FAQ's- Harman Hydroflex, agrafuels, tax credit, harman stoves

Question: I would love your take on the agripellet market. Seems to be getting started in EU.

Answer: Non-wood pellets are beginning to appear on the market in the mid-west. A sponsor for a recent bioenergy show in Minnesota was Sunrise Agrafuels. Harman was demoing the fuel in their PC45 biomass stove. It burned very well. They use ag residue from farm fields for raw material. The heat was consistent with a woody biomass fuel and the ash content was around 2%. You would definitely need a multi-fuel stove to burn this fuel and it does have a higher ash content but they worked well, and were cleaner than some bark mulch pellets I have seen.

Question: Did you like the new HydroFlex60. Would you get one? Any idea when one might be able to get one?

Answer: I do like the HydroFlex60. It is smaller in size and btu's than Harman's PB105, but it was designed that way. Some uses for it include assisting with geothermal heat pump setups, or smaller homes. I do have plans to install one- hopefully in conjunction with a solar hot water package in the next couple of years. It is anticpated that it will be able to go into production mid to late 2009. They are still trying to fill existing orders with current products. There are only a couple of prototypes so there is no pricing structure that I have seen. I will keep you updated! Here are some pictures for you though.

Question: Is your contact info anywhere on the blog?

Answer: No. I didn't want this site to be a sales tool, just an informational tool. I just want to try to answer things as best I can to promote the industry. If you leave a comment I will do my best to get back to you as quickly and accurately as my schedule allows :)

Question: My question is if (in my Harman P68) I change the temperature from 75 to say 85 will it use more pellets or will it just burn those pellets hotter and distribute that heat in the room more?

Answer: If you have your Harman set on room temperature the stove will use the necessary amount of fuel to keep your room at that desired temperature. Generally a higher temperature setting, 85 in your case, would mean that more fuel will be burned. Keep in mind that outside factors can affect fuel usage as well. Insulation, outside temperature, natural airflow through your home, doors and windows opening. The nice thing is that the Harman's self adjust by taking perpetual temperature readings from your room.

Question: What is the purpose of the feed adjustor on my Harman?

Answer: (from Harman)'The feed rate knob sets the maximum time per minute the control will let the feed motor run. The feed rate knob is set to have the stove perform its best depending on the ash content of the pellets you are burning. A feed rate of 4 to 4 ½ works best for most applications. Once you set the feed rate knob, no further adjustment is needed unless you make a change in pellet quality. A common misconception about the feed rate knob is that turning it to a lower setting will cause you to burn less fuel. Since turning the feed rate knob down will lower the maximum time you allow the feed motor to run every minute, the stove will feed at this maximum rate longer to satisfy the temperature setting, resulting in increased fuel consumption.'

I usually recommend starting at a four and you may need to adjust slightly up if you have long pellets, and less if you have shorter pellets. I have never moved mine off of a 3.5 setting for both my boiler and pellet stove.

Question: I burn a bag and a half of pellets a day. The stove runs constantly but the stove is rarely roaring. Is it better to turn it up so the fire is hotter for shorter amounts of time?

Answer: One of the great things about pellet stoves is their ability to adjust the fuel to air ratio so that you don't need to have a raging fire in all temperature scenarios. You can get an efficient clean burn whether you need 12,000 btu's or 68,000 btu's. Harman self-adjusts to give you the temperature you set. So in the morning if you turn the stove on in a cold house the stove will turn itself on and there will be a large fire. As the day warms the fire will shrink as your heat need is lower. When the sun starts to set and the temperature outside drops the stove may increase the size of flame. The thing to remember is that it will never give you more or less than you ask for.

Question: My dealer is telling me that I should put a deposit down to get on a waiting list for a boiler next year. Do you recommend that?

Answer: We took orders in May and June for stoves that would be delivered through the end of the year. It was a non-refundable deposit. We have not had cancellations and Harman has delivered stoves on schedule. Lennox did not release a stove per it's promise and we did give a couple of folks their money back. We did not take orders beyond the end of the year because stove manufacturer's were not giving ship dates or quantities of stoves for shipment beyond December. We now have numbers from Harman and Lennox for stove ship dates in the first quarter of 2009. We will shortly be taking orders and deposits for those stoves.

Each dealer is different!!!!!!

Questions to ask them might include whether they had a past track record of delivering on time? Do they have an actual ship date for the stove they are selling you? Is the deposit refundable or transferrable? What will they do if the date cannot be met (notification, discount, cancellation policy change...)?
Remember that most dealers are doing their absolute best to give you accurate information and a fair deal.

Question: I heard there was a tax credit for pellet stoves starting in 2009?

Answer: True! Senator John Sununu co-sponsored a tax credit for pellet stoves this fall saying, “We need to encourage renewable energy with strong tax incentives, and I am pleased that this bill includes my 10 percent tax credit for high efficiency wood pellet stoves,” said Sununu. “I have consistently fought to expand renewable energy tax incentives, and this is the second time that the Senate has considered our bipartisan proposal. It was passed in the bailout package in October. The credit will be up to $300 for a pellet stove, insert, or whole house system.

Got Gas? Harman won't.

A sign of the times? Another battle won imho!
News release from HHT and Harman-

Harman Gas Product Notice

October 9, 2008

Dear Harman Dealers,

As you are aware, the Harman brand is esperiencing incredible demand for pellet, wood, coal, and central heat units. We are dedicated to fulfilling your orders which requires us to make business changes to increase capacity, In addition to our existing ramp up plan we are stopping production of gas units for at least 18 months in order to gain production capacity in units with higher demand.

Your existing gas unit orders and pledge amounts will be filled. All gas units on order as of October 9th, 2008 and pledged units converted to orders before February 10th, 2009 will be shipped per acknowledged sales order dates. We will not process additional orders for gas units beyond the dates specified above.

The Harman brand will continue to lead in the hearth industry and make the necessary changes to respond to the market demands. Thank you for your continued support. Please contact your Customer Service Representative if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Karen McSherry

Brand Manager

BioEnergy Conference 2008

Minnesota State Univeristy in Mankato was host to the first US International Bioenergy Days with the cooperation of Sweden. Many state and local government representatives including DEED- The Department of Employment and Economic Development and the BioBusiness Alliance particpated and although the governor regretted that he could not attend someone from his office launched the congress. Members from the Swedish Energy Agency and host ÄFAB were also in attendance. The focus of the congress was to connect individuals involved in research, development, and implementation of bioenergy technologies including ethanol, pyrolysis technologies, biomass, wind, carbon sequestration, and solar. Many vendors were present to showcase their wares including a number of Swedish suppliers looking to bring their technology, especially wood chip and biomass pellet oil burners. To my delight HHT the parent company of Harman Stove Company, Quadrafire, Heat n' Glow, and Heatilator was also there showcasing their technolgy and FlexFuel Boiler which is slated to go into production early in 2009. Special guest Will Steger who regaled us with his tales of exploring and traversing the arctic by kayak, and dogsled while giving a first hand account of the consequences of global warming.
Transportation is our largest energy requirement
While thermal heating accounts for about 25% of our energy requirements the US focus for the conference was on vehicle fuel, and electrical generation. The Swedish presenters and attendees shared their success with biomass and roundwood district heating, large scale, small scale and residential heating in addition to their electrical generation and co-generation facilities.
Forty-eight percent of Sweden's energy comes from Biomass and 63% from non-petroleum sources. District Heating is the most common thermal biomass use with 10 Megawatts being the average size. This is an excellent model of a (carbon nuetral) closed system- wood chips/biomass pellets --> heat --> ashes--> fertilizer...
Emissions by energy sector are 24% transportation, 20% industrial, 28% homes and buildings, and 32% Electrical.
Globally petroleum demand is at 82 million barrels per day, and although there is concensus that peak oil occurred in 2006-2008 it is estimated that by 2020 global demand will reach 120 million barrels per day. India and China's demand alone help cement this demand curve rise.
Very interesting presentations on global warming, including a CO2 chart showing atmospheric CO2 levels over the last 600,000 years with an average swing from 50 ppm to 250 ppm. Until 1800 that is when we have had a steady rise from just above 50 ppm to 380 ppm in 2004, and an estimated destination of 750 ppm by 2100. Renewable fuels including biomass wood pellets are part of the solution to help slow the rise of CO2 in our atmosphere.
There were two big things I came away from the conference with. First, there is not one answer, not one fuel solution. It will take the cooperation of technologies and methods to help meet global transportation, industrial, thermal, and electrical demands.
The other was when Mr. Michael Bruce, the Senior Advisor for Finance, from the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy sector of the Department of Energy did his presentation on government subsidies, tax credits, and support programs provided by the DOE. When Bruce Lisle, the former Pellet Fuels Institute President, asked him why there was no mention of or allowance for thermal, which accounts for 25% of energy, in his presentation, funding, or support. After sharing a puzzled deer in the headlights look with a fellow presenter he said they had no allocation for thermal because we have natural gas. (PERIOD!) Follow up questions tried to pursue the lack of consideration for something that is so significant to be responded to that we don't need any programs for thermal or thermal biomass.
I encourage each and every one to write a letter to your local congressmen/women, senators, and Mr. Bruce. If you need help finding contact information for your local representatives e-mail me and I will assist you. Mr. Bruce's contact information is:
Michael Bruce
Senior Advisor for Finance
US Department of Energy
1000 Independence Ave, SW
Washington, DC 20585
michael.bruce@ee.doe.gov

