States take on the EPA in controversial wood stove proposal

Mary Uhl of WESTAR testifying at a
2018 air quality meeting.

Industry touts economic strain on stove retailers, but outdoor wood boiler and furnace manufacturers are also behind campaign for more time

Updated on June 17 - A virtual EPA hearing on June 8 pitted states against the EPA over emission limits from wood stoves, boilers and furnaces.  The EPA is proposing to ease the emissions compliance timeline for wood stoves and boilers but over a dozen states urged the EPA to withdraw its proposal.  Minnesota formally told the EPA and the wood heating industry that stoves and boilers must comply with the existing timeline that was set in 2015 for sales and shipments in their state.  California’s Air Resources Board took a more combative tone and said they are considering a lawsuit for the illegal sale of non-compliant stoves after May 15.

“Minnesota incorporated the 2015 NSPS and its 2020 timetable into state laws … which means that the May 15, 2020 compliance deadline is enforceable in Minnesota. EPA’s proposed revision will not change this deadline,” said Anne Jackson, an engineer with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency in her written testimony.

Peter Solac, a long-time Minnesota
based stove retailer who may not be
able to take advantage of a federal
time extension 

Peter Solac, of Woodland Stoves and Fireplaces, is a stove retailer based in Minnesota who testified that he needed the additional time for 15 Step 1 stoves that he was not able to sell due to Covid-19.  He did not address the predicament that his state will not allow it.   Central Boiler may face an even greater problem, as its manufacturing facility is in Minnesota, and they apparently still had some Step 1 boilers they want to sell.  On June 17, Rodney Tollefson of Central Boiler said in an email that "we have almost zero inventory of 2015 level certified units.  We are not asking for a sell through for us.   Our testimony was requesting sell through for our dealers that have inventory."

US Stove has also indicated their interest to ship units from their manufacturing facility during the proposed sell-through.  On May 29, Brandon Barry of US Stove wrote that “our inventory levels are confidential. I will say that sell through would be beneficial for us at both the manufacturing and retail level.  Some product came back to our location and could be sold if sell through comes to fruition.” On June 10, Mr. Barry said that AGH had misunderstood his previous email that that “We have been buying product back from retail. All that does is hurt our cash flow, which ultimately impacts our ability to manufacture new 2020 products. We understand that this is a “retail” sell through under consideration and not a manufacturers sell through.”

List of registered speakers at the
June 8 EPA hearing

However, England Stove Works, another major value stove manufacturer that also had buy back agreements clearly said that they do not have inventory they need to sell during a sell-through but like many other stove manufacturers, they support the ability of their retailers to use a sell-through.  Other manufacturers who indicate that they do not have Step 1 inventory themselves include Blaze King, Empire, Hearthstone and SBI, but all support the sell-through for their retailers.  David Kuhfal, CEO of Hearthstone said, “Hearthstone proactively sold down all step 1 products however; we absolutely support the opportunity for our dealers to have some time to liquidate their Step 1 inventory.”  Hearth & Home Technology, the largest manufacturer of more expensive stoves, say that they have no Step 1 inventory and their retailers should have been able to clear out their Step 1 inventory on time as well.

AGH asked HPBA if they were also seeking a sell-through for manufacturers and received this reply from Emily McGee, their Communications Director: "the reason we didn't reply to your question was that we don't have a position on that specific issue (manufacturers selling Step 1 products during a potential sell-through). Our focus has been on the retailers and remains so."  Many retailers have gone further, saying that the sell-through should not be open to manufactuers.

Of the 17 people who testified, about half were in favor of the sell-through and half were against it.  As with previous hearings and written testimony on the EPA wood heater regulations, all states and regional air agencies representing states were against extending deadlines.  Several retailers, a distributor, two manufacturers and HPBA representatives testified in favor of it.  Three non-profits were represented with the American Lung Association and EarthJustice speaking against, and the Alliance for Green Heat who favored a limited sell-through.  AGH is urging the EPA to only allow the sell-through for retailers, not manufacturers and also to limit it to stoves, not to central heaters.  Manufacturers of central heaters have been at the forefront of the fight for extended deadlines and sell-through and pose the largest threat to increased air pollution.

