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.