Bulk

Our little shop has taken a giant leap into modern biomass distribution. It sounds pretty dramatic, eh? Actually, it's very simple. Bulk fuel. Although wood pellet technology began in the US it is Europe that has run with the technology. The majority of their systems are whole house systems utilizing bulk feed. Driving down the roads you see pellet tank trucks driving about like you would see oil trucks in New England. The US has the majority of it's fuel packaged in forty pound bags, palletized, and covered with a plastic hood. This has made it easy for people with limited storage to obtain the fuel, and makes it easy to store as it is in (semi) weather proof packaging. Now that the US seems to be realizing the power of pellet as an alternative to oil heat, and embracing the use of it as a whole house heater the obvious next move is bulk. This would benefit in many ways.
First would be the supply chain. Now, instead of scrambling to secure your year's supply in April (along with 50-70% of other users) you could have your fuel delivered to your home throughout the year as you need it. This would help to level the pricing as well. Instead of being dramatically "cheaper" in the spring and "expensive" in the winter it will be affordable year round. The convenience and ease will increase dramatically. No more lugging bags and filling your stove daily. Even my mid-step system allows me to fill my Harman Bulk Bin every week to three, instead of daily even if I did use bags in the past. Oh yes, then there are the bags. How much extra cost will we save when we don't have fifty disposable bags, and a plastic hood, and plastic wrap for the pallet? The environmental benefit aside those bags cost $$$! They also represent additional weight in shipping. All the little pieces add up to the benefits of bulk!

I am excited about the future of pellets! Let's see how far we can go...

New England Wood Pellet

One of the largest pellet mills in New England had a two alarm fire last night. The initial call went out shortly after nine. Crews were on scene until well after midnight. The automatic fire alarm was tripped and an employee called in the fire. It was indicated that it started in an electrical panel. The cooler was kindled and the first extinguished. This was a delicate task because pellets absorb water and the cooler is not designed to hold that much weight. The fire then moved to a storage silo outside the building. More ladders were called in. It is fortunate that Jaffrey had recently moved their water line further up Old Sharon Road so it could be used in this situation.

Picture taken from NEWP entrance 8/11 am.

At some point in the early morning hours a re-ignition occurred in one of the raw material storage bins behind the facility. Crews are still on scene to extinguish this silo.

Picture from WMUR

An employee commented that about the time the call went out last night Jaffrey had been experiencing brown-outs due to the severe thunderstorms moving through the area.
This is a very high demand year for pellets in New England. Mills run twenty-four seven to try to keep up with demand. This could close NEWP for several weeks putting a crimp or at least a delay in supplies. The good news is that they should still be able to receive raw material supplies so that when they are back up and running they have ample sawdust to work with.

Picture from WMUR

Update The remaining silo that was smoldering was extinguished then emptied. Fire fighters are shoveled out the largest (80 ton) silo, that held finished product, by hand. Over two dozen towns responded to the site over the last 22+ hours. Two firefighters sustained minor injuries.

For video coverage see WMUR at http://www.wmur.com/news/17155015/detail.html

BIG THANK YOU to all the firefighters that responded and helped with this situation. Crews from 25 towns responded. Some of those from volunteer departments. The last crew pulled out around 1:00am this morning.

All firefighters did a great job containing the situation, preventing injury, and saving the equipment from damage where they could.

Silos are a little wet, but o.k. Some equipment inside may need minor repair but NEWP is confident that they will be up and running in a very short amount time.

Leftovers

Finding value in lumber mill leftovers
Demand for sawdust has grown tremendously, with prices in some parts of the country doubling. But the housing slump means there's less of this unlikely commodity to go around. Nina Keck reports.
Listen at http://marketplace.publicradio.org/www_publicradio/tools/media_player/popup.php?name=marketplace/pm/2008/08/06/marketplace_cast1_20080806_64&starttime=00:23:17.0&endtime=00:27:00.0
TEXT OF STORY
Kai Ryssdal: Even if you don't read the financial news all that closely, you can probably name at least a couple of commodities right off the top of your head, right?
I bet sawdust didn't come to mind. Most of us probably think of it as something to sweep into the garbage after the sawing's done, but demand has grown enormously.
As Vermont Public Radio's Nina Keck reports with wood manufacturing and construction down due to the housing slump, sawdust is at a premium.
Nina Keck: Gagnon Lumber in Pittsford, Vermont produces between 25 to 30 tons of sawdust a week. Underneath the saws, a conveyor belt carries a steady stream of the sweet smelling remnants to a huge pile.
Owner Ken Gagnon says he sells most of it to area farmers.
Ken Gagnon: The sawmill business and agricultural farming have been hand in hand through history, so there's always been a market for a certain amount of sawdust, whatever the farmers could use for his cows.
But sawdust has come a long way from its use as a cushy barn bed. Landscapers and gardeners like it for mulch while meat smokers use it as an aromatic flavoring. Finely ground sawdust is a lightweight filler in many plastic products. It's used to make particle and fiberboard and it's become a valuable renewable fuel source in the form of wood pellets.
Charlie Niebling runs a wood pellet plant in Jaffrey, New Hampshire.
Charlie Niebling: With heating oil approaching $5 a gallon, people are genuinely concerned and anxious. A lot of people are thinking seriously about alternatives now.
Niebling says he can't make wood pellets fast enough. But while demand for wood byproducts is at an all-time high, supplies are down.
Ken Gagnon and mill owners across the country blame the drop in construction.
Gagnon: We've been going through a correction for pretty near two years here on our level, so we're actually not producing as much lumber as we could, which has an indirect effect on how much sawdust we make.
But if sawdust is so precious, I asked Gagnon why not make more of it? For now, he says, even in the middle of a housing slump, it's still more profitable to mill lumber.
Gagnon: It may come to a time where the byproducts are going to be the saving grace of the lumber industry. I think the housing market will come back, but I really see the byproducts, primarily the biofuels, whether it's sawdust or chips, will be a big part of things to come.
Chris Recchia thinks that's already happening. Recchia is Executive Director of the Biomas Energy Research Center.
Chris Recchia: This has transitioned from a waste product, a byproduct, to a real commodity. That is the turning point that we're at right now, which we think is a very good thing.
Because, Recchia says, it's encouraging better use of resources. Typically when loggers finish a job, they'll leave behind a lot of low grade cuttings not suitable for lumber. Now that wood byproducts are fetching a higher price, loggers can process and sell what they used to consider waste wood to people like Charlie Niebling of New England Wood Pellet.
Niebling: We are purchasing material from logging contractors who harvest this low grade material that otherwise has little value, take the bark off of it for us, chip it and send the chips to us and that simply wasn't possible three or four years ago.
Niebling says in their company, the term "waste wood" no longer exists.
For Marketplace, I'm Nina Keck in Chittenden, Vermont.