John Crouch, in upper left, in Crested
Butte, CO in 1989 with Bob Ferguson.

The arguments made by both sides were relatively predictable, with very little common ground.  However, Roger Ayers of Dreamstyle Remodeling focused on the need to regulate fireplaces that he estimates emit 44 grams of particulates per hour. Why focus on the difference of a gram or two between Step 1 and Step 2 when any home can still install unregulated fireplaces.  John Crouch of HPBA reminded everyone that many Step 1 stoves were already under 3.5 grams an hour and “the EPA has done no in-home testing of Step 1 or Step 2 stoves and has no way of knowing if these Step 2 stoves are an improvement or not.” 

Industry has asserted that there should have been a sell-through period built into the timeline from the start, like there was in 1988.  Mary Uhl of WESTAR countered that contention in her testimony, saying “In contrast to the original 1988 NSPS, in which manufacturers and retailers were allowed only two years to transition to more stringent standards, they received five years in the 2015 NSPS update.” 

Most of the states and air agencies argued that the EPA lacked a legal basis for the proposal,  did not do any regulatory impact analysis and is proposing to substitute two of the worst sales months for two of the best.  Maria Smilde of EarthJustice closed her testimony saying “Considering that respiratory difficulties have been a common COVID-19 symptom, the EPA should not use one public health crisis to rationalize extending another, nor does the Clean Air Act permit it to do so.”  Anne Jackson made a similar point, arguing that, “Given the health burden of fine particulate matter, there is no good reason to provide additional time to sell noncompliant devices, especially hydronic heaters, in the face of fighting a deadly, respiratory virus pandemic.”

Possibly the most surprising arguments against the sell-through came from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. “Minnesota was expecting full support from EPA to notify manufacturers and retailers about the approaching May 2020 deadline, and to undertake enforcement as necessary, especially with internet sales, as that is the most difficult for Minnesota to monitor. With EPA’s announcement of a proposed sell-through period along with lax enforcement, Minnesota must now undertake a nation-wide communication effort to notify manufacturers and retailers that Minnesota law does not allow sales in Minnesota of non-Step 2 wood-burning appliances.“

California is an anomaly as stationary sources of pollution are controlled by local air districts, not by the state.  Their Air Resources Board commented “Many states, and over half of California’s 35 local air districts, including the largest air districts, have delegated EPA authority to enforce the NSPS.  Under Clean Air Act section 304, states, other jurisdictions, and private citizens can also file citizen suits for sale of Step 1 stoves before any sell-through is finalized.  EPA may have chosen not to enforce the Step 1 sales ban in the period before any sell-through is finalized, but others can.”

The EPA will be transcribing all the testimony from the hearing and entering it into the official record, as they consider whether to approve a sell-through. 

Related stories

EPA and states vigorously defend wood stove audit testing (Sept. 2020)

Stove Repair Relief Fund to aid families during Coronavirus pandemic

The Alliance for Green Heat is starting a fund that will help families struggling during this pandemic keep their stoves running and operating safely.  Together with the Osprey Foundation and Stove Parts 4 Less, we are launching The Stove Repair Relief Fund!  Please consider becoming a partner in this effort. 

The Stove Repair Relief Fund provides large discounts on stove parts to people who lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic. With an initial fund of $20,000 provided by the Alliance for Green Heat, Stove Parts 4 Less, and the Osprey Foundation, eligible customers will receive 30 – 50% off of their parts orders. The intent is to provide essential stove parts to lower-income families who may not be able to afford to keep their wood or pellet stoves working.  It often only takes a small part to get a pellet stove back up and running or make a dangerous wood stove safe again.  

