DOE request input about wood heater R&D needs

The Bioenergy Technologies Office of the US Department of Energy has begun to provide R&D funding

to the wood heater manufacturing community.  To date, it has had two rounds of funding, with $10 million available.  The DOE provides R&D funding to many different renewable energy technologies to "enable sustainable ... energy security, reliability and resilience while creating economic opportunities across the country."  The Bioenergy Technologies Office "selects research and development projects through open and competitive procurements called Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOA) and encourages collaborative partnerships among:

• Industry
• Universities
• National laboratories
• Federal, state, and local governments, and
• Non-government agencies.

Now, the DOE is asking for input from the extended wood heater community about what the community needs to build cleaner and more efficient stoves.  This likely indicates that they may change the focus of their funding next year.  In the past, they provided funding for 

• Novel and innovative residential wood heater designs to improve combustion chamber geometry, combustion air flow distribution, mixing of combustion air with gasification products, stove baffling designs, etc. 
• Improvements in automation of stoves to optimize combustion control. 
• Wood heater power generation via thermoelectric module integration 
• Improvements in catalyst technologies for emissions reduction

Input should be sent to FY21MultiTopic@ee.doe.gov and is due by 5:00 PM September 21, 2020.  We have reproduced the details of the Request for Information below (except we omitted language about a parallel ROI on biofuels). For the full text, click here.

FY 2021 Bioenergy Technologies Office Multi-Topic RFI (DE-FOA-0002386)

DATE:           August 20, 2020 

SUBJECT:     Request for Information (RFI) 

Description 

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) is requesting information on research opportunities related to residential wood heater technology advancement 

Purpose 

The purpose of this RFI is to solicit feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders on issues related to overcoming the technical barriers and challenges in the design of clean, efficient residential scale wood heaters. EERE is specifically interested in information on identifying the critical technology gaps and resources required to significantly reduce emissions and improve efficiency of residential wood heaters. Gaps of interest include but are not limited to the stove design, automation, catalyst development, retrofit technologies for older wood heaters, sensor technology, and stove performance testing methods. 

This is solely a request for information and not a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). EERE is not accepting applications. 

Category 1: Residential Wood Heater Technology Advancement 

Technological Barriers 

1. What are the critical technical hurdles for improving performance of stoves for new installations (e.g. combustion chamber design, combustion air management, controls, mixing, sensors, etc.)? 

2. What are the critical technical hurdles for improving performance of stoves already installed in homes (e.g. combustion chamber design, combustion air management, controls, mixing, sensors, etc.)? 

3. What practical and new techniques are used to significantly reduce transient emissions (startup, shutdown, load changes)? 

4. What practical and new techniques are used to measure transient emissions that could be implemented in laboratory or field testing? 

5. How can new exhaust emission control technologies be developed and practically deployed? 

6. How could integrated hybrid systems, in which biomass heaters are combined with other technologies such as heat pumps, solar, and high efficiency gas and liquid-fired appliances, be a route to reduced emissions? What are the technology barriers to this approach? 

7. How could field measurement methods be improved to ensure that biomass-appliances do not create local air quality issues in long-term use? 

8. What stove features commonly encourage end-users to purchase new or replace a wood heater? Or, what stove features are commonly attractive to the end-user? 

9. What advantages or disadvantages would continuous field performance data provide for advancing stove designs? 

Tools and Capabilities

1. How are trial-and-error test methods used to improved stove performance and advance stove design (i.e. development by implementation of incremental change and testing)? 

2. Is access to performance testing facilities a barrier to development? 

3. What in-house test methods are relied upon to validate and facilitate wood heater development? 

4. How much could rapid performance measurement methods shorten R&D test cycles? 

5. What specific test methods would be of interest to your enterprise? 

6. How are modeling and simulation tools being applied to improve wood heater designs? 

7. How could modeling and simulation tools be improved to meet your needs? 

8. What are the fundamental modeling gaps to enable broader use of modeling and simulation such as Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to improve wood heater design? 

9. How are current measurement methods meeting your needs for evaluating performance and emissions from wood heaters? What could be done better? 

10. What performance/emissions measurements are most challenging to obtain? What makes obtaining these measurements challenging? 