PFI Meeting 2008

When a couple of the HHT executives came to our shop a couple of months ago they asked us if we were going to be attending Harman's annual dealer meeting. We said, "No. Because the PFI had sent out their notice of annual meeting months before, and by the way why would Harman book their meeting when the PFI has theirs?" The response stopped me in my tracks. "PFI- What is it that they do, again?" Unfortunately, in many ways I agree with his assessment that the PFI is disjointed, unorganized, and in many cases ineffectual, but I would have liked to see a more proactive response of having industry reps get more involved to help get it on the right path than having them mock it and walk away. He is a good guy, don't get me wrong, it just wasn't what I hoped to hear.
So, off to muggy South Carolina for the meeting. There were probably approximately 250 people in attendance. This has grown impressively. According to one long time member they started back in Missouri in the early 1990's with six people meeting in a hotel room. In attendance were mostly fuel manufacturer's, pellet mill equipment manufacturer's, two maybe three stove manufacturer's reps- including Dan Henry from HHT, a couple of commercial boiler manufacturer's, and three maybe four dealers.
The board meeting took place the day before we arrived. There was a little "professional" scuffle that changed their intended path for leadership. Scott Jacobs from Ozark Pellets in Missouri emerged as the new PFI President, replacing long time President Bruce Lisle of Energex.
After opening comments John Swaan from the Wood Pellet Association of Canada was first to speak. He talked of the success in exporting fuel to Europe. How we exported more pellet fuel to Europe last year than we used domestically, and future growth potential. He was followed by Christian Rakos from an Austrian company who affirmed the success of wood pellet for use as fuel and energy, and said that they would be willing to share their experiences to help us grow.
Dave Atkins did a presentation on a program called Fuels for Schools in which chip fired and/or pellet fired boiler systems were being installed in schools through a grant program. The savings experienced by these schools was impressive.
A representative from ACORE (American Council on Renewable Energy) did a presentation on the potential of biomass energy, and how the pellet industry could benefit from partnering with ACORE.
Then the conversation really steared toward commercial/industrial uses and introduced the catch phrase of the weekend- Biomass Thermal Energy. Their presentation conveyed to the fuel manufacturers that the real growth in the industry was in commercial and industrial applications. Large boiler systems are beginning to emerge, and larger players are developing ground level partnerships for energy production, and industrial applications. There were a couple of larger boiler manufacturer's present who presented their system, and partnership proposals to install these larger systems which would be delivered by bulk from the manufacturers directly.
They also spoke of new legislation that would subsidize biomass use for power production. There was concern among the group about raw material difficulties, and how this would magnefy the issues if they were competing against groups that could use the subsidy. Talk shifted to government affairs with the usual plea for funds for lobbying efforts. This is where the PFI seems to get stuck. The talk of raw material shortages arises. Then it is clarified that the easy and inexpensive raw material is getting difficult to get. You have to pay where ten years ago you may not have... Then talk turns to growing both individually and as an industry. A great number of pellet mills are not interested in growth. I can see their point. Growth is risky- Remember what happened the last time the industry took a big leap in 2005 pulling in all sorts of fuel from Canada's West coast and put big bucks into processing plants? We certainly do. To put a number on it, dealer's who grew capacity to meet the last demand bubble lost five figures, pellet mills lost six to seven figures, and stove manufacturer's lost seven or eight figures. That is a lot of zeroes!! Thus the PFI divides. Small stable growth to support local residential markets on one end, and the extreme company that wants to go all commercial industrial and spend every penny on government lobbying on the other.
The conference had it's light moments, like when Dan Henry's friend sang a song he had written in the seventies about a Plain Ol' Brown Recyclable Paper Sack (I think I got it right??), and it was good to see familiar faces, and try to get a feel for their take on the current situation.
There was a good conversation about standards. They have come up with a label and testing system that will classify wood pellets more consistently, and slightly more accurately. The big definer will still be ash content, although it will also include btu's sodium content, etc. This will help the end user have a better idea about what is in the bag as 99% of pellets on the market claim premium status by the current definition.
I do have to say that as a dealer I would have been very disappointed if I attended the PFI conference hoping for answers about pellet fuel availability and solutions for the current situation in the Northeast. There really, that I noticed, was no talk of residential use, dealers, or supply issues in the Northeast.
The focus of this conference was commercial and industrial applications, using wood pellets for thermal energy, and obtaining government support.
I walked away from the conference with two main thoughts- We are now exporting more inexpensive wood pellet fuel to Europe than we use domestically, while importing even more expensive oil. The growth of this industry, at least by the the main Northeast pellet manufacturer's desire, is in commercial and industrial applications.

Letter from Harman Representative

Posted with permission from Charlie Page:

Dear Harman Customer,

The demand for Harman pellet and wood stoves over the last three months in the Northeast has been overwhelming. The reality is that this demand is greater than plant capacity.

The company has allocated stoves to the dealers in the Northeast. In some cases lead times for stoves which were ordered have been pushed into “pool” dates in the first and second quarters of 09. The company’s plan is to provide a limited but balanced flow of stoves into the Northeast and move these back ordered stoves into production as capacity becomes available.

As the Northeast Harman Factory Representative I can assure you that the company is doing everything possible to help speed up support for the Harman dealer network and Harman customers without compromising on product quality. The production ramp up is significant and will involve purchasing new lasers and bending equipment, hiring many more employees and working very closely with company suppliers throughout the remainder of this year and into the first half of 2009.

The fact is, even with the aggressive ramp-up in production which is underway, it will take a while to fill back orders and meet future demand. While it is easier said than done, I am asking all homeowners that have either purchased or placed deposits on Harman stoves to be patient. Every stove will be built.

The company has committed to communicate realistic delivery dates months in advance in order to help my Northeast dealers manage expectations. Right now the stoves that have been pushed into 2009 have not been assigned to specific manufacturing runs, but will be within a reasonable period of time. We will let your dealer know when your stove is scheduled to be built as soon as those dates are established and you can then plan accordingly.

I know that many homeowners are upset about these long lead times – frankly I would be too – but there is one thing I would like to say – Harman stoves are worth waiting for! Unlike some people who are in sales – I am a Harman stove user and I have over 30 years experience heating with wood and pellet stoves. I use my Harman stoves in the spring and fall and in the dead of winter at -30° F. Harman stoves work, they are easy to maintain and they are reliable. You will be living with your new stove for a long time so my advice is to please be patient. Harman stoves are the best made and best designed stoves on the market today----that’s why the demand has exceeded production.


