Last week in Wels Austria the World Sustainable Energy Days and Pellet Conference was held ending with the Energiesparmesse industry trade show. I was not able to attend this year, but wanted to share a little from my past visits. Many countries converge on the friendly town of Wels located near the German border. It is easily accessible by car as we drove in from Munich one year, or the ever-popular train. My last visit I stayed in Salzburg and enjoyed the countryside during the one hour train ride into Wels each day.
The invitation began with site visits. We all loaded on to motor coaches for visits to various pellet projects. The first stop was at a district heating facility that provided biomass heat for the neighborhood below. The boiler was housed in a modest building with supplies out back. This seemed a practical solution compared to each home having an appliance and independent fuel supply. One appliance maintained by a few people as opposed to 3500 appliances.
As we were driving to our next destination we saw what looked like a small grain truck going down the road past us. We were delighted to see that it was a bulk pellet fuel delivery truck from a local mill.
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Our next stop was a local pellet mill. It was built adjacent to the lumber portion of the business with conveyors to move the raw material from one section to the other. Pellets were made with similar equipment to US mills. The difference was after the production. As most fuel in Europe is bulk the fuel is conveyed to a holding tank, and there was a drive through section of the building with a loading hose for the bulk trucks. They did have a small bagging section that was new to them. The price was higher for the ~15 kg bags, but the bags were unique. They were a biodegradable corn fiber bag as opposed to the plastic bags we use in the US.
We then headed off to Guntamatic, a pellet appliance manufacturer. They showed a wide variety of pellet boiler, and furnace systems. Again, most biomass appliances in Europe are whole house systems. They let us tour their efficient and clean factory that uses laser welders, cutters, and a state of the art cad design system. Then they did a product seminar explaining the various components and boiler systems. I was most impressed by their ability to accept a much higher ash pellet, their ash handling system, and the bulk containment systems that pneumatically transferred pellets from the tank to the boiler.
Our last stop was a consumers home. They had created a bin for the fuel in their basement with a convenient fill port on the outside. It was conveyed using an auger to their boiler system. They had received tax incentive from their government to help offset the cost of purchasing and installing the biomass system.
The conference itself began the next day with many government officials making presentations about their countries plans, success, and future goals. There were also conferences on new technologies, and cooperative projects to further technology and distribution. Each country had and shared their various incentive programs. This is a far cry from the US Hearth Show that is run by people tend to merely dismiss pellet on a good day...
The first year I attended they had invited all of the US pellet manufacturers. They were trying to secure additional supplies as their expansion was rapid, and supplies thin. Last year European biomass pellet consumption surpassed 10 million tons. The US doesn't have an accurate figure but estimates put it at 1 to 1/5 million.
The end of the week brought the Energiesparmesse. The equivalent of our hearth show, but so much more. It was a venue with four halls, booths inside and out. We saw everything from the beautiful tiled stoves that are so prevalent over there, to solar systems, pellet-solar systems, boiler manufacturers, builders with pex and insulation systems, bulk feed material supply, stove manufacturers, fireplaces, pipe companies. 
The stand-outs in my mind were the BP biomass booth, Okofen's bulk feed bins, Froling's boilers, a company that made pex panels for wall use, and a kitchen stove manufacturer that had a wood pellet kitchen stove that was as elegant as a cast iron wood cook stove, but with the ease of pellet!
We also saw some familiar names like Enviro-fire which started in Europe and sells in the US.
The biggest impression I walked away with was how the government embraced, encouraged, and provided incentive for wood pellet products, and projects. Sweden uses pellet power for schools, government buildings, commercial buildings, district heating, electrical generation, and residential home heating. Italy, Bavaria, and France were not far behind.
What can you do to help encourage wood pellet use in the US? Write your congressmen, and senators. There have been a few bills that have been introduced but have not made it all the way through to fruition. Get both groups on board. You can visit the PFI's web page at http://www.pelletheat.org for more information. Here is a link to the Energiesparverband web site http://www.energiesparverband.com/esv/index.php?id=8&L=1
