Myren Consulting and AGH apply for Department of Energy R&D Grant

Down drafting stove would be open-source

Myren Consulting and the Alliance for Great Heat, along with Stonybrook University and German experts from DBFZ (Deutsches Biomasseforschungszentrum) are seeking to build an open-source wood stove that can help any manufacturer adopt the innovative approaches used by this stove. The goal is to make an ultra-clean wood stove that will consistently burn around 1 gram an hour without a catalyst and 0.5 grams with a catalyst, regardless of who loads and starts the stove.

The stove will use a downdraft airflow that brings the flames through the coal bed, and it will have a fan that induces the draft until the flue gases are hot enough to shut it off. The team will employ Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to optimize the design and the air flow. The stove will also have a robust, multi-purpose data logger that can engage the operator via lights on the stove or through a sophisticated smart phone app. The app will feature content from our partner groups and walk consumers through all stages of the purchase, installation, operation, troubleshooting and maintenance. The consumer can choose if they will be the only one with access to the data, or whether they are willing to share it with the manufacturer, the retailer and/or a chimney sweep, for example.

Throughout the entire project, if funded, the team will share R&D decisions, designs, and data with the stove industry, regulators, and the public. The team will also seek to “crowd-source” solutions to problems and issues that may emerge by regularly seeking input from a range of stakeholders, from industry players to public health and low-income advocates. The stove will undergo a series of rigorous tests in Ben Myren’s lab over a 3-year period because a novel, top-notch stove needs that amount of time to get the design, airflow and other features just right. The stove will be tested to the traditional EPA reference Method 28, and the more recently approved ASTM 303-5 and IDC protocols. The stove will also undergo in situ real world testing, round-robin lab testing and be tested to the rigorous Blue Angel standard in Germany (not with DOE funds) to understand how it can handle a variety of loading and testing methods. 

Current certified stove design configurations have been developed since the mid 1980’s and are all based upon the draft generated by an EPA freely communicated lab chimney that is 15 ±1 ft. These designs have been developed somewhat over the years using a vast number of prototypes that have had many design changes made to them during this multi-year, multi-prototype R&D process. However, R&D in the stove community has not been robust and most manufacturers simply follow a well-known design pattern that has proved to be successful enough. We are attempting to disrupt that design pattern by maximizing secondary combustion in the upper part of the firebox but then drawing the gases down through the coal bed for an even more efficient secondary (or tertiary) emission reduction process.

With the change in draft proposed in this proposal, that entire body of knowledge becomes questionable.  And the project’s timeframe doesn’t provide for the typical long, slow development of a stove that will meet the current emissions standards. Thus, we propose to build upon a technique that we have been successfully using where some stove components are bolted together, rather than being welded together. This technique will allow us to rapidly make design changes which will hasten the entire R&D process. It will also enable us to fine-tune the combustion system in the stove by changing known critical components, e.g., the internal cross-sectional area of secondary air side manifolds, to facilitate the reduction of particulate matter (PM) emissions. The following table contains a (partial) list of critical components known to affect emissions.  Almost all of these features will still be relevant for a downdraft stove, but their size, shape and placement may change based on the downdraft design and the results of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis.

  

• LPAO: Lower primary air orifice
• Horizontal throat gap: shortest distance between the front edge of the baffle and the backside of the air wash
• Vertical throat gap: shortest distance between the top of the baffle and the bottom of the top

All equipment used in the revised dilution tunnel system will be maintained and calibrated using current EPA criteria. Our stove will first assess how consistently we can operate under 1 gram an hour without a catalyst, but we plan on designing a model with a catalyst as well. Wood stoves are often not sufficiently optimized in terms of low-emission combustion, so that the catalyst is subjected to excessive overloading.

The initial group of expert advisors who wrote letters of commitment include the Tribal Healthy Home Network, the German Biomass Research Centre, the Danish Technological Institute, the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association (HPBA), the National Fireplace Institute, Industrial Chimney Company-Renewable Solid Fuel (ICC-RSF), Masonry Heater Association, Sunstein Intellectual Property Law Firm, and 509 Fabrications.

The $2 million price tag would include $1.3 million expenses at Myren lab, $300,000 at AGH, $215,00 at Stony Brook University, $125,000 by the German team working at Myren labs (no DOE funds will be spent abroad) and about $70,000 for other vendors and subcontractors.  We are requesting $1.6 from the DOE’s Bioenergy Technology Office.

In the spirit of this open source project and collaboration with other teams, the following materials can be downloaded:

The full technical volume 

Letters of commitment

Summary slide

Resumes

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Plan

Results of AGH Newsletter Survey

This past month, we sent out a survey to everyone subscribed to our newsletter in order to get to know our readers better and evaluate our work as a non-profit. We received 290 responses, and are grateful to all the respondents who provided us thoughtful feedback about their interests, goals, and opinions on AGH’s work. Thank you! Below are some results from each question of the survey, with commentary from members of the AGH board and staff. 