11. What are three primary challenges your enterprise faces for advancing stove designs?

 Request for Information Response Guidelines 

Responses to this RFI must be submitted electronically to FY21MultiTopic@ee.doe.gov no later than 5:00pm (ET) on September 21, 2020. Responses must be provided as attachments to an email. It is recommended that attachments with file sizes exceeding 25MB be compressed (i.e., zipped) to ensure message delivery. Responses must be provided as a Microsoft Word (.docx) attachment to the email, and no more than 6 pages in length, 12 point font, 1 inch margins. Only electronic responses will be accepted. 

EERE will not respond to individual submissions or publish publicly a compendium of responses. A response to this RFI will not be viewed as a binding commitment to develop or pursue the project or ideas discussed.

Please identify your answers by responding to a specific question or topic if applicable. Respondents may answer as many or as few questions as they wish. 

Respondents are requested to provide the following information at the start of their response to this RFI: 

• Company / institution name; 

• Company / institution contact; 

• Contact's address, phone number, and e-mail address.

NYSERDA provides funding for Wood Stove Design Challenge

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has awarded nearly $50,000 to support the technical aspects of the Wood Stove Design Challenge, contest officials have announced.

The purpose of the contest, which is run by the Alliance for Green Heat, is to inspire engineers and manufacturers to create more efficient wood stoves, which can produce more heat with reduced emissions.

Funding from NYSERDA, which will go towards technical support and operations costs, comes from the Biomass Heating R&D Program, which takes a comprehensive approach to developing a high efficiency and low emissions biomass heating industry.

NYSERDA works with manufacturers, universities, engineering firms, research institutions, and federal and private labs to improve wood combustion designs and conduct third party evaluations. Additionally, NYSERDA supports studies to investigate the air quality and public health impacts of wood combustion.

Much of the technical preparation for the Wood Stove Design Challenge will happen at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, where NYSERDA funding will enable testing and calibration of the test equipment and the fueling protocols. Dr. Thomas Butcher and his team will be testing portable emission analyzers next to a dilution tunnel to determine their applicability for on-site testing at the National Mall in Washington D.C. in November.

Biomass heating has increased over the past decade as the price of home heating oil has increased. But much of that increase comes from older, less efficient wood burning technologies that can cause high wood smoke concentrations, especially in rural valley communities.

The Wood Stove Design Challenge is using cordwood to test the stoves, so it’s representative of how the stoves are used in homes. Traditionally, stoves have been tested with 2 x 4s in an attempt to maximize consistency and replication of the results.

The grand prize winner will receive a $25,000 cash prize. Between two and five prizes for second place will share a $10,000 pot. Awards will be based primarily on such attributes as innovation, emissions, efficiency, affordability and most consumer friendly. Prize money was raised through various private sponsors.

The winning stoves will receive extensive publicity, and Popular Mechanics, who helped design the Challenge, will cover the winning designs in its magazine and website.

Intent to sue notice exaggerates complicated issues

By Scott Nichols, Tarm USA

States should take the high road

Scott Nichols

A coalition of states recently issued a notice to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of intent to sue.  States want to end delays in implementing overdue New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for wood burning appliances.  Further, states want the EPA to include new classes of wood burning appliances in the NSPS.  Particularly, wood boilers, also known as hydronic heaters for indoor and outdoor use, are described by the states as being major contributors to airborne pollution. The seven page notice is laden with statistics and is heavily footnoted. 

What is surprising is that the states, after many years of voicing concerns about the accuracy of claims made in wood burning appliance advertising, have themselves made expedient claims in their intent to sue.  For instance, the statement that European appliances have increased efficiency from 55% to over 90% is not the complete story.  Efficiency numbers can be stated a number of different ways.  For instance, the Fröling FHG wood boiler was recently tested by Brookhaven.  The technology the boiler uses is generally considered BDT for residential wood boilers.  Its rated seasonal efficiency at HHV was 68% according to Brookhaven.  The European test gives the same boiler an efficiency of 88%.  When people use efficiency numbers that are not clearly defined, it confuses the situation.  The very state regulators who get upset about the overstatement of efficiency numbers by wood appliance advertisers should know better than to play the same game. 

In the very next paragraph the states laud the Europeans for stringent emission and efficiency limits.  The very states that are party to the intent to sue notice could have supported a European style emissions test years ago, but have instead delayed emission and efficiency testing by trying to create new, more accurate test methods based on real world conditions.  To threaten the EPA over time delays while not encouraging the adoption of European style emission and efficiency testing many years ago is seems like an unjustified position to take.