If you are a verified low-income household or have been laid off due to the pandemic, you are eligible for a 30% discount (15% donated by the Alliance for Green Heat and 15% by Stove Parts 4 Less). If you are from a verified low-income household and have been laid off, you are eligible for a 50% discount on your needed parts (25% donated by the Alliance for Green Heat and 25% by Stove Parts 4 Less).

Please note, this offer is only good for wood or pellet stove parts orders up to $500.  It is not applicable to any grill parts, gas stove parts, new stove installs or orders over $500.  If your household has been hit hard by this pandemic and you need a stove part, provide all required information on the sign-up page here to determine if you are eligible.

We are doing a soft launch of this program at the end of this heating season to assess how it works.  We hope to improve and relaunch it this fall during the upcoming heating season.

The program funders want to ensure that the funds are used to help people who really need it, and are asking people to provide documentation of their employment and economic status.  In addition, funders do not want to subsidize the sale of any parts that are available cheaper elsewhere.  Customers should check prices and ensure that Stove Parts 4 Less is offering the best price, which they usually do (make sure to also include shipping and consider the reputation of the seller for aftermarket parts). They will also match any price.  

The Alliance for Green Heat does not normally partner with or endorse specific companies, but these are not normal times.  Our staff, working with our Board, has done their due diligence to move forward with this program and will re-assess it this summer and publicly share that assessment.

We expect this pandemic to severely impact rural wood heating communities for up to a year, and many may turn to wood heating even more than in previous years.  It may also make people less likely to buy new stoves, and need to keep repairing their old ones for longer.  Pellet stove repair and maintenance has always been a challenge, and dealer training and support for older pellet stoves is often poor.  If stove dealers, NFI or CSIA technicians can't access a part elsewhere, they can alert low income clients of this program.  AGH always recommends that stove installations are completed by professionals, but basic repairs and maintenance are often done by stove owners.  If any repair has safety implications, please consult or hire an NFI technician or other professional before trying to do it yourself, even if you procure the part yourself.

The Alliance for Green Heat and Stove Parts for Less are doing everything we can to keep our employees and local communities safe, and we ask that you try and do the same.  Stay home when possible, cover up your nose and mouth with a mask or scarf and do not host large gatherings.  Save lives and give our medical professionals, first responders and people working in essential businesses a break!

Want to do your part too? Support the Stove Repair Relief Fund!

You can donate too!  To help struggling families who heat with wood and pellets, you can make a tax-deductible donation to the Stove Repair Relief Fund via the Alliance for Green Heat.  Any contributions to support this cause will be matched dollar for dollar by Stove Parts 4 Less, up to $10,000!  Please contact us if your company or institution wants to partner in this effort or has ideas on how to improve it.  100% of all donations will go to helping low-income families in this time of need.

Meet the Teams: An aerospace university department tackles an earthly challenge: electricity from a wood stove

This post is the fourth in a series of blogs introducing the 12 teams participating in the 2018 Wood Stove Design Challenge in November.

By Ken Adler and Shoshana Rybeck, Alliance for Green Heat 

Alexus, Connor, and Jack
with the Englander-30 NC stove. 

With the 2018 Wood Stove Design Challenge taking place on the National Mall this November, it is only natural that one teams is only a couple metro stops away. Students from George Washington University School of Engineering and Applied Science’s Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (GWU SEAS MAE) have been hard at work  developing a thermoelectric stove. Students from this department are more likely to work on nanotechnology in solar panels or landing spacecraft on Mars, but it turns out, getting a steady flow of reliable electricity from a wood stove is just as challenging.

What started as a class assignment quickly became  an imperative learning experience for team members, Alexus Camero (‘18), Connor Itani (‘18), and Jack Eaton (‘19). As students in the Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Alexus and Connor both took a thermo-systems design class taught by Professor Saniya LeBlanc.  With Connor’s interest in green electricity and Alexus’ major relating to heat transfer, the duo took on the task of creating a thermoelectric stove to bring to the competition this November. With the necessary grants in place, and a stove donated by England’s Stove Works the Team began designing their thermoelectric generator (TEG) stove  in the Fall semester of 2017.