Sincerely,

Charlie Page
Northeast Harman Stove Representative

Harman

Harman's annual dealer meeting was held this last weekend. This is an event we dealers look forward to each year to see new products, discuss the upcoming season, and see Harman's facility which is always growing and changing. This year was even more anticipated as Harman has new owners, and demand is back to surge levels resulting in supply and distribution challenges. Not necessarily new challenges but with new faces, procedures, and at a higher volume than we have seen previously.
Many people have been spreading rumors and/or beating down Harman online. Unfortunately, I have not seen credible information or sources to this end. I would like to throw my two cents in to the ring for consideration. I am biased. We are one of Harman's larger dealers, and are big proponents of the wood pellet industry.
Our orders started increasing in volume in May. At this point we were still operating off of our early buy inventory. This is an order done by dealers in the spring that equals approximately 1/3 to one half of anticipated sales for the year. By June those stoves had all been spoken for and we started putting in little orders as we our sales occurred. We were cautious because many MANY of us were burnt hard the last time (2006) we really ramped up to meet an overwhelming demand. We did not want to put ourselves in that dangerous put you out of business situation we had just barely recovered from. Home and Hearth Technologies was in the process of introducing a distribution program to the larger dealers that would accomodate our desire to not stock large amounts of stoves. While this was going on Harman was making a needed software change to HHT's system as this is usually the quiet time of year. As the orders began to pile up we heard through the grapevine that an old tactic of dealers placing large orders in anticipation of high demand had begun. We placed a large order ourselves even though the new distribution program was still on the roster. The new computer system started spitting out paper. It automatically processed and placed the orders in their system and faxed confirmation. Around this time the dealer's on the new program had to put their orders in for the coming months. We put that order in, too. At this point Harman was already sending warning shots for orders ship accuracy. We kept taking orders but informed our customers it may be a wait extending in to first quarter. This did the opposite of slow things down. People were in full panic mode at this point. We would sell record numbers of stoves, have ten people waiting on a 90 degree day, and the phone would ring non-stop all day.
I would like to point out that our other pellet stove lines are also backordered and giving out inaccurate dates at this point due to the overwhelming order volume. Not just Harman. We have had dates pushed back on multiple lines, and backorders are in place for all but a handful of dealers/stoves.
Harman visited key dealers to determine if the orders they were receiving were real or just anticipation ordering as has happened in the past (like the last time we all ramped up for demand that disappeared overnight= last year). As soon as they determined it was a real demand they began to act. They made a decision not to flood the market with stoves fearing that it would trigger a pellet shortage. I do think that the PFI and stove manufacturer's could greatly benefit from communicating real sales numbers to each other to make sure there are enough of both to meet demand but that is a topic for a different time and group... Harman also decided to take control of the situation and allocate stoves to all dealers instead of sending huge numbers of stoves to people as the orders had been submitted. (10 here, 10 there... instead of 1000 to one). This does not make the one guy who ordered 1000 very happy but keeps a hundred dealers who ordered ten able to cover at least some of their demand. They spent a great deal of effort to best determine how to accomodate the maximum number of consumers throughout the Northeast (peak of demand) and the rest of the country. I did not get all of the stoves I ordered but I fully understand why Harman did it and agree with their long term prognosis. We heeded their warnings and have minimal schedule conflict other than a stove ship date being a couple of months off. This is frustrating to some but this is a long term solution and a stove will last fifteen to twenty years with proper care and maintenance so a couple of months is relatively small in comparison. Harman is continuing to hone their existing production lines and working to add additional capacity which may improve the status even more.
I have confidence in Harman, and Hearth and Home technologies. I would like to think that we have turned the corner on acknowledging wood pellet heat as a viable and needed alternative. I don't think we will have many more chances if the public once again turns their back on pellets like they did last year. We need to stop exporting inexpensive, local, renewable wood pellet fuel to decrease our dependence on expensive imported oil and gas. If you want things to grow and change faster write your congressman and senator. Send a donation to the Pellet Fuels Institute to support lobbying efforts to push through rebates and/or tax write offs for wood pellet appliances and or fuel. Be part of the solution.

Allocation

Here we go again... The demand for pellet stoves and fuel has again reached record breaking levels- at least in the NorthEast. On the one hand I get very excited when pellet receives the support and enthusiasm I feel it should get every year but, I do worry about the long term effects of such out of the ordinary demand.
The hearth industry, and the pellet sector are coming off one or two of the worst years on record. Dealers, distributors, and manufacturer's were sitting on warehouses full of goods and banging their heads on the wall trying to figure out what happened? and how to get things moving again. Then during this spring there were hints. Sales promotions yielded much better than average results, calls started coming in early for pre-buy stove orders. By the time the pellet early buy order letters went out there was no stopping it. Orders poured in via the phone, fax, and e-mail. Just when you thought it would slow down a bit it would double.
The first month or two were o.k. Mills were just ramping up for the year and were able to keep up. Then we started losing ground- FAST! Mills could not keep up. Some of it due to the sheer volume requested, some due to trucking logistics.
The old saying is that the mills have the most product in the spring, but actually the opposite is true. During the winter their sawdust supplies actually decrease because suppliers generally use a good portion of it to heat their own buildings. Put that on top of late winter demand for pellets and you end up with the leanest supply of fuel in the spring. Larger mills are able to produce about the same amount of product throughout the year due to larger numbers of raw material contracts, and mill capacity but they certainly don't come out of the heating season with a larger than normal supply.
The word got out early this year somehow and everyone was ordering their fuel early, and in amounts often exceeding what they usually use in a heating season. This alone has created an unprecedented bottleneck! Then the hoarding. This is about as close to an attempted death blow our industry can face at this point. People hoard one year and we can't keep up causing rumors and speculation about the viability, then the next year no one is buying fuel, leaving dealers, and manufacturer's sitting on excess inventory barely surviving... Vicious cycle!
By the end of June most manufacturer's have a pile of massive speculation orders on their desk, and dealers are sold out as far as they dared to sell. Then the inevitable price increases come. The demand is so high the mills are running seven days a week, and up to 24 hours a day. Overtime costs. If a machine goes down it needs to be fixed NOW! Overnight costs on parts, and higher maintenance costs. We need more raw material. Highest bidder, and higher costs for product NOW! Add to that increasing trucking costs, and the weakening US dollar...
Now the dealers, who generally work on a tight margin anyway are taking it on the chin. We absorbed the first price increase, then a second. By the time the third increase comes around you have to send out a letter or make a dreaded phone call to soon angry consumers who don't want to pay a higher price... Allocations kick in. You can have 110% of what you purchased in year's past, or I can only get you X amount of fuel this month. Then loads don't show up because of production glitches, or trucking issues. In many years this inability to get more fuel has slowed sales. Not this year... I really suspect that this may be the last year pellet manufacturer's offer early buy programs at least as we have seen them in the past. The need to distribute fuel year round (as it is made) will need to happen. The mad rush we are getting in the spring is no longer managable.
The back side of this is stoves. You can't get a Harman stove in New England until next year. Most other manufacturer's are back ordered until October, November, or December at this point. In the past the manufacturer's have ramped up their facilities, added shifts and production lines to try to meet the demand. This year Hearth and Home Technologies, owner of the largest pellet stove manufacturer Harman, as well as Quadrafire decided to change the game. In an attempt to control the beast they made the decision to NOT double, triple... production to meet the demand. They are setting allocation levels so as not to flood the market with stoves that may not be able to get fuel. While this may be frustrating in the short term I am hopeful that it will help control the wild swings this industry has been going through. To a consumer I say that these stoves last fifteen to twenty years if you take care of them, and Europe has already proven that it is a viable alternative fuel source, so even if you have to wait until next spring it is worth it!

Whip Saw

There is a disturbing trend in the stove industry. I would like to say it is a new cycle but we seem to be repeating ourselves every few years (some would argue the cycle has been shortening) and this trend can be noted as far back as the 1970's with the "wood crisis." The sudden overwhelming desire of the masses to seek an alternative due to the "recent" high cost of oil.
While we certainly appreciate this desire to get away from oil, and of course our guys like having a full schedule and job certainty, you can't look at the feast without also looking at the famine.
Famine? You ask. What do you mean famine? I can't get even book a pellet delivery in the Northeast right now!