In more than one location in the notice of intent to sue, states claim that use of indoor and outdoor boilers is increasing.  With time the number of hydronic heaters sold in aggregate will always increase, but how many are also going to the junk yard?  Many early outdoor wood boilers have rotted out and are no longer in use.  1970s oil crisis boilers are being retired as parts become hard to come by in some cases.  Old smoky boilers are less in favor than they once were which makes sales values closer to scrap values.  The word is getting out about wood smoke pollution.  Together with an economy that is down, energy conservation efforts, and proliferation of other renewable energy technologies, the claim that the use of boilers is increasing is dubious and unsupported by any data.  There is no need to over-state or to sensationalize.  It is clear that there are offensive wood burning appliances that not only pollute heavily, but are sullying the reputation of the wood burning industry.  Time and public sentiment are not on the side of these products.

Regulators missed the boat by waiting 25 years to update the NSPS.  One must wonder why states are at long last taking legal action with such verbose claims against the EPA.  EPA implementation of the NSPS is unfortunately going to have little effect on air pollution from wood burning appliances in the near future.  There are simply too many appliances in operation to rely only on regulation of new appliances to clear the air.  We now have to wait for all of polluting appliances now in use to die off.  That will take 20 years.

Wood Stove Decathlon Set for Nov. 15th – 19th on National Mall

The Wood Stove Decathlon will be held on the National Mall in Washington D.C .from Friday November 15th to Tuesday the 19th. Modeled after the DOE’s Solar Decathlon, the Wood Stove Decathlon is an international competition to design and build the most innovative and affordable next generation wood stove. The Decathlon will be open to the public.

The Wood Stove Decathlon will be in a large tent on the National Mall in front of the Whitten USDA building, near the Smithsonian metro station. Fourteen teams have been selected by the judges to compete for a grand prize of $25,000 and for several other prizes. There is also an audience award and you can cast your vote now for what you think is the most innovative stove.

This will be the first high profile technology competition for wood stoves since Ben Franklin’s time, when deforestation compelled a drive for more efficient stoves. Today, the main driver is particulates and the need to reduce levels of smoke. The biggest breakthrough in modern times was the pellet stove, which was invented in Washington State in the 1980s and has become far more popular in Europe than in the U.S. For wood stoves, there could be major breakthroughs with automation – microprocessors and low-cost sensors that will maximize efficiency and minimize emissions.

The primary sponsors so far include NYSERDA, the US Forest Service and Schott Robax glass. Partners include Popular Mechanics magazine, DOE Brookhaven National Laboratory and the states of Washington and Oregon.

The sponsors and partners seek to identify and popularize technology trends that can lead to far cleaner and more efficient home heating. An awards ceremony announcing the winners and discussing the technology will be held on Tuesday, November 19th. See the Wood Stove Decathlon web page for any further information.

EPA Changes Strategy Again; Will Now Phase in Stricter Standards for Biomass Stoves and Boilers

Alliance for Green Heat, April 1, 2013 - The EPA released information about the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) this month after making many changes to accommodate state demands for cleaner stoves and boilers. The new draft NSPS will do little to make most wood and pellet stoves cleaner until 2017 or 2019 but will have immediate impact on biomass boilers. All classes of heaters will have to meet stricter “best systems” emissions standards in 2017 or 2019, depending on whether EPA uses a two or three-step approach.

The draft NSPS appears to treat all biomass stoves, pellet or wood, catalytic or non-catalytic, the same and require that they emit no more than 4.5 grams of fine particulate emissions (PM2.5) per hour, a standard that has been in place in Washington State since 1995. The average pellet stove today emits about 2 grams per hour, already less than half of the proposed standards.

Hydronic heaters, commonly known as outdoor wood boilers, would also be held to existing standards that were developed about 5 years ago. However, the new NSPS would regulate sales and installations of these appliances across the entire country, instead of just the approximately 10 states that have adopted the voluntary EPA standard. 

While the new NSPS may reflect the status quo in many states in the near future, it could become far stricter for both stoves and boilers. In 2019, the test method for measuring stove emissions could change, for example, from averaging four burn rates to using only the highest or lowest burn rate (depending on which one the stove has the hardest time passing). Some in the industry think this standard will be a death-blow for stove manufacturers. Other experts say it will be achievable, but the stoves that will be made may not be as appealing to consumers.

The written document EPA released this month did not contain any numerical limits that industry would have to meet in the future, but Gil Wood, EPA’s lead official on this NSPS verbally shared numbers with roomful of stove and boiler manufacturers who had gathered in Orlando Florida for the annual HBPA Expo. The Alliance for Green Heat requested a copy to make available to the public, which the EPA provided.