Dr. Saniya LeBlanc in her lab 

at George Washington University.

Later, their Team grew a little larger, when Jack Eaton joined Alexus and Conner working in   Professor LeBlanc’s lab. Jack says that he was personally drawn to this project for two reasons, one being that “working in his advisor’s lab gives him a lot of autonomy”, something that is invaluable for an innovative college student, and second that he “spent every winter in middle school and high school in New Hampshire and knows many people that use wood stoves and struggle to pay their heating bill.” Jack, Alexus, and Connor all  have personal, academic, and innovative drives for this challenge, which has kept them determined throughout the development process.

The team has been working with Professor  Saniya LeBlanc to design and create the most efficient thermoelectric stove  possible. As of now, their model is using thermoelectric modules by TEGMART that are designed to produce a maximum of 200 watts of electricity under optimal heating and cooling conditions, which is 86° F (30° C) for the cold side and 572° F (300° C) for the hot side of the module. Achieving these optimal temperatures in real life applications is a major challenge so actual power output is expected to be substantially less than the rated power.  

The Englander 30-NC in the lab.

Launching their model

Not all their challenges are technical. Operating a wood stove in downtown Washington, DC required the  Team to maneuver through a number of school and local government hoops to get approval for testing their stove.  Nevertheless, the team has recently finished this taxing process and is on to the testing phase. But, the testing phase has its own challenges as well. The team  recognizes that their stove’s heating and cooling system will require substantial improvements if it is going to maximize the TEG’s power output. As of now, the TEGs  are located on the steel stove top. Steel is not as good a conductor of heat as aluminum, so the Team will be conducting tests to determine if there is sufficient heat flow through the steel stove top.  The cold side of the TEG is cooled by water that is pumped through a 3 foot long baseboard heater.  However, the team is exploring the option of adding a fan to improve cooling. In a home setting, the water could be pumped through baseboards located in multiple rooms, which would allow for a much greater release of heat to cool the return water.  

View of the Englancer-30 NC
from the top. 

The trio is excited to showcase their model at the challenge to show how they retrofitted the EPA certified Englander 30-NC stove  to make electricity, and “limit the amount of heat that is lost” to improve the overall efficiency of the stove.  However, this competition also has personal messages for them. With an academic focus on heat transfer, one of the team’s recent graduate’s, Alexus, has been especially motivated to learn about how thermoelectric modules can convert heat into electricity.  For Connor, the team’s other recent GW graduate, this project has been all about “taking a concept from the drawing board to reality, from conception to completion, and how to deal with unforeseen challenges along the way”. This summer is expected to be an important time for their final developments. With testing commencing within the next month, Alexus, Connor, and Jack are looking forward to being in the lab this summer, working to get their model ready for competition day.  

Contact the team

Alexus Camero

alexuscamero@gwmail.gwu.edu

Connor Itani

connor@gwmail.gwu.edu

Jack Eaton

jeaton19@gwmail.gwu.edu

Wood and pellet stove prices rise 3% in wake of new EPA regulations

Since the EPA announced stricter emissions regulations for wood and pellet stoves, prices increased by an average of 3% over a two-year period when adjusted for inflation, based on a review of 77 popular stove models. Without inflation, prices increased by an average of 4%.

The Alliance for Green Heat, an independent non-profit focused on the wood and pellet heating sector, tracked retail prices for 77 wood and pellet stoves over a two-year period, from February 2015 to February 2017. The EPA announced new regulations on February 3rd and they took effect on May 15, 2015. Even stricter emission limits are set for 2020 and the Alliance will continue to track prices through 2020 and beyond.

We identified 77 stoves made by 7 popular brands with varying price points: Jotul, Blaze King, Harman, Quadrafire, Woodstock Soapstone, Hearthstone, US Stove, and Englander.

