Green Heat News
A monthly news service for everyone
interested in renewable wood & pellet heating
February 2022
|
|
|
Pioneers of North American wood heating. From left to right: 1. Dane Harman, 2. Bob Fisher, 3. Eva Horton, 4. who recognizes these two? and 5. Duncan Syme. Dane Harman is the only one still building stoves. Fisher stoves need little introduction. In a male dominated industry, it was a woman, Evan Horton, who came first, importing Jotul stoves starting in 1972. Duncan Syme was one of the two original founders of Vermont Castings.
|
|
Featured Stories
The 5th Wood Stove Design Challenge kicked off with a 2 -day virtual workshop with plenary sessions, breakout sessions, posters, booths, zoom chatrooms, etc. etc. Many thanks to the 185 participants from all over the world who come in spirit of building a community of experts who want to share ideas, solutions and strategies to build dramatically cleaner wood heaters.
Registration opens for this second workshop on Feb. 4th. This workshop, like others, will feature talks by top experts followed by breakout sessions on related topics. Speakers include Stef Johnson, Angilina Brashear, Ben Myren, Julien Caubel and more.
The third and last workshop, to be held in May, is "Adoption of new wood heater technology and integration with other renewables." This one will explore how advanced wood and pellet heaters can best be deployed and integrated with other renewables. In the fall of 2022, we will be hosting a Wood Heater Slam where teams publicly pitch their ideas to a panel of experts similar to a shark tank, but not as commercial. This will be one avenue for teams to become finalists and receive funding to build an innovative wood heater in 2023.
|
|
|
Agency updates - EPA & IRS
Breaking: the EPA just announced it is withdrawing the ASTM cordwood test method, requiring all manufacturers to go back and test with cribs over the next 5 years.
Government education programs on wood heating have stalled. Burn Wise needs to move beyond its current messaging and, for instance, recommend against installing cordwood stoves in densely inhabited areas and urge people to use pellet heaters there. They should recognize wood heat not just as a way to save money, but as an important renewable resource that can reduce fossil heating fuel. They should be far more willing to assert that pellet heaters are the the cleaner and more efficient option. And, they need to heed the EPA's mandate to integrate environmental justice issues. It’s time to move forward.
Wood heaters are finally included on a line in the 2021 updated of IRS tax credit Form 5695. The older form, on the left, was confusing because tax payers could take the credit but the technology wasn't listed like other technologies were. The IRS still may issue more detailed guidance on which stoves qualify, but they did not do so on this form.
|
|
|
Vermont, the state that has embraced advanced wood heat in the most in policy is taking the next step: a clean heat standard, just like the clean electricity standards that scores of states have. It appears that pellets and wood chips are in and cordwood heaters seem to be out.
According to Schmutz, the 20% rise in pellet prices is due to a cold 12 months "and the success of pellet heating. More and more pellet-based heating systems are being installed in Switzerland."
A local NY group set up an impressive website, "Heat Smart," part of a new movement to promote more modern pellet heating, steering consumers away from cordwood. The EPA and state agencies should be doing that but they have been slow to follow the science and be clear about what is cleaner and what should and shouldn't be installed cities, towns and rural areas.
|
|
|
If you haven't checked out our video page, they are some of the best short videos on wood heating tips and the future of wood heating.
|
|
|
Heat pumps are being held back by not producing hot enough temperatures to tie into hot water buffer tanks that could also be heated with wood pellets. This heat pump-only solution will initially be available in the Netherlands to provide heat to radiators and generate hot tap water.
|
|
|
Best of January Facebook & Instagram |
|
State News
Maine: Woodstoves are a mainstay of energy security for hundreds of thousands of homes. If you can't afford fossil fuel, you can still get wood. This man also got help from a local wood bank.
New Hampshire: High tech, European style district heating for local communities is slowly coming to America. This NH town is part of the movement.
New York: The word “ban” is often casually and the specter of an imagined ban raced across NY in past few weeks. But reports of a ban on wood heating in NY are like Mark Twain’s first funeral – greatly exaggerated. However, this is an important time for experts and wood heating groups to weigh in on the future of renewable energy in NY, including wood and pellet heating. Details to submit comments are here.
Texas: It's been a banner year for firewood dealers in many areas and millions of folks gathering more of their own. Texans especially are stocking up after last winter’s ice storm.
International News
Canada: More change out programs are looking like this: the same amount incentive for pellet, gas and propane. A higher amount for a heat pump, and very low one for another wood stove.
Europe: More than 35 million Europeans are having to decide between heating and putting food on the table. In Bulgaria, more than a quarter of the population can’t afford to heat their home. One Bulgarian woman interviewed for the story saved some money by buying a more energy efficient stove that burns pellets instead of wood.
|
|
|
Follow us on Instagram @for.greenheat for wood and pellet stove information, interior design inspiration, and easily digestible wood stove news and education! |
|
|
Verona, Italy, February 23-26, 2022
A massive world trade show of pellet heating systems, held every two years.
Wels, Austria, April 6-7, 2022
New dates!
Atlanta, Georgia, March 2-5, 2022
Annual North America industry hearth trade show.
Online/Montreal, March 15 and 26, 2022
Gain specialist knowledge about biomass boiler installations.
Arlington, Wisconsin, June 15, 2022
A two day business workshop for the split firewood industry.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, June 21-24, 2022
More information to follow.
|
|
Misleading Advertisement of the Month |
We complied a web page of many of our misleading advertisements that AGH has worked to correct. Many misleading ones never appear here because the company agrees to fix it. We also have highlighted misleading statements and images on the EPA Burn Wise site.
|
|
Please support our work and keep this newsletter free of charge |
Thank you to everyone who donated to AGH during 2021! Your support makes a huge difference and helps to keep this newsletter a free source of information for everyone. 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.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