The EPA has backed off of creating a required minimum efficiency standard, which all other HVAC technology has, in favor of testing and publicly reporting efficiency to the consumer. The industry position is that reporting efficiency is sufficient and enables the consumer to decide if they want the equivalent of a gas guzzler or a gas miser as their home heating appliance.

There is much speculation about how the new EPA Administrator, Gina McCarthy, will impact the NSPS.  Administrator McCarthy had been head of the air quality division at EPA and has a good working knowledge of solid fuel appliances. And, McCarthy has already reportedly asked tough questions about why fireplaces are not covered in this NSPS. 

Many in industry are simply tired of an agency that appears to keep changing its mind about how strictly wood heating appliances should be regulated. As of last fall, EPA appeared to have something close to a final draft of the new NSPS that was more acceptable to industry but considered far too weak by many states. 

States now appear to have strengthened their hand. By adopting a stepped approach, the new NSPS may do little to make stoves or boilers any cleaner before 2019 in the Northeast and Northwest, where states have already adopted standards that are as strict as or even stricter than what the EPA is proposing. 

The most immediate impact upon promulgation, which could be in 2014, is that unregulated outdoor wood boilers would go off the market in all states. But there is a growing movement that feels even Test Method 28 WHH and standards for EPA qualified outdoor boilers still are deeply flawed, even after Method 28 OHH was improved to Method 28 WHH. It is still unclear how boilers will be tested for 2014 compliance and how existing voluntary tests will be validated. 

Brookhaven National Laboratory recently completed a study that resulted in a new test method being created for both outdoor wood boilers and indoor boilers that have partial thermal storage. Funded mainly by NYSERDA with some support from EPA, this method draws upon the ASTM method and Method 28 WHH. It can be used instead of Method 28 WHH for any boiler with partial thermal storage. New York State has already accepted the test method which will help open up the state up to European and American boilers with thermal storage. 

The Brookhaven Method is also similar to the ASTM Method 2618 and could replace that method as well, but has it has not yet been introduced into the ASTM process. The test method is more stringent than Method 28 and the European EN 303-5 but it may be a quicker and cheaper test for manufacturers to undertake.  It is still unclear if the Brookhaven method could be part of this NSPS or not. That will likely depend on how much the states push for it and whether industry pushes back. 

The EPA’s latest timetable suggests it will have a final draft of the new NSPS ready for internal review in April and the agency will publish the standard in the Federal Register this summer. Industry, states, non-profits and the public will then have 90 days within which to submit comments. The final rule would be promulgated and go into effect in the summer of 2014.

 

The EPA has yet to meet any of their timetables for this NSPS. There is always the chance that someone will sue the EPA simply to get a court-ordered timetable that it would have to adhere to. And, lawsuits based on substantive regulations are also possible, if not likely, from a variety of fronts, if acceptable compromises cannot be reached.

Wood Stove Design Challenge Judges Test Equipment, Select Finalists

Alliance for Green Heat, January 24, 2013 - The past two days have been exciting ones for the Alliance for Green Heat and the rest of the Wood Stove Design Challenge team, as eight of the judges met at DOE's Brookhaven National Laboratory to prepare for the Wood Stove Decathlon set for later this year. 

Judges examine testing equipment in the lab

Many of the Design Challenge judges met in person for the first time at the government laboratory on Long Island, New York. While many of them had different personal and institutional reasons for participating in the Challenge, they all agree with a basic premise: that wood stoves need to operate cleaner in the real world and design changes can make that happen.

During the two day meeting, judges reviewed scores of innovative designs from 32 applications and examined a piece of brand new German wood appliance testing equipment that will likely be used to judge entries at the Wood Stove Decathlon to be held this November in Washington DC. The DOE Brookhaven Lab also hosted a webinar to review this new product, the Wohler SM 500 particle analyzer, with members of NYSERDA, the Environmental Protection Agency and key industry leaders.

More information on testing at the Decathlon will be forthcoming, and the 14 finalists for the competition will be released next week. As discussed in our latest Challenge blogpost, this competition may be a battle between 16th and 21st century designs, with no clear idea about who the winners will be.

Stay up to date on all Wood Stove Design Challenge news by connecting with the Alliance for Green Heat on Facebook or subscribing to our free monthly newsletter.

More information on the Challenge is available at http://www.forgreenheat.org/stovedesign.html.