Top 10 stories in 2017 for wood and pellet heating

2017 may not have been the most momentous year for wood and pellet stoves, but every year is full of important stories and these are what we see as the top 10. Think we missed one of 2017's top stories?  Leave a comment.

      1. Wood stove sales lag

Warmer winters and lower fossil fuel prices are likely the main causes of continued sluggish sales of wood stoves and inserts in 2017.  Gas appliances continue to gain in popularity.  The 2015 EPA regulations are rarely cited as contributing to the current malaise in the market, and local restrictions are unlikely to have much of an impact either.  The final weeks of 2017 and first week of 2018 brought arctic temperatures to much of the US, boosting sales of both pellets and stoves.  But will it last?

2. Funding for change out programs rolled back

Whoever thought a motorcycle company would deal a big blow to the stove industry?  To be fair, it had little to do with motorcycles and a lot to do with the Trump Administration wanting to do away with out-of-court air quality violations settlements that allowed polluters to pay part of their fine in programs that improve air quality.  Harley Davidson happened to be the poster child of companies willing to support a change out program, but not allowed to do so by the Trump Administration.  That pipeline of funding, up to 10 million a year, is now cut off, dealing another blow to programs seeking to get people to part ways with their old wood stove, and exchange it for a new pellet, gas or wood stove.

3. Congress – lots of expectation but no action

Three key initiatives – the BTU Act, the NSPS delay and the biomass heater tax credit – did not come to fruition in 2017.  All three initiatives remain in play in 2018, but with each passing month, 2018 will get more consumed by the fall election season. The BTU Act would help the entire biomass thermal energy sector and has some key backers, such as Senator Susan Collins (R-ME). The bills to delay NSPS deadlines by 3 years passed committees, largely on party lines.  With the razor thin majority in the Senate, Democratic support for these initiatives may be more important in 2018.

4. Cordwood test methods are on the rise

The ASTM E3053 cord wood test protocol developed largely by industry members was completed and is now an accepted alternative test method.  However, companies don’t appear to be lining up to use it to certify their stoves.  Meanwhile, NESCAUM is taking the lead in designing what they say is a much more realistic cordwood test method as it takes into account more frequent reloading.  That method appears to have EPA’s interest and may be more likely to be referenced by the federal and/or state governments.

5. The renewable energy movement gains steam, helping pellet systems

Despite a President who champions coal and fossil fuels, the renewable energy movement is gaining ground worldwide.  Automated pellet and chip heating systems are being installed more rapidly in Europe and are gaining wider acceptance in the US.  Pellet stoves and boilers are also becoming more recognized in green building circles.  Campuses, towns, cities and states striving to reduce fossil fuel use usually start with electricity and transition to green heating options. 

6. Anti-wood smoke groups gain legitimacy

In 2017, we saw a rise of clean air groups campaigning for more restrictions on wood stove installation and use.  Some of the core activists emerged years ago when their communities or homes were subjected to excessive smoke from outdoor wood boilers.  In 2017, the focus shifted more to wood stoves, mostly in communities in the West, but to some extent in the Northeast.  Often, tensions rose over lack of enforcement by local jurisdictions who didn’t have the resources, training and/or political will to deal with those creating excessive smoke.  Overall there is a growing recognition that wood smoke is a serious health concern and debates in local and state forums will likely grow in coming years.

7.  Consolidation of stove and pellet plants continues

In the wood and pellet stove world, Hearth & Home Technologies (HHT) did not announce major new acquisitions in 2017, but the company consolidated by moving Quadra-Fire and Vermont Castings production to its Pennsylvania facility.  However, 2017 also saw market share continue to slip away from higher-priced manufacturers like most HHT brands to the lower priced manufacturers that sell from hardware chains.  On the wood pellet front, Lignetics continued its buying spree, finalizing a deal to acquire New England Wood Pellet at the very end of 2017. 

8. DOE co-sponsors Wood Stove Design Challenge

After many years of sitting on the sidelines of thermal biomass, the Department of Energy found an entre in the 2018 Wood Stove Design Challenge.  DOE is providing funding and its PR department is issuing news releases, lending greater credibility and a higher profile to the event.  The competition features automated stoves and stoves that produce electricity to supplement wintertime solar PV output, showcasing new roles that wood stoves could play if they run more reliably cleaner in real world settings.  The competition will also showcase cordwood testing protocols and fossil fuel reductions achievable by wood stoves compared to solar panels.

9. NY, MD and MA recognize efficiency in stove programs

In 2017, three states began using efficiency criteria to determine eligibility in incentive or change out programs.  NY now requires pellet stoves to have verified efficiencies on the EPA list of certified stoves.  MD & MA provide higher incentives for stoves with verified efficiencies, as Oregon does, but with a far simpler formulas.  The rampant practice by most manufacturers of providing misleading and exaggerated efficiency values – a practice not tolerated in other HVAC sectors – motivated these states to act.