It is impossible to tell how much regulations contributed to the 3% price rise, although each of the 7 brands are going through periods of increased R&D as they work towards complying with the 2020 emission limits. The EPA set a maximum of 7.5 grams an hour in 1990, 4.5 in 2015 and 2.0 or 2.5 grams in 2020. Most stoves already met the 4.5 gram limit in 2015, but most do not meet the 2020 limits. It is possible that some companies are starting to pass those costs along to consumers.

There may be steeper price rises as 2020 approaches and companies have to begin more intensive R&D and certification testing.  However, industry is pushing a bill in Congress to delay the 2020 emission standards to 2023.  The Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association is also suing the EPA to block the 2020 emission standards for boilers and furnaces, but not necessarily for stoves.  The bill in Congress is partially designed to give the litigation enough time to get through the courts.  

We tracked the retail prices of 59 wood stoves and 18 pellet stoves using the sale or final price of the stove listed on the retailer’s website. Overall, the 59 wood stove retail prices rose an average of 4% ($80) or 3% ($45) when accounting for inflation. The pellet stove category saw a greater average price increase of 5% ($106) or 3% ($66) per stove when accounting for inflation.

• Four-fifths of the 77 wood and pellet stoves increased in price over the two years. Of these, the average price increase was 6% ($125) or 5% ($90) when adjusting for inflation.
• About one-fifth of the 77 stoves did not go up in price between February 2015 and 2017. The majority of the Englander and Blaze King models we tracked stayed the same price.
• Four wood stoves out of 77 wood and pellet stoves -- one Jotul, two Hearthstone, and one US Stove -- declined in price. The average decline was 6% ($250).

The EPA is required by law to do an economic regulatory impact analysis (PDF) and determine if the costs of the regulation outweigh the benefits. The EPA predicted slightly higher retail costs, and as a result, a slight decline in demand for new stoves. However, on balance they estimated that the overall health and other benefits vastly outweigh the costs.

Some commentators, members of Congress and editors claimed the EPA regulations would make wood stove prices rise sharply and be unaffordable for the average American.

The EPA also is required to assess the impact of the regulation on small businesses, since more than 90% of stove manufacturers and retailers are small firms. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that the industry employed 15,911 workers in 2011.

Price changes by brand and stove type

The wood stoves with the highest price decreases, Hearthstone’s Bari 8170 and Lima 8150, which declined in price by $620 and $300 respectively, were the priced the highest of any stove on our list in 2015 at $4,999 and $5,299. No pellet stove we tracked declined in price in 2017 and the only two pellet stoves did not increase in price in 2017 (both Englanders priced between $1,000 and $2,000).

Wood stove price increases ranged from 1% (Hearthstone Castleton 8030 and Craftsbury 8391) to 35% (US Stove’s Large Woodstove). Among the wood stoves that increased in price between 2015 and 2017, the average increase was around $125 or 6% more than the 2015 price. Seven of the nine pellet stoves that rose in price increased by an even $100, regardless of their 2015 price, which represented a 3-4% increase. All five of the Harman pellet stoves, which retailed between $2,999 and $3,999 retail in 2015, were listed $100 higher by the same retailer in 2017.

For the sake of consistency, we only used stove prices at one or at most two retailers per brand. We used final or sale prices rather than “suggested retail price” or “regular price” when given. The number of stoves we selected per brand varied based on the number of models available in 2015 and the number of models that continued to be sold by that retailer in 2017.

Englander and US Stove had some of the lowest prices stoves we began tracking in 2015, with a median price of about $1,000. At about the middle were the brands Woodstock Soapstone (median price of $2,400), Quadrafire ($2,550), and Jotul ($2,700). The more expensive stove brands included our study, based on median prices, were Hearthstone ($2,900), Blaze King ($2,950), and Harman ($3,000).

Four out of five Blaze King stoves, three out of four Englander wood stoves and all (two) Englander pellet stoves did not increase in price over these two years. The sixteen Hearthstone wood and pellet stoves we tracked declined in price by an average of 1% ($3.75) per stove, thanks in great part to large drop in price for two of the brand’s priciest ($5,000+) wood stoves.

