Press Release: AGH launches Firewood Community Safety Initiative to support high wood heating communities

 

Firewood from Dine Baadeiti
Wood Bank in Moenkopi, AZ

Oct. 3, 2024 - Today the Alliance for Green Heat announced the Firewood Community Safety Initiative, to help communities address wood heating safety issues. The initiative is funded by a three year grant from USDA’s Wood Education Research Center.

“Wood heating, when done well,  is an important renewable energy”, said John Ackerly, President of the Alliance for Green Heat. “This new initiative will provide safe wood heating resources and strategies suitable for wood burning communities”

According to the Rural Energy Consumption Survey approximately 10-13 million U.S. households use wood heat. Wood stoves have long been at the forefront of reducing fossil fuels in rural, lower-income homes.  Unfortunately, many households use old, inefficient and poorly maintained wood stoves that leak smoke inside and outside of the home.

The Firewood Community Safety Initiative is aimed at any firewood bank or high wood-burning town.  Those who participate will receive technical assistance from AGH staff to improve the safety of low-income homes who heat with wood.  A free toolkit, including smoke detector, indoor air sensor, educational resources and other items, is available for towns and firewood banks who sign up for the initiative.

The Alliance is working with Hopi tribal members that lead Pikyanivi Warmth for Hopi and Tewa firewood bank to put air quality monitors in classrooms to educate students about indoor air PM2.5 concentrations. After taking readings at school, each student will take the monitor home for a few days and take readings in the room with their wood stove or heating appliance and see the difference. Almost all homes on the Hopi reservation rely on wood or coal and they hope to identify dangerous stoves and find funding to replace them.

Sixteen other firewood banks have signed up for the Initiative, and some will engage in indoor air quality testing like the Hopi, and others will focus on other strategies. The initiative is part of a larger program that provides small grants to firewood banks to help them serve low income homes who can’t afford to heat their homes.  To date, the Alliance for Green heat has provided over 100 grants to tribes, churches, towns, non-profits and volunteer groups that run firewood banks.

Also part of this initiative is educational activities like webinars and the first one is "Common Problems and Solutions to Self-Installed Wood Stoves" On Oct. 17, from 1:00 - 2:30 EST. 

The Firewood Community Safety Initiative is made possible by a grant from the Wood Education Center at the USDA Forest Service.

For more information contact Hannah Stinson at Hannah@forgreenheat.org. To sign up your firewood bank or community, please fill out the form here.

Ancestral Lands Conservation Corp in Kykotsmovi Village, AZ

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 renewable residential heating technology, particularly for low and middle-income families. Founded in 2009, the Alliance is an independent non-profit organization headquartered in Maryland with staff in Arkansas, Wisconsin and Wyoming. www.forgreenheat.org

New tax credit could tip balance toward modern, efficient pellet heaters

Solar panels have long enjoyed a 30%
federal tax credit. This Act could
provide some high efficiency wood
and pellet appliances the same support

A 75% efficiency threshold would help innovative stove and boiler manufacturers, set others back

Members of Congress unveiled a discussion draft for a wide range of energy tax credits from solar PV, geothermal and electric cars – to high efficiency wood and pellet heaters.  The tax breaks are part of  the Growing Renewable Energy and Efficiency Now (GREEN) Act.  The core tax breaks are in three areas - renewable energy production and storage, energy efficiency, and electric vehicles. Most of these provisions renew and or modify existing tax breaks and a few are new incentives meant to spur energy innovation.

Dec. 2020 update: Congress passed legislation, signed by the President, granting a 26% tax credit to stoves and boilers at 75% efficiency or higher.  The credit is reduced to 22% in 2023 and expires on Dec. 31, 2023, unless it is extended.

The provision for wood and pellet heaters is partially an extension of a pre-existing credit, but it vastly narrows which appliances would qualify and increases the amount of the credit to 30% of purchase and installation costs.  By setting a 75% threshold at the higher heating value (HHV), the credit would overwhelming favor pellet stoves and boilers, because pellet appliances tend to be much more efficient – and much cleaner.  On the other hand, the traditional wood stove that relies on the consumer to adjust the airflow, would be almost entirely shut out of the credit.

“This tax credit is exactly what is needed to modernize residential wood and pellet heating and tip the balance of government support toward pellet heating,” said John Ackerly, President of the Alliance for Green Heat. “Unlike Germany, Austria and Italy, the United States has never had federal policies to shift toward pellet appliances, which is necessary for this sector to help drive down fossil heating fuels.  In addition, this is an important step to using premium pellets in high efficiency, small-scale heating in the United States instead of shipping industrial pellets to Europe for low-efficiency power plants that just make electricity,” Ackerly said.