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Question 1: What are your areas of interest? (Check all that apply)

We received 289 responses to this question. Federal and state government updates as well as stove R&D were the most popular, while conferences and webinars were the least popular. Among the 10 “Other” responses, DIY stove designs and pellet heating were also popular. We don’t frequently host or promote conferences and webinars, but there is likely to be another Wood Stove Design Challenge, announced later this year.

Question 2: Which of the following expresses your opinion of residential wood and pellet heating? (Check all that apply)

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We made an unfortunate mistake right before publishing the survey of deleting a fourth option that was more in support of wood and pellet heating – and once we started receiving responses, we were not able to change or add options. We noted this in the intro to the survey, and noticed that the number of responses took a big hit – a decrease of almost 100 from the previous question. Many respondents in question 12’s “any other feedback” section explained that they would have chosen a response more positive of wood and pellet heating than the other three responses gave. We apologize for this mistake but feel the responses to the other 3 options are still informative.

Question 3: What, in your opinion, are the top three ways to reduce air pollution from wood smoke? (Check all that apply)

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After the decrease in responses to question 2, we were pleased to see a high level of response to this question. Consumer education and changeout program expansion were both popular responses, while increased enforcement of existing state regulations and more state regulations in general was less popular. In other sections, including question 12’s other feedback section, consumer education was deemed very popular. The more difficult question is how a small group like ours can effectively do more consumer education.

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Question 4: What U.S. state or foreign country do you live in?

We received 260 responses to this question, most of which were U.S. states. The results are summed up on the following heat map, which shows that most AGH readers, at least in this sample size, tend to reside in more northern states, with southern states being much less represented. In terms of foreign countries, 22 respondents said they lived in Canada, and much lower numbers were also received for Chile, Kenya, Sweden, Germany, France, the U.K., Japan, New Zealand, and Poland.

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Question 5: Which of the following appliances do you own? (Check all that apply)

This question received a wide variety of answers without a strong trend besides the comparative popularity of wood stoves as primary and secondary heat sources as compared to pellet stoves, wood/pellet boilers, and the other green heat systems listed. Among the “other” responses, air source heat pumps and masonry heaters were also popular responses. This question helps us understand what kind of information is applicable and/or useful to those reading our content.

Questions 6, 7, & 8: 

These three questions regarded research AGH is doing into how wood and pellet stoves are evaluated in energy audits. In response to question 6, (“Have you had an energy audit done on your home in the last 3 years?”) 30 responded "yes." Out of those 30, only 5 responded “yes” to question 7, which asked, “If you own a wood or pellet heater, did the energy auditor inspect it?” We reached out to all respondents who provided their email address in order to contact them about their energy audit experience, and have received very helpful responses from a number of people. Once again, if you would like to share your energy audit report or experience with us, please email caroline@forgreenheat.org because we would love to hear from you!

Question 9: How would you rate AGH’s monthly e-newsletter on a scale of 1 to 5?

We are relieved that an average of 83%of respondents think the newsletter is a good length, has a good frequency, and is not too biased for or against wood heating. AGH is a pro-wood heating group, but we also think it is important to address wood smoke and a range of other issues head-on. 

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Question 10: In your opinion, on which areas should the Alliance for Green Heat focus?

Just as in question 3 and 1, education and outreach appeared to be very important to our survey respondents, while social media and engagement of other non-profits appeared to be less so. We do maintain Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter accounts, although this is not where we direct most of our effort!

Question 11: The Alliance for Green Heat promotes modern wood and pellet heating systems as low-carbon, sustainable, and affordable energy solutions. In your opinion, how effective is AGH in achieving this mission?

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It was encouraging to see that the majority of respondents rated us as somewhat or very effective, though we know we can always improve.

Question 12: Is there any other feedback you wish to share with AGH? 

We received 92 written responses to this question! Most responses provided encouragement, suggestions for content, questions, or clarification on prior survey responses. We read and appreciate every single survey response we got.

Question 13: Biolite camp stove drawing: We have a winner!!
Finally, out of the 216 respondents to this question who entered our stove drawing, Ken Hansen of Washington State was randomly selected to receive a FREE $350 Biolite electricity-generating wood grill. From Mr. Hansen: “I'm looking forward to surprising my hiking partners by recharging our phones/cameras while I grill the carne asada after a day of hiking!”

Thanks again to everyone who participated in the survey!

Wittus and Seraph win Pellet Stove Design Challenge

Rene Bindig and Niels Wittus,
designers of the Pellwood stove.

A German designed Wittus stove that is distributed by a New York company, and a stove made by Seraph Industries, the smallest U.S. pellet stove manufacture, won first and second place in the 2016 Pellet Stove Design Challenge. 