I mean the fact that historically the year after there is a mad rush on pellet stoves and fuel (and wood, coal, corn...) the bottom seems to fall out. Orders disappear, angry people blame the industry for not being able to keep up, and when oil prices go down a bit many go back to using oil. Others have bought so much additional fuel in the hectic times it keeps them through the next heating season. What this creates is a vicious product cycle. We ramp up as fast as we can to meet demand. In the high demand times we have to buy raw materials at higher prices, we use expedited shipping methods, manufacturer's dump large amounts of money to overtime, additional staffing, extra manufacturing equipment, and warehousing to stock up for next year... But each time the bottom falls out manufacturer's and dealer's are left with mass amounts of stock, big bills, high new overhead, and regretably a lost market. Which leads to decreased production, staffing, and supply.

The last turn of this cycle was very recent. Katrina. August 2005. The moment Katrina hit pellet stoves (and wood and coal) flew off the shelves faster than we could even realize. The first few weeks we were all ecstatic about the increased flurry of sales. People came in happy to give you their money to support an alternative to oil and propane. Stove shop owners and workers felt a warm sense of accomplishment that all the hard work they had done to promote the industry was finally paying off. Then the next stove order did not come in on time. Stoves are behind. Can't get pipe. Then the backorders begin. Then the pellets fall behind due instant off the charts demand...

Then we have our first frost of the season. Overnight the mood has changed. Stove shop owners and employees are not only working at warp nine to try to keep up with the overbooked installation, and delivery schedule they are now fielding service requests and calls from those waiting for their stove who wanted their stove by now and want you to do something about it. Stove shop owners are swamped with trying to track and secure orders. The manufacturers are in the same boat. Their guys are working overtime manufacturing, shipping, and trying to secure new raw materials as quickly as possible.

But now customers are getting angry. They are mad that they can't get product NOW! They are mad that the price has gone up and start saying that they are being gouged. They scream at the guys at the stove shops. They call and yell at the manufacturers...

Still, industry folks start to talk and plan 'how to avoid this in the future.' Often followed with massive outlays of cash to move and store product in advance.

It is a long hard season but at the end each and every person I know in this industry did everything they could to install and service as many units as they could. We all worked very diligently to make sure that people had pellets to heat their home. We discouraged hoarding and by the end of the season we were only able to get people enough fuel to get through the week.

But we made it.

Now the planning was in full swing. Pellet manufacturers made deals to rail in product from plants around the country that had excess fuel. Stove manufacturers planned additional stove lines, and warehouses started to rise. Stove shop owners beefed up their staff, added equipment, invested money for new or additional warehousing and committed large amounts of money to pre-buy and store the fuel coming in from the other coast of Canada. Everyone filled their stores, warehouses, and any vacant field they could with all the product they could squeeze in. We were ready!

Then the election came.

Then the next winter (winter one year ago- 2006-2007) was a warm one.

Then the price of oil dropped.

The rumor mill was in full swing about how the industry is not viable. Customers say it wasn't worth it. The are going back to oil. The savings aren't that great anyway... Too much bother. Oh yeah, and remember the hoarding?

The bottom fell out. The saw whipped back.

After all of the time and money we invested to keep up with demand the customers disappeared. Literally. Now we had all of this product but sales fell 50%, 60%, 80% from the year before. Staff were laid off. Bills fell behind. Pellets we expected to store short term were now stranded in not ideal locations for the winter. Thousands of tons were damaged, ruined, or sold at a loss. Stove manufacturers fell into receivership (Not just pellet stove makers mind you...). Stove shops and distributors started falling like flies. Warehouses full of stoves, fields full of hundreds of thousands of dollars of fuel. Million dollar manufacturing, processing, and warehousing facilities stood full but quiet...

This last winter was a stable one. Sales were not down anymore. We had scaled back as much as we could. Those left standing were able to work through what they had left on hand. The lucky ones were able to pay off the short term loans they had to take out the previous year. Some stove manufacturers were purchased by other companies, some went into bankruptcy. Many simply shut their doors and walked away.

This year the talk of oil in the news started early. Suddenly, as though someone turned on the light switch in the middle of the night, we are back at Katrina levels of demand (if not more). Already in June we are pulling up to throngs of people waiting to buy a stove/get their fuel...

The saw is in motion.

What is my point? I guess this is just a reminder/request to all of those out there who have decided to try to get off of oil. Be patient. We are all in the same boat. Yelling will hurt not help. We appreciate that you are ready to make a change and will do everything we can to accomodate your needs as soon as we can. Know that the dealers and everyone behind them are doing all they can to service as many as we can. These units can last twenty years if you take care of them. A few months wait is a small portion of the time you will own your stove, furnace, boiler system. STICK WITH YOUR LOCAL DEALER. They will be your best resource in high demand times as well as all others.

To those who have stoves and buy fuel each year; First, thank you. Second, please do not hoard. Buy your pellets in the quantities and at the time you normally do. If you buy double what you need right now it contributes to a dangerous cycle, and may keep this low(er) cost, local, renewable fuel out of that many more homes.

To all those stove owners (old and new) be consistent. Hot and cold running support hurts us all in the end. The whip saw action/reaction cycle we have is a dangerous game. Oil is up over 400% in the last ten years. Pellets right now are still less than two years ago, and not even up 40% from ten years ago. It is viable, but it needs consistent support to be able to maintain and grow.

To borrow a saying from Fire Fighters and Rescue Workers. "We didn't cause the problem. We're just trying to help."

Wood Pellet Stove Cleaning Part One

Pellet Stove Cleaning Part Two

Northeast Distribution Annual Open House

Welcome!
Manufacturer's Reps on-hand
Networking
Fabulous BBQ Lunch!
With grills they distribute of course ;)
Solar Hot Water
At least it was a cool day!
Full warehouse is good!
Venting
We would like to thank the good people over at NDL for a great day showcasing their new and long-standing products at their Open House last week.
Here are some pics of the day.

Pellet Mill Fire

By Aimee DolloffWednesday, May 21, 2008 - Bangor Daily News
CORINTH, Maine - A fire Tuesday at Corinth Wood Pellets Manufacturing LLC has caused an estimated $500,000 in damage and shut the company down for an unknown period of time.
"I see them being several days out of work," Corinth Fire Chief Scott Bragdon said Tuesday.
When it opened in March 2007, the company was touted as the largest of its kind in the United States and was set to produce an estimated 140,000 tons of wood pellets per year for sale both domestically and overseas. It initially employed about a dozen workers but anticipated having 40 producing 300,000 tons of pellets by the end of the year.
The fire at the facility Tuesday was called in shortly before 11 a.m. as a fire on the roof, but when firefighters arrived, Bragdon said the roof and attic were on fire, and one outside wall was engulfed in flames.
The blaze started when a fire in one of the exterior burners was sucked inside the building by a fan.
Dust and insulation inside ignited, and the fire was tough to fight, Bragdon said.
"It was a real stubborn fire because everything’s dusty in there," he said. "We had to really do a lot of overhaul, digging it out of the walls and out of the ceiling."
Fire crews from Bradford, Charleston, Glenburn, Dover-Foxcroft and Levant were called in to assist Corinth. Dexter Fire stood by at the Corinth station with additional trucks in case they were needed.
"We needed a couple of extra ladder trucks to gain access because everything was above the roofline," Bragdon said. "The metal roof made it tricky."
Crews from Corinth were expected to operate a 24-hour detail at the facility to watch for potential flare-ups.
"The insurance company is there now," Bragdon said. "They’re trying to get stuff repaired to get the production line back going."
Although no one was injured, there was excessive heat, smoke and water damage to the building, the fire chief said. A team of electricians and contractors also had been called to the site to assess the damage.
About a foot of blown insulation in the attic and dust had to be rolled over and wet down to make sure the flames were out.
An employee asked photographers to leave the property, and reporters’ phone calls seeking information weren’t returned Tuesday evening.
The pellets made by the company are used in stoves that look similar to wood stoves but have a more sophisticated combustion chamber. Pellet stoves, like wood stoves, have enjoyed increased sales because of heating oil prices that have pushed homeowners to seek alternative heating sources.
The production plant is housed in the former Corinth Products Co. Inc., which closed in August 2006, leaving 21 people without work.
At the time the wood pellet company opened in March 2007, the second phase of the project was expected to be completed by the end of the year. Additional lines were anticipated to allow the company to produce more than 300,000 tons of pellets a year and create 40 jobs at the site.
In addition to those 40 jobs at the factory, an additional 120 jobs were expected to be created for loggers, truck drivers and others.