The increase in the value of the credit, from $300 in 2017 to 30% of costs if this provision were to become law, is the result of strong Congressional support from House and Senate delegations from New England, where efforts to move toward pellet heating have been the strongest.  The 30% credit proposal was in the BTU Act, part of which was rolled into the new GREEN Act.   The coalition of mainstream energy efficiency organizations such as American Council for an Energy Efficiency Economy (ACEEE), Alliance to Save Energy (ASE) and others had proposed an initial 73% efficiency threshold that later moved to 75%.  Ironically, the BTU Act, championed by an industry association, the Biomass Thermal Energy Council (BTEC), has always supported the higher limit of 75% efficient.  BTEC, breaking from other industry organizations, made a strategic decision nearly a decade ago, with input from the Alliance for Green Heat (AGH), that the future of small-scale biomass heating needed to focus on highly efficient, modern technology.  Over time, other industry groups supported BTEC’s position.

Timeline

As currently written, the Act provides for the residential non-solar energy technology investment tax credit for seven years with the full 30% credit for 5 years, and reduced ones for 2025 and 2026.  The timing of this tax credit coincides with stricter EPA emission standards that take effect on May 15, 2020, resulting in stoves, boilers and furnaces that will be far cleaner than those sold over the last 30 years.  The new EPA regulations also require all stoves and central heaters to be tested for efficiency, giving all heaters consistent efficiency ratings. 

Credits under the Green Act last for 7 years, providing certainty to the marketplace.

One major impetus for the Green Act is that solar tax credits are set to
go down to 26% in 2020 and in 2022 they would expire for residential installs.

Tax credits and demographics

Because this is a tax credit, consumers must pay the full price up front and wait until the following calendar year to claim the credit.  This limits the impact of the credit to consumers and families who can afford the higher up-front cost for high efficiency units and wait to deduct it the following year.  If someone owed no taxes, they could get the credit back as a refund.  Thus, the tax credit is not an effective vehicle for helping lower income families afford higher efficiency appliances.  Higher efficiency appliances and professional installation is often in the $3,500 - $5,000 range, far less than solar panels or electric cars and thus accessible to middle class  families, something that is likely appealing to both republicans and democrats. In addition, stoves and boilers are far more popular in rural and semi-rural areas and constitute a way for the Green Act to reach constituencies that may not be as easily reached with other technologies.

The credit is likely to drive more consumers toward pellet appliances and over the years, it will help tens of thousands of families afford the most efficient appliances that will enable them to reduce their fossil heating fuel consumption. The highest efficiency wood and pellet stoves and boilers tend to be the more expensive ones that are sold by specialty hearth retailers, not big box stores.  

Many new stove installs replace older uncertified stoves, a practice often touted by industry as a main benefit of selling more new stoves.  However, the more beneficial practice from an air quality perspective is moving from an old wood stove to a new pellet stove.  This transition from wood to pellet stoves would likely be hastened by this tax credit.

Impact on heater technologies 

Modern pellet stoves are
up to 87% efficiency

Of the 178 stoves that are 2020 certified by the EPA, 79 models are 75% efficient or higher, based on the EPA’s database of wood heaters.  Of those 79 models, 44 are pellet stoves.  Pellet stoves have made rapid advances as innovation in the US and Europe has driven down emissions.  

Of the 35 models that burn cordwood, 31 of them are catalytic or hybrid stoves. Catalytic and hybrid stoves have been a niche with less than 20% of overall cord wood stove sales, a percentage that would likely grow if this new credit were to become law. 

The category of wood stoves that is almost shut out of the tax credit is the popular, traditional non-catalytic stove.  It is very difficult for non-catalytic stoves to achieve 75% efficiency.  Only 5 non-cat models are 75% efficient or over and all of those are higher priced models sold by specialty hearth stores.  Of the 130 certified central heaters currently on the market, only 5 are 75% HHV efficiency or higher and compliant with the stricter EPA 2020 emission standard. 

One condensing pellet
boiler is at 90% efficiency

 

Masonry heaters do not have a certification pathway, and it may not be possible for them to take advantage of this credit.  Washington State and Colorado both have maintained list of approved masonry heaters.  However, those lists only cite PM emissions and not efficiency.  The well-known factory-built line of masonry heaters from Tulikivi may be able to get an alternative test protocol approved by the EPA and be certified.  Given the $10,000 - $20,000 price tag for masonry heaters, the tax credit would surely be a significant consideration by those interested in installing one.

