Green Heat News
A monthly news service for everyone
interested in renewable wood & pellet heating
October 2021
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Featured Stories
On Sept. 26, the EPA approved Alaska’s strategy for improving the air in the Fairbanks area, rebuking virtually all of industry’s objections. That victory came from the approval of Alaska’s State Implement Plan (SIP) to reduce wood smoke PM2.5 in the Fairbanks non-attainment area via an assortment of both common and innovative wood heat regulations.
The DOE has now invested more than $11 million to modernize residential wood and pellet heating technology. Six companies and universities are now building automated stoves and as they come to market, they may begin to challenge the reputation and the expectations of the wood stove.
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A massive clean electricity scheme, which would allow the United States to begin to seriously reduce fossil fuels is in the Senate. The package also includes extensions of residential tax credits and could increase the high efficiency wood and stove credit to 30% for more than 10 years.
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DOE selects Oregon State and University of Alabama to receive their 2021 grants to design innovative, automated wood stoves. AGH partnered with Myren Labs and German experts and applied for one of the grants but were not selected. We want to congratulate the winners and look forward to covering their progress. And, we want to thank the DOE for continuing to support the development of a more modern wood stove industry in the US.
NREL, the National Renewable Energy Lab, mapped primary mill residues, which are wood residues such as sawdust produced when round wood is made into wood products. Residues are low value left-overs, most of which have some commercial value, including as fiber for pellets.
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State Renewable Heat Policies |
Vermont is proposing a “clean heat standard” that would incentivize fossil fuel alternatives including heat pumps, pellet stoves, biofuels and “renewable natural gas,” such as methane captured from a landfill.
The Mass. Commission on Green Heat focuses more on the electrification of heat. AGH supports heat pumps as a core policy goals but calls on Governor Baker to ensure that the Commission represents all renewable heating technologies. Electrification should not the only goal, especially in a state with high electric prices and a low percent of renewables on its grid.
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Green Matters compiled a list of common-sense wintertime energy efficiency measures: wall insulation, carpets, energy star appliances, curtains and throw blankets – and pellet stoves.
How sustainable is the firewood and wood pellet supply for domestic heating in the US? AGH updated its sustainability page, showing why its very sustainable. But there are limiting factors.
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AGH compiled some of the best educational videos about residential and institutional wood and pellet heating on one page.
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COVID-19 Stove Relief Fund |
The Stove Repair Relief Fund helps families impacted by COVID-19. Air quality agencies, change-out programs and low-income winterization programs can link to this fund to help their clients and residents. It provides up to a 50% reduction in the price of pellet stove parts for orders up to $500. Dozens of families can now keep their pellet stoves running safely.
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State News
Colorado: No mention of biomass, but a very important regulatory conversation.
New Hampshire: To meet growing demand, Froling built an expanded dried chip plant, as a happy medium between wood pellets and green wood chips. Green wood chips have about 45 percent moisture content. The dry wood chips have about 25 percent moisture content, and cost-wise fall between pellets and green chips.
New York: Will NY include rural areas impacted by wood smoke as "disadvantaged communities"? Or, do they see more urban and industrial sources of PM as the priority? This program could bring much needed stove change-out funds.
Oregon: The Lane Regional Air Protection Agency is seeking a federal re-designation of ambient air quality around Oakridge based on the reduction of wood stove smoke that often accumulates in the area's valleys. But the change requires approval from several bodies and, if not accomplished by May, could be affected by the wildfires' effects on air quality.
Oregon: In Bend Oregon, a company skips propane and uses wood from fire-prone areas to heat buildings! Europe has been using this system for decades.
Vermont: Vermont has more rebates and incentives than any other state for modern, high efficiency wood and pellet heaters. This is what it looks like when a state gets serious about decarbonizing heating.
International News
Denmark: A useful report but it virtually ignores pellet heating technology, and carbon implications. The focus is solely on air pollution, so biomass compares favorably when combusted in larger scale plants for district heating or even in stand alone electric plants, whose electricity can then be used for heating.
UK: A British company shows the benefits of designing heating systems using a variety of differing technologies including pellet stoves, biomass boilers, heat pump and solar.
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Follow us on Instagram @for.greenheat for wood and pellet stove information, interior design inspiration, and easily digestible wood stove news and education! |
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The Romans invented the first smoke-free heating system in Western Europe: the hypocaust. Historians thought the technology was lost after the collapse of the Roman Empire. But it lived on in Europe, and developed into the “heat storage hypocaust”, an underground furnace with granite stones on top that released hot air through vents in the floor. By this means, a room could be kept warm for days with just one firing of the hypocaust's firebox.
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Virtual event, October 11, 2021
We will explore studies on the costs of all-electric residential construction compared to building with gas appliances.
Virtual event, October 18-29, 2021
Part one brings together innovators who are mobilizing a wide array of strategies, policies and technologies to achieve a desirable climate future.
Verona, Italy, February 23-26, 2022
World trade show of pellet heating systems.
Wels, Austria, March 2-3, 2022
Deadline for paper/speaker submissions is October 12, 2021.
Atlanta, Georgia, March 2-5, 2022
Annual North America industry heart trade show.
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Misleading Advertisement of the Month |
Another outdoor wood boiler company illegally producing units, year after year, with no trouble from the EPA. This is the Shaver Company, now selling under the name HyProTherm, based in Arkansas, who claim to be “the oldest manufacturers of outdoor wood furnaces in Canada and the United States. We have been building quality wood burning furnaces in the same factory, since 1972” – nearly 50 years. A dealer in North Carolina sells them like "hot cakes." He also says, "Almost 98% of my customers install it themselves. At the most, they hire a local handyman at $20/hr." A customer review says: “These boilers are by far the worst fabricated of anything on the planet. Garbage…. it just eats wood by the minute and guzzles water.” A cottage industry of online outdoor boiler reviews promotes uncertified boilers.
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Thank you to everyone who donated to AGH during 2020! Your support makes a huge difference and is very appreciated. 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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