NEWP-Wood Energy Day

Over this last weekend I attended New England Wood Pellet's Wood Energy Day at it's new Schuyler NY plant. (Note- They will not be having it in August at their Jaffrey plant as they have in years past.) This ten million dollar ten acre plant is up and running five days a week now. It supplies New York, New England, and probably down to New Jersey and Pennsylvania. This plant has a great supply of raw material, a sawdust dryer similar to the one in their Jaffrey plant, and four pellet mills that I saw. Fully ramped up it can produce 100,000 tons a year. Enough to heat approximately 25,000 residential installations.

Outdoor raw material storage
Conveyers to move raw materials to storage silos
Storage silos that are mixed before heading in the plant.
They also let us walk through their testing lab. Many pellet manufacturers test their incoming raw materials and finished product. This is done in house by the participating manufacturers. There is not an industry requirement, third party, or outside source. You may keep that in mind when trying to compare products based on the testing data from each. This does help New England with quality control and helps to keep their product consistent with their expectations.
Their facility is heated with radiant floor and powered by a Harman PB105.

Sawdust Dryer

Pellet Mills- (open)

The guts...

Off to the Bagger

Stacked by machine and down the conveyer to the warehouse or onto a truck for delivery to your local dealer!

It was great to see many tons stored in their warehouse and in their yard.

They can store about 2000 ton in the warehouse, have outside storage for even more, and they also have a silo that will store 300 tons unbagged product behind the facility.

There were many pellet stove and boiler/furnace manufacturers on hand as well as local dealers to demonstrate their wares. The areas congresswoman also made an appearance.
One comment on a conversation that I had with a company rep about a new practice for NEWP. New England has joined other manufacturer's in bagging their product in multiple bags. Lauzon is an example with their Northern and Cubex brands- same pellets- different bags. I personally do not agree with this practice as it sometimes leads people to believe that the product in the different bags conform to different standards. I have already seen this rumor mill spinning about NEWP products. That one bag is better than the other or more "premium" than another. In fact it is just a marketing tool. Period. They make one product. The product is the product, and the bag is the only difference. Anything else is just plain rumor and marketing.
It looked like a successful day for New England Wood Pellet and we were pleased that some of the staff took time out to show us around.

Smoking and Grilling

In the NorthEast it is finally time to turn off the furnaces and stoves, and move to the great outdoors. It is time to early buy pellets for next year, clean the stove and furnaces mentioned above, unplug them (to protect in the many thunderstorms we have here), and I put a box of baking soda inside each to help with condensation control.
Then it's time to pull out my grill!
History of grilling- according to yours truly~
Aaahhh, there is nothing like the smell of meat on the grill! What type of grill do I use? A wood pellet grill, of course! When we began in the 1990's I had a Whitfield pellet grill. It worked pretty well, but they were discontinuing them. Rats! So we picked up Reliant Grills. They were DC and portable (somewhat- they were still a pretty good size, but you could plug them in to your car.) Then they reorganized and dropped their grills. All this time a family in Oregon was smoking up a storm. Traeger. We picked them up. Soon they were selling the smokers under the Smith and Wesson name.

Louisiana Grills
The newest player in the grill game is Louisiana Grills. Ironically, they were bought by a Canadian company. "Would ya'll like to have a barbecue, eh?" So far I am pretty impressed with the company. Very nice people, a solid and varied product line. Their grills SEAR, BAKE, BARBECUE, SMOKE, ROAST AND GRILL. The offer smokers, a line of grills that do it all from searing steaks to slow smoking a turkey, and outdoor kitchens and grill drop-ins for your own setup.
Pellet Flavors
I think my favorite meal made on my pellet grill would have to be pork loin smoked with apple flavored pellets. Big juicy burgers done with onion pellets are a close runner up. A advantage to cooking with your wood pellet grill is that you have many choices of different wood pellets like hickory, ash, alder, and mesquite, but they flavor them with other flavors like onion, garlic, and they even have Jack Daniels induced pellets! The ones out of my stove supply work just fine too!
How do they work?
A pellet grill actually has pretty much the same components that your stove or pellet furnace has. The auger feeds the pellets from the attached hopper. They have ignitors to start the fire, and the variable heat setting to adjust your cooking temperature. The only thing they don't have is a fan to blow the heat off of the grill- that wouldn't make much sense after all... There is a combustion air source so that you have a nice crisp and controllable flame inside. As with your pellet stove the precise air to fuel ratio control gives you a constant convective heat source to evenly cook your food. No hot spots!

Maintenance
Everyone is a little different in this department. Regardless of fuel type there are people who meticulously go through their grill to clean up the grease, and polish the grates. There are also those who clean it weekly, monthly, quarterly, or once a year. This grill is no different. Your biggest mess is what you put on the grill and what it drops in. They do have a nice plate that catches the drippings and directs them to an easily removed grease container. I do cover my plate with tin foil to help make cleanup easier. But to each his own!
Price?
There is a huge grill market out there. Cheapo Depot and the like have grills for $100. But they also have top of the line grills at patio stores, stove shops, et al that range up to $10,000-$15,000 outdoor kitchens. Pellet grills are not cheap, but they are worth every penny! They generally start around $600 and up. Louisiana Grills also makes the outdoor kitchen grill setups that range toward the higher end.
Easy to use!
Anyone can use a pellet grill. The plate that catches the grease also prevents direct fire contact. No nasty flare ups, or charred food. I have a very hard time overcooking anything on my pellet grill. It does a great job grilling steaks and chicken, too. People say that a turkey on the grill is divine, and that it is a great way to do summer baking although I haven't tried it yet. I better get grilling!

One Step Closer

From: http://www.sununu.senate.gov/pressapp/record.cfm?id=295938
SENATE PASSES SUNUNU-BACKED RENEWABLE ENERGY TAX PROVISIONS

Initiative approved as part of housing bill; Includes tax credit for wood pellet stoves
Contact: Barbara Riley
Thursday, April 10, 2008

WASHINGTON, DC – The United States Senate today (4/10) passed the Clean Energy Tax Stimulus Act (S. 2821) - bipartisan legislation containing a series renewable energy tax provisions - as an amendment to housing legislation that the Senate also approved on Wednesday. The amendment was adopted by a vote of 88-8. The housing bill passed by a vote of 84-12.

“Finally, the Senate has acted in a bipartisan fashion to pass renewable energy tax credits that will expand access to alternative energy and reduce dependence on energy imports. These credits will also help to ease the financial pressure that rising energy prices place on many families and businesses across New Hampshire,” said Sununu. “The measure represents smart policy for the environment and makes good sense for New Hampshire’s economy where our wood, biomass, and wood pellet industries provide jobs across the state. This bill will go a long way toward extending incentives for individuals, families, and businesses to use renewable energy sources.”

On April 1, Sununu joined Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), John Ensign (R-NV) and others announced this initiative, which extends clean energy production tax credits and incentives to improve the energy efficiency of new and existing homes, businesses, and appliances.

The amendment would extend the current tax credit for the production of renewable electricity generated from solar, wind, geothermal, hydropower, biomass, landfill gas and trash combustion sources. A Sununu provision to provide a 10 percent tax credit for the purchase of energy-efficient wood pellet stoves - an initiative he advocated in earlier legislation - is also included.