Installation costs

Under this tax credit, labor and installation costs are also covered by the 30% credit.  IRS guidance states: "When calculating the § 25D credit, a taxpayer may include the expenditures for labor costs properly allocable to the onsite preparation, assembly, or original installation of the qualified property and for piping or wiring to interconnect the qualifying property to the home."  This presumes, but may not require, professional installation of the system.  Traditional wood stoves sold at big box stores that are under 75% efficient are the ones most often installed by consumers, often leading to safety problems.  Including installation costs in the amount covered by the 30% tax credit helps assure safe, professional installation as well as building out the network of NFI and CSIA certified professional needed to properly sustain this industry.

Impact on state incentives

If the federal government were to provide this tax credit, it may undermine the need and justification for certain state incentive programs.  However, an important function of stove and boiler change-out programs is getting old devices out of circulation.  Change out programs may be able to offer smaller amounts to achieve their goals and increase their targets for removals of old stoves.  Bounty programs may become more popular as a complement to the tax credit.

Impact on carbon reductions

Higher efficiency applications tilt the carbon benefits clearly in favor of using wood or pellets for heating.  From the pivotal Manomet study onwards, scientists have questioned burning biomass at 20 – 30% efficiency to make electricity, but high efficiency heating applications triple the energy from the fuel and triple and amount of fossil fuels that are displaced.  

There is also a distinctly different business model for companies making pellets to export to electric power plants in Europe and those who make premium pellets for domestic heating.  Companies that export pellets rely far more on cutting down whole trees whereas the domestic heating pellet market has always relied far more on procuring sawdust from lumberyards.  

The downside of residential wood heat has been the particulate matter emissions from traditional wood stoves and outdoor wood boilers, not the carbon equation from high efficiency wood and pellet heating.

Impact on industry

The main trade association representing stove, boiler and furnace manufacturers, Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association (HPBA), supports the tax credit but some individual manufacturers and retailers are worried that it may tilt sales away from the product lines they make or carry.

Companies making central heaters may have a hard time competing in the marketplace without a unit that is 75% HHV or higher.  The companies that made big names selling outdoor wood boilers currently do not have any products to sell in 2020, much less ones that could meet a 75% efficiency threshold.  Of the 5 central units that would qualify, all but one is made in Europe, though some are assembled in the US.  Consumers buying higher priced central heaters that can cost anywhere from $8,000 - $20,000 will most likely base their decision on whether the unit is eligible for the tax credit.  

For companies making only pellet or only catalytic or hybrid stoves stand to benefit the most.  Many manufacturers make both wood and pellet stoves, and some may have both wood and pellet units that are 75% efficient or higher.  Companies that don’t have any units in excess of 75% may experience fewer sales.  Companies that make cordwood stoves for high volume sales at big box stores and the internet market, will likely have no models that qualifies for the credit. 

Unlike with the previous tax credit, where manufacturers used a variety of ways to claim that their products qualified at 75% efficient, this credit specifies 75% HHV and all 2020 compliant heaters have EPA approved HHV efficiency values.  Rachel Feinstein, Senior Manager for Government Affairs at HPBA, provided a statement that said “We are especially happy to see that the language specifies higher heating value (HHV) of the fuel as the efficiency measure. This more specific language will make it easier for the public to determine which products qualify for the tax credit.”

What comes next

The Green Act, or large parts of it, could be absorbed into other legislation that passes both houses of Congress this year.  Almost all the elements of the Green Act have been in play for some time and there is not much new there for Washington energy insiders.  Congress just passed a one month stop-gap funding measure, giving them until December 20^th to get real legislation passed. Stay tuned.

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.

In Race to Build Cleaner Wood Stove, 16th and 21st Centuries Collide

 Alliance for Green Heat, January 16, 2013 - A wood stove design competition to be held on the National Mall in DC this November is pitting 16th century designs against microchip-controlled automation. And it is not clear who will win.

“The wood stove has become of icon of tradition,” said John Ackerly, President of the Alliance for Green Heat. “But the question is, can microprocessors deliver far cleaner and more efficient wood heat at a very affordable price?”

For most Americans, clean renewable energy conjures up images of solar panels and wind turbines – not wood stoves and furnaces. But that could change. “This competition may produce technology so consistently clean that wood can become a top tier renewable like solar,” Ackerly said, whose organization is hosting the competition.

Eight of the 32 entries are innovations on masonry heaters, a technology developed in the 16th century when wood prices soared in Europe. These heaters are known for their ability to efficiently store and radiate heat for hours after the initial fire goes out. However, they tend to be expensive and may lose points in the affordability category.

Five of the stoves are automated, using oxygen sensors and thermostats to control some or all of the combustion. Some make their own electricity while others require it to operate their automatic controls. Some can recharge cell phones and be operated by smart phones.