This was the third Stove Design Challenge promoting innovation in wood and pellet heating to help consumers reduce fossil heating fuels with appliances that burn far cleaner and more efficiently than average stoves.

The Wittus Pellwood stove is an extremely innovative prototype that can burn both pellets and cordwood, bringing advanced technology from basement furnaces up into the living room to achieve very low emissions of less than half a gram per hour.  The second place stove, Seraph’s Phoenix F25i, is nearly ready for certification testing.  It also achieved a very clean burn, consistently under 1 g/hr. and has innovative features to help and encourage the consumer to keep the stove operating well.

The Seraph team with AGH President
John Ackerly (right).

Other stoves featured extremely innovative designs, including the futuristic looking, radiant heat Torrefire stove with a glass burn pot. In addition, the gravity fed Vibrastove, with a burn plate instead of pot, used only one small fan and made its own electricity for off-grid use.

The Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Lab hosted the event. The Lab conducted extensive testing of the competition stoves and will provide valuable data for the EPA, industry and other stakeholders about the strengths and weaknesses of testing protocols.  Each stove was tested three times, to see if the stove operated consistently or whether the testing protocol may lead to variable results.

 

The Torrefire pellet stove.

“Designing a very affordable, high performing pellet stove should not be rocket science,” said Dr. Tom Butcher, Head of the Energy Resources Division at Brookhaven National Laboratory. “But in some ways its harder than rocket science because solid fuel combustion is extremely complicated to design for and test,” he said.  “What makes this competition great is the new ideas from the competing teams and the spirit of collaboration.”

Pellet stoves are widely seen as a modern, cleaner, and a user-friendlier alternative to cord wood stoves.  More states and programs are starting to give larger rebates and incentives for pellet stoves than cord wood stoves, and are beginning to focus on the stricter emission standards that will take effect in 2020.  This Design Challenge showed that the 2020 standards for particulate matter would not be difficult for pellet stoves to attain, but that many pellet stoves have mediocre efficiencies.

Steve Spevak, designer of the
Vibrastove and Dr. Tom Butcher
(right) during testing.

The Pellet Stove Design Challenge is a partnership between various organizations and agencies that are interested in exploring the potential of technology to meet a growing demand for renewable energy.  The principal funder,  the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), runs Renewable Heat New York, a multi-layered incentive program for pellet heating equipment at the residential, commercial and industrial scale.  Other partners include the United States Forest Service, Brookhaven National Lab and state agencies from Massachusetts and Washington, along with leading experts from Clarkson University, the Masonry Heater Association and the Osprey Foundation.

The Design Challenge brought nearly a hundred students, stove builders, backyard inventors,  academics, regulators and experts together to discuss and debate the state of the pellet stove technology, indoor and outdoor air quality issues and deployment strategies.  Of particular note were three university teams that are designing stoves from engineering departments at SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Stony Brook and the University of Maryland.  The speakers included Adam Baumgart-Getz from the EPA, Marius Wohler from the European BeReal initiative, nanoparticle expert Dr. Barbara Panessa-Warren and scores of others.  Presentation abstracts are available along with most of the powerpoint presentations.

Marius Wohler, one of the European
presenters, describing the BeReal survey
and testing, leading to new testing
protocols in Europe.

 The event coordinator, the Alliance for Green Heat, is exploring a return to advanced cord wood stove technology and using the National Mall in Washington DC again as a venue in 2017.  Stakeholders are invited to contact info@forgreenheat.org with input about the next Design Challenge.

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The Alliance for Green Heat promotes modern wood and pellet heating systems as a low-carbon, sustainable and affordable energy solution. The Alliance works to advance stove innovation through technology competitions and advises state and federal agencies on improving programs that involve wood and pellet heating. Founded in 2009, the Alliance is an independent non-profit organization based in Takoma Park Maryland.

2012 Census Shows Wood Heating Continues Growth Streak

Alliance for Green Heat, Sept. 25, 2013 - According to recently released U.S. Census statistics, 63,566 more families used wood or pellets as a primary heating fuel in 2012 compared to 2011, which amounts to an increase of 2.6%, making wood again the fastest growing heating fuel in America.

From 2000 to 2010, wood and pellet home heating grew by 34%, faster than any of the other heating fuels, including solar and natural gas. Oil and propane use declined between 2000 and 2010, and the decline continued in 2012.

Today, 2.1% of Americans use wood or pellets as their primary heating fuel, up from 1.6% in 2000. An additional 7.7 % of U.S. households use wood as a secondary heating fuel, according to the 2009 EIA Renewable Energy Consumption Survey.