Specifically, the renewable energy tax provisions that were passed as part of the housing bill would:

- Extend the 10% energy-efficient credit for existing homes through 2009. The credit can be used for purchases of energy-efficient exterior doors and windows, storm windows, metal roofs, insulation, central air conditioning and heating, and other qualified property. The provision also includes a Sununu provision, adding biomass fuel property (stoves to heat a residence or water in such a residence) as qualified energy-efficient building property.

- Extend the Renewable Electricity Production Tax Credit’s (PTC) placed-in-service date through 2009 for facilities that generate electricity from wind, closed-loop biomass, open-loop biomass, geothermal energy, solar energy, small irrigation power, landfill gas, and trash combustion. Once a facility is qualified, a taxpayer may claim the credit annually over a 10-year period that commences on the facility’s placed-in-service date. The provision also adds marine renewables (wave, current, tidal power, ocean thermal) as qualifying facilities...

Senate Supports Wood Pellets

From: http://www.sununu.senate.gov/pressapp/record.cfm?id=295523
SUNUNU, COLLEAGUES TAKE LEAD ON NEW BIPARTISAN RENEWABLE ENERGY TAX BILL

Unveil comprehensive legislation that includes Sununu provision for wood pellets
Contact: Barbara Riley
Thursday, April 3, 2008

WASHINGTON, DC – United States Senator John Sununu (R-NH) today (4/3) joined Senate colleagues in introducing the Clean Energy Tax Stimulus Act - bipartisan legislation that extends clean energy production tax credits and incentives to improve the energy efficiency of new and existing homes, businesses, and appliances.

Sununu and Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), John Ensign (R-NV), and others introduced their comprehensive legislation, which extends the current tax credit for the production of renewable electricity generated from solar, wind, geothermal, hydropower, biomass, landfill gas and trash combustion sources, at a Capitol Hill news conference on Thursday. The measure also includes a Sununu provision to provide a 10 percent tax credit for the purchase of energy-efficient wood pellet stoves – an initiative he advocated in earlier legislation.

“Rising energy prices place enormous financial pressure on families and businesses across New Hampshire and the nation,” said Sununu. “These renewable energy tax credits help lower this burden and represent smart investment policy for our environment. Most important, the bill makes good sense for New Hampshire where our wood, biomass, and wood pellet industries here have provided jobs across the state.”

“In December, the Senate, with my support, took steps to address the issue and President Bush quickly signed into law an energy bill that among other measures encouraged investment in renewable energy technology,” Sununu continued. “There is more work to be done, and this bill contains many provisions I have long supported. The legislation provides an opportunity for Democrats and Republicans to work together and enact legislation to further extend incentives for individuals, families, and businesses to use renewable energy sources.”

Senator Ensign stated, “John Sununu was the first Member to bring the issue of wood pellets tax parity to the Congress. It is one of the few new provisions to be added to the overall bill, and Senator Sununu’s compelling case for the provision in the past made it a natural fit for inclusion in this legislation. While Nevada has more solar and wind possibilities, this makes a lot of common sense for the northeast, especially New Hampshire.”

Steve Walker, President and CEO of New England Wood Pellet in Jaffrey, N.H. said, “We’re very pleased to see the great work of Senators Sununu, Cantwell and others to craft a bi-partisan renewable energy tax bill that will have a good shot of passing the Senate. In particular, we are grateful for Senator Sununu’s dogged determination in securing a modest tax credit provision for high efficiency, clean burning biomass heating appliances. With oil heating costs going through the roof, this measure should help struggling N.H. families make the switch to locally produced biomass fuels such as wood pellets to heat their homes.”

Specifically, the bill contains provisions that would:

- Extend the Renewable Electricity Production Tax Credit’s (PTC) placed-in-service date through 2009 for facilities that generate electricity from wind, closed-loop biomass, open-loop biomass, geothermal energy, solar energy, small irrigation power, landfill gas, and trash combustion. Once a facility is qualified, a taxpayer may claim the credit annually over a 10-year period that commences on the facility’s placed-in-service date. The provision also adds marine renewables (wave, current, tidal power, ocean thermal) as qualifying facilities.

- Extend the solar energy and fuel cell investment tax credit through 2016. The provision extends the current 30% renewable energy tax credit for business purchases of qualified solar and fuel cell property and the 10% credit for stationary microturbines.

- Extend the 30% residential energy-efficient solar property credit through 2009 for purchases of qualified solar property used to generate electricity or heat water, and fuel cell power plants. The provision fully repeals the annual residential energy-efficient solar property credit cap (currently set at $2,000).

- Extend the 10% energy-efficient credit for existing homes through 2009. The credit can be used for purchases of energy-efficient exterior doors and windows, storm windows, metal roofs, insulation, central air conditioning and heating, and other qualified property. The provision also includes a Sununu provision, adding biomass fuel property (stoves to heat a residence or water in such a residence) as qualified energy-efficient building property.

- Extend the energy efficient new homes credit through 2010. The provision provides builders with a credit up to $2,000 for a home that reduces energy consumption by 50% when compared to the model residential code, and $1,000 for an Energy Star manufactured home.

- Extend the energy-efficient commercial buildings deduction for property placed-in-service through 2009, and increases the maximum deduction amount from the current $1.80 to $2.25 per square foot. Qualifying expenditures include those made to improve the energy efficiency of a building (through retrofitting an existing building or designing a new building), and may include interior lighting, heating, cooling, ventilation and hot water systems, and power distribution and building envelope systems.
...

Space heating savings.

There are many ways a consumer can save by heating with wood pellets these days. We save carbon emissions. We save on electricity in many cases, and of course many of us save money compared to using other fuel types such as oil and propane. One way to save that is often overlooked is the conservation that comes with using a single point heat source as opposed to a whole house heating system.
Wood pellet heat is an environmentally friendly heat source. It is EPA exempted because of its low emissions. It's near complete combustion leaves very little ash to clean up, and wood pellets are considered carbon neutral. One benefit a homeowner might notice is a reduction in their electrical bill. While pellet stoves do use electricity to regulate air and fuel feeds, and to distribute heat through the house they use on average 1/5 the energy of a forced hot air system. A pellet stove uses an average of 250-300 watts on a mid setting. Compare this to a furnace system that can consume upwards of 5000 watts. I do notice that the window air conditioner I use in my office makes my summer heating bills higher than my winter bills. It's specs rate it at 750 watts!
Another plus is the ability to have a fully functioning convective heat source with the use of a battery backup system. I have a backup that is attached to a battery and my stove at all times. When the power goes out the backup automatically engages switching over to battery power. When the power comes back on it trickle charges the battery. Some stoves, such as Harman's Accentra have the ability to turn off the distribution blower. This limits the convective flow but is a great energy saver in a power outage situation. Harman also has the ability to disable the igniter saving even more.
Many whole house systems are tasked with keeping every corner of your home warm. Some homes have only one or two thermostats on which to base that warmth. You end up heating every room all day and night whether you are using them or not. When many of my customers install a pellet stove in their home, they turn their whole house system down if not off. This results in a warm and inviting living space, and cooler outlying areas such as bedrooms. Not a big difference comfort-wise but enough to notice a savings on your monthly fuel and maybe even electric bill. An example could be my old ranch house that was kept around 70 degrees in the main living areas, and 65 in outlying rooms. The difference is often just enough that the introduction of the pellet stove brought the family back together in the living room. Not overheating outlying areas can reduce your fuel consumption by a noticeable amount. I certianly feel comfortable about keeping rarely used rooms five to ten degrees cooler than the rooms we use each and every day.