Three of the stoves are technically boilers which send water to heat other rooms in the house, but look like regular living room wood stoves. Seven of the stoves are downdraft designs, meaning the flames are sucked down during the combustion process, which can result in extremely low emissions. Other designs don’t easily fit into any single category because they include several innovative features or are just very unique. Eight of the stoves are already in stores, vying for recognition and market share.

With a few exceptions, most teams come from North America and Europe, where the race to deploy renewable energy heating equipment is building momentum. Later this month, nine judges representing universities, institutions and government agencies will narrow down the 32 entries into 12-16 finalists that will be rigorously tested by trained stove technicians until an overall winner is chosen. Funding for the competition comes from government agencies, foundations and sponsors.

“The history of wood heating is not always a linear progression towards cleaner and more efficient designs,” said Ackerly, who created the competition with college friend Jim Meigs, now Editor-in-Chief of Popular Mechanics. “The pellet stove, invented in the U.S. in 1973, was a great leap in the history of cleaner wood heating. A similar leap is needed with cord wood, and when the right technology meets the right price, we could see a renaissance in wood heating,” Ackerly said.

To learn more about the Wood Stove Design Challenge, visit: http://www.forgreenheat.org/stovedesign.html

Maryland Announces Wood & Pellet Stove Rebate Program

Program to target rural homes and cleanest stoves


On September 7, 2012, the Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) launched a pilot rebate program for some of the cleanest wood and pellet stoves available, marking the first time that a state has integrated wood and pellet stoves into a renewable energy rebate program.

 

The pilot program offers a $400 rebate for wood stoves and $600 for pellet stoves. Wood stoves must emit less than half the particulates that are allowed by the EPA to be eligible.

"We are thrilled that Governor O'Malley and Malcolm Wolff, the Director of the Maryland Energy Administration, extended the renewable energy grant program to appliances that low and middle-income families can afford," said John Ackerly, the President of the Alliance for Green Heat.

The Maryland program is designed help families who do not have access to relatively cheap natural gas. The rebates are only offered to homes that heat with the most expensive fuels - oil, propane or electricity and who are typically in less affluent, rural areas.

Delegate Heather Mizeur, who first introduced a bill in the Maryland House of Delegates to establish such a program last year, said "modern wood and pellet stoves offer rural families a way to participate in our clean energy future. For most Marylanders, especially those already coping with high heating and electricity costs, purchasing solar panels is out of the question."

Full details of the program and the application can be found here: http://energy.maryland.gov/Residential/woodstoves/index.html. Wood stoves that are EPA certified and emit no more than 3 grams of particulates an hour and pellet stoves that emit no more than 2 grams an hour are eligible to receive a grant. Program funds are limited to $50,000 and available on a first come, first serve basis.

The original bill was introduced in the Maryland legislature in 2011, and drafted with assistance of the Alliance for Green Heat. The legislature did not approve the bill because of the cost involved but it had broad support and the only voices against it came from the oil and propane dealer associations. Despite the legislature's inaction, the MEA working together with Delegate Heather Mizeur and other legislators, decided to implement it with their existing budget.

As discussed in the October issue of Consumer Reports, there is no federal tax credit for wood or pellet stoves as there is for solar, geothermal and wind. And, the DOE and EPA have not developed a Energy Star program for wood and pellet stoves to help consumers identify the cleanest and most efficient units. "Wood and pellet stoves are the people's renewable energy device, and rural families have always been leaders of the renewable energy movement," explained Ackerly. "But little has been done to invest in cleaner stove R&D or to incentivize the cleanest and most efficient stoves. This rebate program is a step towards smartly deploying the cleanest stoves and makes Maryland a national leader in helping ordinary families affordably heat their homes."

The Alliance created a Q & A about the program that addresses some questions consumers may have. 

Generous Wood Stove Incentives May Return in France

Written by John Ackerly, President
Alliance for Green Heat

The recent election of Socialist François Hollande as France’s next President may herald a return of generous incentives for renewable energy, including wood and pellet stoves and heaters.

Ousted President Nicolas Sarkozy, a conservative, was a staunch supporter of nuclear power. Under his presidency, incentives for renewables were drastically reduced.

Unlike the United States, France and most of Europe includes thermal energy in its renewable energy standards. In France, wood heat was projected to produce 7.2 Mtoe (million tons of oil equivalent) of energy by 2020, whereas geothermal and thermal solar was only projected to produce a combined 2.9 Mtoe.