Nearly 2.5 million households use wood as a primary heating fuel, making it, by far, the dominant residential source of renewable energy in the United States. In comparison, only about 500,000 of U.S. homes have solar panels and less than 50,000 use solar thermal heating. Solar thermal heating dropped by 2% in 2012 from 2011, according to the new Census numbers.

The states with the biggest growth in wood heat from 2011 - 2012 are Delaware (35.1%), Rhode Island (29.6%), Nebraska (24.6%), New Hampshire (18.5%) and New Jersey (17.7%). However, other states experienced declines. Among the important wood heating states of Washington, Oregon and California, the decline was very small, but there were more significant declines in Illinois (5.2%), Idaho (5%) and Colorado (4.8%). Over a 12-year period, the prevalence of wood heating has increased, often very significantly, in every state except Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida and Hawaii.

Since the U.S. Census Bureau started tracking heating data in 1950, wood heating has had wide swings. Starting at 10% of the population in 1950, it dropped to 1.3% of the population in 1970, an all-time low. By 1990, wood had climbed back to 3.9%, only to drop back to 1.6% in 2000. The biggest growth story in heating fuel is electricity, which went from under 1% in 1950 to 36% today.

The environmental costs of using electricity for heating is high in most states, where the majority of electricity is still made with coal. The environmental cost of drilling and transporting other fossil fuels like oil and gas can also be high. Wood heating has an environmental cost from the particulate matter in the smoke, particularly from older stoves in more densely inhabited areas, and, in some states, from growing numbers of outdoor wood boilers. The EPA has proposed stricter emission standards for wood and pellet stoves and boilers and the Office of Management and Budget is reviewing them now.

Some of the growth in wood heating can be attributed to households that already had stoves, but now use them as primary heaters, instead of a secondary ones. Other households may have bought and installed stoves they found on the second hand market, which is legal in all states except Washington and Oregon.

The trend towards greater use of wood and pellets is mainly due to the lower operating costs compared to oil, propane and electricity. Three states – New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine – have provided generous rebates for pellet boilers to help residents replace costly oil heating systems and keep their heating dollars local. Maryland recently established a rebate for the cleanest wood and pellet stoves for rural homes that do not have access to natural gas.

For more info on 2012 U.S. Census data and on trends from 2000 - 2010, and more details about wood heat in the 2000 – 2010 Census.

Maryland raises rebate amount and indefinitely extends wood and pellet stove program

The Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) announced that it extended the rebate program for wood and pellet stoves indefinitely, and raised the rebates amounts to $500 for wood stoves and $700 for pellet stoves.

Initial data from the program showed that Marylanders used the rebates for pellet stoves twice as often  Pellet stoves are usually used as a primary or sole heat source of an average sized home, and typically save consumers $400 to $800 each year in heating costs.
as for wood stoves, defying national trends.

The program provides rebates to Marylanders who heat their home with oil, propane or electricity, which accounts for about half the state’s population and almost all of the rural population. Homes that heat with natural gas, usually in urban and suburban areas, are not eligible.

“We want to thank the Director of the MEA, Abby Hopper and her staff for helping rural Marylanders use an affordable renewable energy and keep their energy dollars local,” said John Ackerly, President of the Alliance for Green Heat.

In a press release from the MEA on Sept. 16, 2013, MEA said, "Third party analysis of the program found that the most grants on a per capita basis have gone to rural counties that have been hit hardest by the economic recession. This grant further improves the already impressive economics of wood stove systems and provides incentives for the cleanest stoves on the market." 

The average cost for buying and installing a stove in Maryland is about $4,000. Although, according to MEA data, some project costs were under $3,000. For an average $4,000 project, the wood stove rebate of $500 covers 12% of the costs and the $700 rebate for a pellet stove covers 17% of the cost. A $300 federal tax credit that ends on December 31 of 2013 provides an additional incentive this year.

Extending the program indefinitely gives the wood and pellet stove grant program parity with the residential solar and geothermal programs.  Advocates, including the Alliance for Green Heat, had argued that ordinary rural Marylanders were being left out of a program that was mainly benefiting wealthy urban and suburban families.

Eligible stoves must meet emissions requirements than are significantly stricter than the EPA’s. Homeowners are not required to turn in an existing, uncertified stove. However, about half the families that had older, uncertified stoves recycled them, according to data collected by MEA.

The push to add wood and pellet stoves in Maryland’s residential renewable energy grant program was championed by Delegate Heather Mizeur of District 20 and a host of other Delegates.  The Alliance for Green Heat organized a coalition of environmental and renewable energy groups and small businesses. The MEA voluntarily began the funding using existing resources in September 2012.

For information about how to apply for the rebate, click here. 
http://energy.maryland.gov/residential/Pages/incentives/woodstoves.aspx

For common Questions & Answers about the program, click here. http://www.forgreenheat.org/consumer_resources/mdrpqa.html#B