As for the brands that increased their prices, Jotul’s 19 wood stoves increased by an average of 3% ($79) each. Quadrafire’s and Harman’s wood and pellet stoves both increased by an average of 4% each ($101 for Quadrafire, $122 for Harman). Harman’s wood and pellet stoves increased in price by an average of $122 per stove. US Stove and Woodstock Soapstone had the greatest average price increases of any brand at 15% each (Woodstock Soapstone has frequent sales which we did not take into account). US Stove’s stove prices increased by an average of $155 per stove and Woodstock Soapstone’s increased by an average of $408 per stove.

The EPA regulations had a much larger impact on prices on companies making unregulated outdoor wood boilers and unregulated wood furnaces.  Prices for boilers rose at a sharper rate than stoves, although we did not track those prices and cannot offer any estimates.

Study of pellet stoves shows environmental advantages - and corporate exaggerations

An independent assessment of popular pellet stoves conducted by the Alliance for Green Heat  found that pellet stoves, unlike most wood stoves, can achieve low levels of emissions in real world settings that are in line with laboratory results.   

The Alliance for Green Heat ran a battery of tests on popular pellet stoves designed to approximate how they would perform in the real world.  The group found that half of the stoves operated as clean at the end of the thirty-day test than they did at the beginning and the others were only slightly dirtier.

All six stoves, from the least to the most expensive, operated well, and produced enough heat for a small to medium- sized home in most of the United States.  One of the biggest differences was that the three more expensive stoves tested (above $4,000) needed very little weekly cleaning and maintenance.  The less expensive stoves ($1,200 to $3,300) needed daily or at least bi-weekly cleaning of their burn pots and glass.

The study also found a lack of accepted reporting standards, leading to exaggerated claims about efficiency, BTU output and pellet hopper size on manufacturer websites and promotional literature. 

The Alliance for Green Heat tested the stoves to give consumers better tools and make better purchasing decisions.  The study is part of a yearlong Pellet Stove Design Challenge that assesses the state of existing pellet stove technologies.  The Design Challenge will culminate in a competition for the cleanest and most efficient stoves, modeled after the Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon.

Approximately one million American homes are heated with pellet stoves, more than twice the number that have solar panels.  In Italy alone, 2 million households heat with pellets. Pellet stoves often serve as primary heat sources, enabling homes to eliminate or drastically reduce fossil heating fuel.  Last year, about 40,000 pellet stoves were sold in the U.S. and they may outsell wood stoves in the near future.

The Alliance tested the England Stove Works 25-PDCVC, the Enviro M55 insert, the Harman Accentra 52i insert, the Piazzetta Sabrina, the Quadra-Fire Mt. Vernon AE, and the Ravelli RV80.  The group assessed each stove on its cleanliness, efficiency, maintenance, heat output and visibility of glass.  The overall winner was the Quadra-Fire Mt. Vernon AE, which received top marks in three of the five categories.  The Harman Accentra received top marks in two of the five categories.

The results of this study underscore that pellet stoves tend to burn substantially cleaner than wood stoves in real world settings, but it challenges the notion that pellet stoves generally have higher efficiencies than wood stoves.  The efficiencies of the six stoves were low to medium, which is partially the result of companies not having to test and report actual efficiency numbers. 

“Our testing confirmed that pellet stoves are an effective and affordable renewable energy technology,” said John Ackerly, President of the Alliance for Green Heat. “We hoped to see higher efficiencies, but efficiencies should improve in coming years,” Ackerly added.

Click here to read the full report on our website.
Click here to download a PDF of the report (the PDF does not have all the links and photos that the online version has).
Click here to download a PDF of the background materials to the report.

The Alliance for Green Heat promotes modern wood and pellet heat as a low-carbon, sustainable and affordable residential energy solution. The Alliance works to advance cleaner and more efficient wood heating appliances and focuses on low and middle-income families.  Founded in 2009, the Alliance is a 510(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Maryland.