France has been active in promoting residential wood heat through its policies, which have so far been effective in increasing the number of households using wood. For instance, the country developed an extensive program to encourage the use of wood fuel for heating in collective housing and as a result, experienced an increase of 37.5% in this area between 2006 and 2007. In individual households, the Wood Energy Plan  in 2007 led to an increase of 82.5 % of the wood energy equipment sales.

In 2005, tax credits were set at 50% for equipment using renewable energy sources including efficient wood fired boilers, masonry stoves, etc. The sustainable development tax credit was planned through 2012, but the rates fell rapidly from 50% to being phased out altogether. For more info.

In 2005, stoves that were eligible for tax credits had to be at least 65% efficient. This standard was later increased to 70%. France uses the Flamme Verte eco-label, which sets some of the lowest standards of any eco-label in Europe, according to stove experts.*

In the US, the nationally recognized, government sanctioned label Energy Star doesn't have a program for wood and pellet stoves yet, so federal and state incentive and change-out programs are left to determine what emission and efficiency standards government funds should incentivize.

The national tax credit that expired at the end of 2011 set a 70% lower heating value threshold, but it did not stipulate how efficiency should be measured, nor did it require independent third party testing and reporting. Manufacturers were allowed to certify that their own products met the threshold (virtually every stove did).

It's far too early to tell whether incoming President Hollande will also work to increase efficiency and emission standards in France or whether the incentives will return to the 50% level any time soon. It may be more likely that the incentives would be in the 20 - 40% range.

Hollande also says that he will work to reduce France’s dependence on nuclear power to 50 percent by the year 2025. Currently, 75% of France's power comes from nuclear. It also exports some to Germany and other countries.

* Many European countries have adopted their own eco-labels to serve as minimum standards for the equipment that receives government incentives. Some of the stoves that met the 65% and 70% efficiency thresholds in France are widely regarded as being very basic stoves and would not receive incentives in many other European countries.

Team Biomass Plunges into Icy Potomac River

Supporters of wood, pellet and corn heating plunged into the Potomac River on January 14^th during a light snowfall to raise money for a group that fights global warming. Pictured here (right to left), Sat Jiwan Ilke-Khalsa, head of the Takoma Park Corn Heating Co-op and an Alliance Advisory Board member, Delegate Heather Mizeur, who introduced a bill to incentivize residential biomass heat, Jeremy Crandall and Moira Moynihan, two of Heather’s brave and loyal staff, and John Ackerly, head of the Alliance for Green Heat.

Team Biomass raised more than $1,500 for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, a group that fights for renewable energy, including thermal biomass.  Not pictured is Team Biomass’s bravest member: an 8 year-old girl who also dove into the river and is already becoming a wood heat activist.

Others who took the plunge included Congressional Representative Donna Edwards and noted NASA climate scientist James Hansen, one of the very first people who brought climate change to the attention of policymakers when he testified on Capitol Hill in 1988.

Case Study Finds Wood Costs Least of Alternative Energy Sources

 The Cumberland times ran an article yesterday titled "Don't Knock Wood as an Energy Source" discussing how Derrick Bender, University of Maryland Extension educator, is in the middle of a case study comparing the cost of using wood, wind and solar as alternative energy sources. The laboratory? A house in Cumberland, MD that has solar panels on one side, two wind turbines on the other and a wood-burning furnace in the garage.  

"According to numbers crunched thus far by Bender, a homeowner who self-installs a furnace and cuts his or her own wood will pay a little more than 4 cents per kilowatt hour. Having the furnace installed, but cutting own wood increase the cost to almost 6 cents per kWh. Having the furnace installed and buying wood jumps it again, this time to almost 13 cents per kwh.

On the other two hands, the cost for wind is almost 29 cents and the tab for solar almost 33 cents."

Bender will present a free workshop on Feb. 7, from 7 to 9 p.m., titled “More Heat, Less Firewood.” You can read the full article here.

Residential Heating Fuels Show Diverse Growth Patterns

Wood was the fastest growing heating fuel nationally between 2000 and 2010, and in 25 states. But in some regions, electricity, natural gas, propane and even oil are experiencing rapid growth. Wood grew the fastest (+34.6%), followed by electricity (+26.8%) and natural gas (+4.9%), and both propane (-16%) and oil (-21.9%) experienced significant declines. But regional differences abound.

In decline just about everywhere else, the South was the only region to have seen substantial gains in residential oil use. Texas (84.6%) had the greatest increase in oil use of any state by far, with Arkansas (36.75) and Oklahoma (35.7%) rounding out the top three. In both Texas and Oklahoma, oil grew the fastest of any fuel source. In Arkansas, it finished second to electricity (48.2%).

