Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) are the market instruments used by state governments to identify who produced renewable energy. When states require utilities to meet a certain percent of their energy from renewables, they can either produce it themselves or buy RECs. RECs have been the core mechanism for solar to grow in the United States, but rarely were they used for renewable heat. Currently a number of states provide RECs for renewable heat, which could come from biomass, solar thermal or geothermal. A handful of states, including New Hampshire and Massachusetts now include thermal biomass and Maine, Maryland and others are exploring it.
The Governor of Maryland proposed adding thermal RECs to Maryland's renewable portfolio standard (RPS) as part of its legislative package this year. The Alliance for Green Heat was invited to testify to the Senate Finance Committee on February 23 and we reproduce our testimony below. During the hearing on the House side, several witnesses opposed the legislation based on particulate matter emissions and carbon, so AGH focused comments on those areas.
Chair Kelly and Vice-Chair Feldman and Members of the Senate Finance Committee:
Thank you for the opportunity to testify before this committee. My name is John Ackerly and I am the President and Founder of the Alliance for Green Heat, a non-profit group based in Takoma Park Maryland that promotes renewable heating options. As you may know, Takoma Park has a corn heating co-op, started by Mike Tidwell, before he founded the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. What we are debating here is even better than heating with corn, because corn involved forest land conversion into agricultural fields.
We worked particularly closely with the Maryland Energy Administration and Delegate Heather Mizeur back in 2012 to set up their popular Wood Stove Grant Program, where about 85% of grants go to very clean burning pellet stoves.
We enthusiastically support the passage of Senate Bill 549 and the companion House Bill 682 because of the significant benefits to displacing fossil fuel. We also support the amendments that would end Tier 1 RECs for black liquor since RECs should incentivize more renewable energy capacity, not subsidize existing renewable energy. Thermal RECs have fallen prey to black liquor politics for too long. It is time for a vote on their own merits.
Particulate matter
Larger biomass systems are able to drastically reduce particulate matter (PM2.5) through electrostatic precipitators and other PM reduction technologies. In terms of pollution, the most important thing to recognize with biomass heating is that residential wood stoves and boilers – whether EPA certified or not – are the biggest threat to local air quality. A study done for the State of Minnesota shows the advantages of automated biomass boilers compared to traditional wood stoves. It shows that per unit of heat, wood stoves emit 12 to 25 times more PM10 than modern boilers.
If Maryland wants to tackle wood smoke, the best solution would be to reduce the number of traditional wood stoves, particularly in more populated areas. Pellet stove are an excellent residential heat option, and together with solar panels, can reduce a home’s fossil fuel usage by 50 – 90%.
The benefit of passing this legislation in Maryland, is that the Maryland Department of the Environment has strict air quality regulations and staff that understand pollution control technologies. The commercial systems that this legislation would enable will have to have technologies like electrostatic precipitators (ESPs) or similar technologies. Most if not all Northeastern states have similar air quality protections but in some parts of the United States, ESPs would not be required and biomass heating plants could pose local air quality problems.
Carbon
From a carbon perspective, wood pellet heating emits less than half the carbon of propane and is even more favorable compared to heating oil or gas. My organization has reviewed scores of Life Cycle Analyses (LCAs) and has not found any that show wood or pellets is worse than fossil heating fuels. It’s important for this committee not to confuse the Life Cycle Analysis of industrial scale wood or pellets used make electricity, which is a far different equation. When biomass is used for electricity, it is combusted at about 30% efficiency, but when it is combusted for heat it is up to 80% efficiency. In addition, the harvesting methods for industrial scale pellets, for example, that are shipped to Europe, involve using more whole trees, not residuals as they do in Maryland.
A peer reviewed University of New Hampshire study in 2017 found that heating with pellets reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 54 percent vs. home heating oil, and 59 percent vs. natural gas. This chart summarizes their results.
Other factors
When comparing modern biomass heating systems to fossil heating fuels, there is more to look at than just PM and carbon. There are toxicity implications for soil, water and humans. The chart below compares softwood (pine) pellets with other fuels. (Brassica pellets are not used in America and refer to pellets made from agricultural crops, or possibly hay.). This is important because the Chesapeake Bay watershed is a sensitive one, and we are confident that these modern biomass heating plants compare relatively well in almost all respects to other fuels.
This committee is considering other bills to expand Maryland’s renewable energy portfolio and one that specifically seeks to expand geothermal energy in Maryland. We also urge you to support the geothermal bill and urge you to consider the cost/benefit analysis of geothermal and look at other socio-economic factors. We need to be mindful that investments in various renewable energy pathways benefit different communities and different workforces in Maryland. Biomass heating – both at the residential and commercial scale – has far more benefits for rural Marylanders, whose homes and businesses do not have access to natural gas lines. In this age where we all know that environmental justice is important and jobs for lower income Marylanders is important. We urge you to vote favorably on SB 549.
Sincerely,