Paper Mill to Pellet Mill

From: http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=State+steps+up+with+assist+for+wood-pellet+plant&articleId=45b0de09-3878-471c-acca-49c009709034
State steps up with assist for wood-pellet plant
By DENIS PAISTE
New Hampshire Union Leader Staff
17 hours, 28 minutes ago

Greenova LLC's plan for a wood-pellet plant in the Berlin Industrial Park is getting a boost from the state Department of Resources and Economic Development, which will hold an off-site, 24-acre conservation easement to offset wetlands affected by the plant.

"We're delighted to be able to work with the community to be the holder of that easement," DRED Commissioner George M. Bald said in an interview last week.

DRED's Land Management Bureau already oversees more than 200,000 acres, so adding another 24 isn't a big deal. But Land Management Administrator Bill Carpenter said accepting the easement from the city of Berlin, which owns the land, will require approval from the Governor and Executive Council.

The parcel is near Berlin High School and includes snowmobile trails. Carpenter said DRED will make sure the boundaries of the easement are well marked.

Under state management, the protected land will be open to snowmobile and foot traffic.

"All our easements are open to the public for recreation," Carpenter said.

"In Berlin, we look to protect the working forest access," he said." We want this piece of ground to produce forest products."

The easement is a small piece of a big puzzle for developer Greenova, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hingham, Mass.-based Woodstone USA LLC, which currently operates a pellet plant in Holland, Mich., and has another under way in Moreau, N.Y.

The Berlin Planning Board gave conditional site plan approval to Greenova LLC's application on March 4. The company hopes to complete the permitting process this month and break ground on the facility in May. It isn't expected to be operational until next year.

"Basically we plan on starting construction during the summer, and next spring or summer, a year later, we should be up and running," said Jim Wagner, economic development director for Androscoggin Valley, who has been helping shepherd the project.

Wagner said the state's commitment to the conservation easement was a critical piece. "There are trade-offs, but we want to bring in economic benefits here and not compromise the natural environment and that's what the easement does," Wagner said.

Albrecht von Sydow, a principal in Woodstone USA LLC, said, "We are feeling extremely well about how things are proceeding."

With oil prices at record high levels, timing for a new wood-pellet production plant appears to be fortunate.

"I think it's very, very fair to say we can offer the heating equivalent of 1 gallon of oil for $1.80," von Sydow, a German native who is 33, said. One ton of wood pellets has the energy equivalent of 120 gallons of heating oil. The Berlin plant, announced in June 2007, will be designed to turn out 180,000 tons of wood pellets a year.

To meet that level of production, Greenova will be bringing in 400,000 tons of whole logs, enough to give a shot in the arm to the local logging and forestry industry. Fraser Papers closed its Berlin pulp mill in 2006, ending 250 jobs.
That's part of the wood-pellet plant's appeal to state officials.

"We've worked with Woodstone for the better part of a year," Bald said. "One of the things that we saw that was crucial was that when the pulp mill went down, there was an awful lot of demand for wood that evaporated, and so the hope was to be able to find another way to generate some demand, especially for what we consider to be low-grade wood."

Low-grade wood is not of sufficient quality to be used for lumber or flooring.

"If there isn't a good market for it, basically it stays in the forest, " Bald said. "They're talking about using about 400,000 tons a year."

The mill at its height was using about a million tons a year.

"So, we're delighted that's going to happen," Bald said. "And that's why we had a close relationship with this company."

"The city of Berlin has been very good to deal with, they have been very supportive of this plan," he said.

Fraser Papers bought the mills in Berlin and Gorham in 2002, following their closure a year earlier after the bankruptcy of former owner American Tissue.

In a separate project, Laidlaw Energy Group Inc. is planning to convert a large part of the former Fraser Paper pulp mill site, about four or five miles away, into a biomass-to-energy project that is expected to produce 60 megawatts of renewable energy and use more than 700,000 tons of wood chips a year.

Von Sydow said the wood pellet plant will employ 30 to 35, but the wood demand it creates will sustain or create another 200 or more jobs in the logging industry.

He is still in talks with equipment manufacturers for the production-line machinery, he said.

One of Greenova's principals is Alan McLain, 47, a Berlin native who was laid off from the mill in 2001. He said Greenova plans to meet conditions laid down in its site-plan approval.

After he was laid off, McLain started M&L Foundations with partner Robert Labrecque.

But lately he's been training at Woodstone's Michigan plant to learn the wood-pellet manufacturing business.

"We're certainly going to keep a lot of the outside loggers in business and make a huge impact financially," he said.

"It's great to be involved ... in something positive," he said.

"I live in the Norwegian Village (section of Berlin) and I live four houses away from where I grew up," McLain said. "From my front porch, I can see my parents' home.

"When the mill closed ... we chose to stay here," McLain said. "It's the type of place where you'd want your kids to be raised and when the mill closed it was very emotional," he said.

Besides its economic benefits, the pellet plant will have environmental benefits, too.

"The idea of having a market for low-grade wood really does promote the health of the forest," Bald said. "And we certainly know there is a limit to how much can be cut, but with the previous pulp mill using over 1 million tons a year, certainly we still have quite a bit of capacity before we get to any problems."

Wood pellets also are considered carbon neutral, meaning that the amount of carbon dioxide released when burning pellets are consumed is the same as carbon dioxide consumed from the atmosphere while a tree grows in the forest.

"The average household will enjoy a considerably smaller carbon footprint by heating their home with wood pellets," Woodstone says on its Web site.

The move from fossil fuels to alternative fuels has support at the highest levels in Washington. President Bush said in a speech March 5 at the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference: "I look forward to the day when people in the parts of our country that have got a lot of forests are able to convert wood chips into fuel. And those days are coming."

Von Sydow hopes to produce wood pellets for both the residential market, sold in 40-pound bags, and the commercial market.

"In Sweden, for example, one third of all the houses are heated with a wood-pellet furnace," he said. "The wood pellets are not a secondary heating system, but have actually replaced the old oil or natural gas furnaces."

Room to Grow!

In 2005 120,000 stoves and fireplace inserts were sold throughout the United States. That number has not grown as many think it could have or should have. As a matter of fact the number actually went down last year. Pellet stoves (as opposed to whole house systems) were new to the European market around 2005. They sold somewhere in the neighborhood of 16,000 stoves that year. Last year in Europe over 360,000 pellet stoves were sold. What a difference! and Why? Government incentive is still the number one reason in my opinion. Gas and oil prices are much less subsidized and Europeans are encouraged to look to other fuel sources. Then there is the Kyoto protocal and green movement, two areas where we are gravely lacking.
Yet there is hope, and time to change. At the Pellet Forum in Wels, Austria last week the US was declared a country with large growth potential in the pellet market. Of course, Americans in the crowd had to endure a little bit of a beating on why we are so far behind, but the end message is, I believe, a positive one.
Pellet use in the US was estimated between one and one and a half million tons of pellets last year. A source in the pellet industry said there is about 90 million ton of unused wood waste available in the US right now. That is one of the strongest assets we could have. As more pellet mills come on line each year our supply grows, and costs, as always, have remained stable relative to other energy's such as oil.
There is a large commercial and industrial sector that is untapped in this country, and the Europeans have noticed. Some Americans as well. Growth in this sector may open up doors to government support and incentive, as well as push the industry into bulk distribution, and whole house systems that are sparsely available, and still manually demanding with the fuel loading.
Wood pellets have actually had an impressive ride when you consider that we are the only fuel with no government incentive or support. Ethanol is subsidized at $.51 a gallon for example. Even wind and solar energy's have rebates, and incentives in place. The PFI seems to be waking up and taking action, FINALLY. They have had a growing relationship with a lobbying firm, and there are now several people in the industry who are focusing on creating, introducing, and getting bills brought to the attention of our congressmen and senator's. While we have not yet successfully had a bill move through to active status we are gaining ground, and attention in Washington.
I am excited for the future of wood pellets. It is a fuel that is local, renewable- at this point still made from waste products otherwise destined for landfills, carbon neutral, and affordable!