The Northeastern United States experienced some of the biggest shifts in natural gas and propane use over the past ten years. Maine (44.8%), New Hampshire (39.4%) and Connecticut (27.1%) currently lead the U.S. in residential propane growth, and Vermont also ranks second among the states where natural gas is rising the fastest. In each of these New England states, however, wood still remains the fastest growing source of residential heating fuel.

Other than Vermont, gas heating rose the most in Nevada (51%) and Idaho (41.1%). Propane use saw large increases in Pennsylvania (22.2%) and Washington (21.1%), in addition to the aforementioned New England states.

Unlike wood and propane, the large increase of electricity in the U.S. is not confined to any particular geographic region. The states with the three biggest increases were Georgia (54.7%), Iowa (49.5%) and South Dakota (49.2%).

Wood heat use grew fastest in the Northeast and Great Lake States, and fell in most of the south. If history is any lesson, the South may rise again, and heating demographics will continue to provide a fascinating and often surprising growth trends.

Changes in rank

In addition to regional growth rates, state ranking of primary heating fuel use is another lens through which we can understand the growth of wood heat. In 2000, wood was among top the top four heating fuels in 26 states, exceeding at least propane or oil. In 2010, wood was among the top four fuels in 33 states.

In 2000, wood was the third most common heating fuel in two states (Oregon and Idaho), exceeding propane and oil. In 2010, it was the third most common fuel in five states (Idaho, Oregon, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia).

Finally, in 2000 and 2010, wood was the second most common heating fuel in one state (Maine) after heating oil.

Wood is not the most common heating fuel in any state, and it is unlikely that it ever will be – or ever should be.

2010 Census Shows Wood is Fastest Growing Heating Fuel in US

Rural low-income families the new growth leaders in renewable energy production

October 10, 2011 - Recently released US Census figures show the number of households heating with wood grew 34% between 2000 and 2010, faster than any other heating fuel. Electricity showed the second fastest growth, with a 24% increase over the last decade.

In two states, households using wood as a primary heat source more than doubled - Michigan (135%) and Connecticut (122%). And in six other states, wood heating grew by more than 90% - New Hampshire (99%), Massachusetts (99%), Maine (96%), Rhode Island (96%), Ohio (95%) and Nevada (91%).

Census data also shows that low and middle-income households are much more likely to use wood as a primary heating fuel, making low and middle-income families growth leaders of the residential renewable energy movement. According to the EIA, residential wood heat accounts for 80% of residential renewable energy, solar 15% and geothermal 5%.

“Heating with wood may not be hip like solar, but it’s proving to be the workhorse of residential renewable energy production,” said John Ackerly, President of the Alliance for Green Heat, a non-profit organization based in Maryland.

The rise of wood and wood pellets in home heating is driven by the climbing cost of oil, the economic downturn and the movement to use renewable energy. The Census Bureau does not track the reason people switch fuels but in states like Maine and New Hampshire where rising oil prices are squeezing household budgets, it is clear that many families simply feel the need to cut heating costs.

“The rise of wood heat is good news for offsetting fossil fuels, achieving energy independence, creating jobs and helping families affordably heat their homes,” said Mr. Ackerly.

“However, Wood heat’s rapid rise is not just from people using clean pellet and EPA certified wood stoves. Many people are also dusting off old and inefficient stoves and in some states installing outdoor boilers that create too much smoke,” cautions Ackerly.

Over the last decade, the number of households using two of the most expensive heating fuels significantly declined: propane dropped 16% and oil heat dropped 21%. Some of those homes undoubtedly switched to wood. Switching from fossil fuels to commercially purchased wood heat can reduce a home’s heating bills by half or more. Those who cut or collect their own wood save much more, using their labor to zero out heating bills.

Currently about 25-30% of the 12 million stoves in the U.S. are clean burning pellet stoves or EPA certified wood stoves, according to the EPA and other sources. Americans have installed about one million pellet stoves since the 1980s when they were invented.

Wood now ranks third in the most common heating fuels after gas and electricity for both primary and secondary heating fuel use, but ranks fifth, after oil and propane as well, when only primary heat fuel is considered. As of 2010, 2.1% of American homes, or 2,382,737 households, use wood as a primary heat source, up from 1.6% in 2000. About 10 - 12% of American households use wood when secondary heating is counted, according to the US Census Bureau and the Energy Information Agency (EIA).

The rapid rise in wood heat as a primary heating fuel is mainly a rural phenomenon, and to a lesser extent a suburban trend. According to the US census, 57% of households who primarily heat with wood live in rural areas, 40% in suburban areas and only 3% in urban areas.

