic papers to slogans on bumper stickers and then get debated by for decades. Here are 6 myths from both sides of the wood heating debate.
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In a sign of the changing face of wood stoves in America, this program features the burgeoning number of catalytic stoves, emerging automated stoves and stoves with verified, listed efficiency ratings. Mass. Governor Charlie Baker praised the "more efficient, cost cutting heating technologies."
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Engineering.com
- Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software performs calculations to simulate how clean a stove prototype is. CFD saves manufacturers time and money by understanding how to tweak prototypes. Some companies such as Woodstock Soapstone have been using it for years, but its getting better. SBI used it intensively to prep prototypes to meet the 2020 standards with cordwood, without using catalysts.
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Toy wood stoves that really work?
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G
orgeous photos of miniature toy wood stoves that actually worked and kids could make little fires in them. Sound crazy? It does now, but in the late 1800s it was common.
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Focus on Health & Air Quality
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"Lower heating prices reduce mortality in winter months" concludes authors of this study. "Using less heating means exposure to lower ambient temperature, which has been linked to cardiovascular, respiratory, and other health problems. And if families do not cut back usage, this can lead to cutbacks in other expenditures that affect health, such as food and health care."
The New Yorker
- "Outdoor air has been regulated for decades, but emissions from daily domestic activities may be more dangerous than anyone imagined." A good kitchen exhaust fan is one of best solutions, and potentially could help with wood smoke, if any.
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Many people don't believe that a wood-fire can be clean. But a slow, small, gradual fire is still a weak fire. "I see it all too often, even from the chimneys of environmentally conscious citizens with spanky new stoves."
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State & International News
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States
California:
“We need to get to people, because if we don’t get applications, we can’t change out stoves,” Ruiz added. With a timeframe of a little over a year to accept applications, this is vital to the Wood Stove Change Out Program
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Connecticut:
In Connecticut, a new company will employ 50-60 people in making pellets for home heating. All hardwood trees to be used in making pellets will come from local land clearing operations. The factory should produce about 30,000 tons of pellets each year. Pellets for home heating will be sold within a 50- to 75-mile radius of the business; the grilling and smoking pellets will be sold nationwide.
Maine:
Coal ash is a dangerous by-product of combustion, but wood ash from biomass plants? Its prized by farmers, approved for organic farms, and costs half of commercial lime fertilizer. When biomass plants close, farmers lose their supply.
New York:
Paul Smith’s College in the Adirondacks is going local not just with pellet heat with the Feel Good Heat Initiative, but also electric power from a small, nearby hydroelectric plant. “Now, a lot of what you pay goes overseas, while the smaller local power plants are forced to shut down. We want to give local generators a bigger share of the retail price.”
Utah:
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert spent part of his Monday in a KC-135 refueling tanker, marveling not only at the military's new fleet of F-35 fighter jets but the spectacular aerial views of the state's landscape.
International
Europe:
Biomass, solar thermal, geothermal and other low carbon heating industries have an industry association in Europe demanding parity with renewable electricity. They demand policies to incentivise the decarbonisation of heating and cooling by establishing a level playing field across regulatory, fiscal and other policy tools.
Belgium:
"The purchase of wood-burning stoves is increasing. One in six households uses a wood-burning or pellet-burning stove, which is twice as many as in 2017. “No wonder half of all particles in the air in Flanders are caused by open fires and wood-burning stoves,” explained Meysman." Antwerp is the second largest city in Belgium.
New Zealand:
A local government promotes firewood dealers who agree to deliver wood under 25% MC, and agree to spot checks? Fairbanks Alaska had a similar program.
UK:
In the UK "the sharp drop in customers has been sparked by “misleading” stories in the national press reporting a ban on wood burning stoves, when actually it is only those that do not meet environmental standards that are being phased out."
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Hershey, PA, May 19-20, 2019
Our 4th Annual Conference Registration is now open! Join us for an exciting and outstanding program.
Putney, VT, May 22
A half-day “deep dive” into the balance-of-system between renewable energy heating appliances and new, low temperature hydronic distribution heat emitters.
Cooksville, Wisconsin, June 1-2, 2019
Two-day course on the principles of batchbox rocket stoves. A hybrid of a batchrocket and a Russian bell stove will be built.
Epsom, New Hampshire, June 12 - June 13, 2019
The NFW is a two day event that focuses on the business side of the split firewood industry to assist companies with ideas to grow sales, profitability and business success.
Washington, DC, July 11, 2019
The event will bring together 30-40 businesses, trade associations, and government agencies to showcase renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies.
Durham, NC, July 16, 2019
The U.S. EPA will hold a workshop on July 16, 2019 with the objective of providing a forum for individual stakeholder views related to non-regulatory performance targets for sensors.
Wels, Austria, July 22-26, 2019
To find fresh solutions and new ideas for sustainable energy in buildings, industry and transport, we are inviting 33 young professionals and researchers under 33 to tackle this challenge in an event of collaborative thinking across disciplines.
Baltimore, MD, September 17-18, 2019
The Mid-Atlantic Bioenergy Council (MABEC) is looking forward to welcoming over 200 attendees from the Mid-Atlantic and beyond to Baltimore, MD September 17-18, 2019.
Burlington, Vermont, October 10-11, 2019
Renewable Energy Vermont's annual forum brings together business leaders, system operators, architects, builders, manufacturers, engineers, scientists, policy makers, and regulators.
Washington DC, July, 2020
Competing teams exhibit and compete at the Build Challenge Event, as part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington.
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Trivia:
Can you recognize the most important person in the history of pellet stoves? He is widely credited with inventing the pellet stove in 1979. And, some experts claim that his original design was so good that few have been able to improve upon it. Many companies have copied it, some more successfully that others. Currently, he lives in the San Juan islands in Washington State.
Answer in box below
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For many years, the EPA Burn Wise website has defined hydronic heaters as "outdoor wood boilers." Shouldn't the EPA include indoor pellet boilers right up front, and not as an afterthought? And how about using an image of far cleaner, indoor pellet system? AGH and others have asked for this change for years, and it may happen soon.
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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.
Answer: Jeffrey Whitfield
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