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The Alliance for Green Heat promotes wood and pellet heat as a low-carbon, sustainable and affordable energy solution. The Alliance works toward cleaner and more efficient wood heating appliances, particularly for low and middle-income families. The Alliance is a 510c3 non-profit organization based in Maryland.

To download the full press release, visit: http://www.forgreenheat.org/resources/press.pdf

The Booming Wood and Pellet Stove Market in Europe

In recent years there has been considerable attention given to European boilers and boiler testing methods, but much less given to European stoves. European national governments are aggressively incentivizing wood heat in addition to regulating it, unlike the US where needed regulation is not combined with promotion of the cleanest forms of wood heat as a renewable energy source.

Although I am no expert in the European wood and pellet stove market, I spent a month in France and Spain this summer and was very impressed with what I saw.

The wood stove market is much larger in Europe than it is in the US. Apparently, more than 2 million stoves and inserts are sold every year in the 27 European Union Countries, and there are 42 million installations. (On average, in the US there are less than 250,000 stoves and inserts sold every year and only about 13 million installations.) Additionally, about 450,000 wood cook stoves are purchased each year in Europe, and there are 7,500,000 installations. The population of the 27 European Union countries is about 500,000,000 whereas the US is about 300,000,000, so it’s a bigger market but probably even more urbanized.

In France, 30 – 40% of the population in most areas uses wood as a primary or secondary heat source. However, there was not the explosion of low efficiency polluting devices that occurred in the US in the 1970s and 1980s. As a result, the average French person does not regard wood heating as a pollution problem as many Americans are likely to.

France has had tax credits for stoves at 15% starting since at least 2001. In 2005, they rose to 40% and were as much as 50% in 2008 and 2009. In 2010 they went down to 40%, and in 2011 they were further reduced to 36%. Due to budget cuts, tax credits are likely to be reduced again in 2012 or end altogether.

To qualify for the credits, stoves had to be 70% efficient and under 0.3% CO emissions, which conforms to the French eco-label Flamme Verte’s standard. Unlike the US, where the 30% tax credit in 2009 and 2010 applied to virtually every certified wood stove on the market, the French have used the tax credit to incentivize manufacturers to build cleaner products and for consumers to buy them. However, Flamme Verte’s is not a particularly strict standard. It allows higher emissions than most or all other European eco-labels, particularly in Germany where standards are getting progressively stricter. Most stoves on market in France are 71 – 77% efficiency (LHV), whereas pellet stoves are at least 10 points higher.

Maximum emission and efficiency standards set by the European EN standards are not particularly strict, which has opened the door to many eco-labels, such as Blue Angel, Nordic Swan, Flamme Verte, DINplus, etc. Usually, government incentives are tied to standards set by the eco-labels. Similarly, an NSPS that sets 70% efficiency threshold and a 4.5 gram an hour emission limit for both wood and pellet stoves leaves much room for stricter standards by either Energy Star or a private label. European manufacturers say eco-labels have been a driver of sales, whereas in the US the stove industry association appears neutral or wary of such a label. Incentives in Europe have also helped to move consumers from fireplaces to stoves and from wood to pellets, a policy tool that has yet to be used in the US except very locally, in changeout programs.

Observations on technology:

1. Wood and pellet stoves and boilers are increasingly being tied into other renewable systems. Solar thermal systems and wood and pellet stoves can be integrated – not just with boilers. Stoves and air source heat pumps are also combined to use the same ducting, which provides AC in the summer.

2. Many brands heat water for both domestic hot water use and for space heating. In addition to many French manufacturers, UK’s Hamlet – which makes small stoves – and Spain’s Bronpi offer hot water options. Why isn’t such a stove on the market in the US?

3. Some major brands, such as French manufacturers Supra and Fondis, have heat exchangers and ducts to other rooms in addition to fans that push hot hair through the ducts to heat adjacent rooms or other floors.

4. There are some units on the market that use electronically controlled air adjustments to reduce emissions. These are called electric “Advanced control loops” (draft control according to temperature and flow rate of flue gases).

5. Unlike their reputation in the US for being small, many European brands offer fireboxes that can take pieces of wood between 20 and 28 inches long. On the other end of the spectrum, British stove maker Hamlet makes many stoves that take pieces of wood as small as 7 – 10 inches, making them ideal for small rooms and boats.

6. Many brands offer cook stoves that are just as efficient and low emission as stoves that achieve relevant eco-label standards.

7. In England they have developed a sophisticated system of only allowing certain types of stoves and fuels in high pollution areas such as London. The “smoke control zones” set out by DEFRA require that all stoves be approved for use. This mainly restricts fuels to pellets and manufactured logs; however, it does allow wood in some very low emission equipment, including in a select few American made stoves. For more information: www.uksmokecontrolareas.co.uk.

8. Some brands use catalysts that are electrically preheated to effectively reduce particulates even during the first 5 – 10 minute start-up period.

The European equivalent of the HPBA Expo is in France from March 22 – 25, 2012 and promises to showcase many technological advances. More of us from the US should be there: http://www.boisenergie.com/sommaire-en.php3.

John Ackerly
August, 2011

Wood: The Renewable Energy That’s Generating Interest

Prominent sustainability and environmental journalist Marc Gunther recently profiled wood heating in his blog, calling it the “Renewable Energy that Gets No Respect”

The article can be found here:

http://www.marcgunther.com/2011/05/30/a-renewable-energy-technology-that-gets-no-respect/

Since its publication, the article has been picked up by at least a dozen other blogs and newsletters and has garnered a significant amount of response from the environmental and renewable energy communities. Here’s what some people are saying.

From marcgunther.com:

Dave G wrote,

Marc- Thanks for bringing the renewable energy discussion back to earth. Biomass is still the lowest-cost renewable technology out there after hydro and geothermal and is certainly well below the delivered KWh costs of off-shore wind or PV. Better yet, the costs of converting coal firing furnaces to biomass co-firing capability is low and is driving the 40% increase (2009-2010) in demand for pellets in the EU27. According to Hawkins Wright’s Forest Energy Monitor (www.forestenergymonitor.com) the new UK Renewable Heat Incentive is really taking shape and driving major investments in biomass technology across the grid. UK alone will sink some £860M into supporting conversion of maturing boilers to biomass capability which is expected to create another £4.5B in allied renewable energy investments by 2020. While our Federal and State regulators ponder the academics of how best to account for the shift from carbon to carbohydrates the EU is quickly purchasing all of North America’s residual and underutilized wood fiber and moving to a solution which will significantly reduce net GHG emissions. Biomass could drive so many positive changes in energy security, climate change, and land management if we could loosen the coal industry’s grip on politician’s wallets.

From the Biomass Thermal Energy Council’s LinkedIn Groups

Steve Elbes Wrote,

Saying that wood burning gets no respect is a bit generous. In many areas of the country, wood burning has a bad reputation and in many cases deservedly so. The North American outdoor wood burning industry as a rule has done a great disservice to the notion that wood is a "clean/green" fuel. Years of false or misleading statements regarding the use of unseasoned wood, promotion and manufacture of units that are grossly in-efficient, and resellers that have little understanding or actual knowledge of combustion and heat transfer have done tremendous damage to wood burning in general and wood boilers in particular.
Gasification technology is old news in Europe and has been commonly applied to many different combustion appliances. (do a little internet searching about wood gas powered automobiles) Here in the USA, first cost/lowest cost dominates thinking as always and so what if it fouls the air and uses twice the fuel that a unit designed for efficiency does. 
As a person involved in the heating industry I am frustrated that best practices and best technology have been so slow in being adopted by the US market. In addition, the current EPA standards and test protocol bear about as much resemblance to real world conditions as I do to Jessica Simpson. They are an embarrassment to anyone with a functioning brain as witnessed by the outrageous claims of efficiencies well into condensing territory when such is not even remotely possible. That these efficiencies were posted on the EPA's website in the first place (subsequently removed thank goodness) is a testimony that some one or maybe no one was paying attention. 
Wood burning, be it cord wood, processed product, wood waste, chipped form or what ever, can play a large part in the energy security and independence of this hemisphere. It has to be said though that this will happen only if wood is viewed as the same caliber resource as solar, wind, gas or oil. It must be used and consumed with the best possible technology and the best accepted practices or it will fall far short of its potential.
The soap box is now open. 


From Treehugger.com

I've a close friend who has less than 10 acres and uses only wood to heat her home, its a small house and they make due with 2 small trees a year, and they only cut the ones that have died the year before due to lightning strikes or other natural reasons. They never cut a tree that's not already dead and they have lived on this land by these means for at least 20 years.
Its not a micro house its a very comfy house for 3 people to live in, no they don't have 50x50 bedrooms and a bath that could house a small country but its still nice enough.
Overindulgence is the main problem, if everyone had a realistic sized house the acres needed should be much less than 10. A modest house and smart use of other sources of energy such as geothermal and solar is the best we've got, it may not be perfect but that's not going to happen ever. Sadly THATs not going to happen if people keep whining about every little thing, take baby steps and ween people off the evil energy producers.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/06/is-burning-wood-for-heat-really-green.php