10. The new EPA wood heater regulations move forward

OK, 2017 was not a big news year for the new heater regulations, known as the NSPS.  But in 2017 all large forced air wood furnaces were required to be certified (including smaller ones who pretended to be large to evade certification in 2016).  In April, there were only six EPA certified furnaces ranging from 48% to 89% efficiency, now there are 16.  2017 was a pivotal year in that it marked the midpoint between 2015 and 2020, when all heaters must meet stricter emission standards.  And, with each passing month, more heaters become 2020 compliant as manufacturers hedge their bets in case Congress, the Administration or the courts do not derail the 2020 deadline. In 2017, some exciting new innovation hit the market, including automated MF Fire Catalyst, the Optima designed just to burn pressed logs and more coming soon.

Did we miss something?  Post a comment!

Residential heating with wood and coal in the US and Europe (excerpts)

This blog contains excerpts from a very important and readable report published by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2015.  It is primarily from a health and policy perspective and is very valuable for North American as it provides more of a European perspective and is balanced in its approach. The entire 58-page report can be downloaded here. 

The report is particularly interesting as it hits on many themes that were considered or included in the 2015 EPA wood heater regulations, some of which will be litigated in 2017. It addresses best available technologies, indoor air quality, efficiency standards, stove changeout programs, black carbon, carbon neutrality, HEPA filters and many other issues. One of the overarching conclusions is that national policy should strongly favor pellet over cord wood appliances, a transition that has already occurred in parts of Europe, but not in the US.

Authors include experts from the US, Austria, Canada, Finland and Germany.  This publication was prepared by the Joint WHO/United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).

The report describes the health effects of and policy options for dealing with residential heating with wood and coal in Europe and the United States. The results presented indicate that it will be difficult to tackle problems with outdoor air pollution in many parts of the world without addressing this source sector. National, regional and local administrations, politicians and the public at large need a better understanding of the role of wood biomass heating as a major source of harmful outdoor air pollutants (especially fine particles). This report is intended to help increase such an understanding. 

Executive Summary:

Measures are available to reduce emissions of solid fuels for residential heating in most places. Encouraging fuel switching (away from coal and other solid fuels) and use of more efficient heating technologies (such as certified fireplaces or pellet stoves) can reduce the emissions from residential wood and coal heating devices. Educational campaigns may also be useful tools to reduce emissions from residential solid fuel heaters.

Furthermore, filters may reduce health effects from indoor air pollution. Existing regulatory measures include ecodesign regulations and labels in the European Union (EU) and technology based emission limits in the United States of America and Canada. Financial fuel switching and technology changeout incentives – as well as targeted “no burn” days and ecolabelling – are other tools available to policy-makers.

p. 2. Residential heating with wood is a sector in which PM2.5 and BC emissions can potentially be reduced with greater cost– effectiveness than many other emission reduction options. Nevertheless, within Europe and North America only a few countries or states have set legal limits for minimum combustion efficiency or maximum emissions of PM and harmful gaseous compounds like CO and gaseous organic compounds (see section 6).

Coal:

p. 8. In the USA 55% of homes used coal/coke for space heating in 1940, but this fell to 12% in 1960, below 5% in the early 1970s and below 1% from the early 1980s (Schipper et al., 1985; United States Census Bureau, 2011).

One study estimates that reductions in the use of bituminous coal for heating in the USA from 1945–1960 decreased winter all-age mortality by 1% and winter infant mortality by 3%, saving nearly 2000 lives per winter month, including 310 infant lives (Barreca et al., 2014).

Based on this and evidence that indoor emissions from household combustion of coal are carcinogenic to humans, the latest WHO indoor air quality guidelines strongly recommend against the residential use of unprocessed or raw coal, including for heating (WHO, 2014a).

Infiltration of smoke into homes

p. 10. A household with wood-burning appliances is likely to be surrounded by other homes with wood-burning appliances, and wood burning also tends to aggregate temporally; thus, on cold evenings and nights most homes in the area may be burning wood.

Given that most wood burning occurs in cold locations where homes are well insulated, buildings are expected to have low infiltration (meaning that relatively small amounts of outdoor air pollution, including wood-burning smoke, enter the house and contribute to indoor air pollution), especially during the heating season.

In North America heating-season outdoor temperature is an important determinant of infiltration, and infiltration levels are generally lower in the heating than the non-heating season, when doors and windows are likely to be open more (Allen et al., 2012). In British Columbia the mean infiltration fraction of PM2.5 in winter was found to be 0.28, compared to 0.61 in summer, although infiltration factors for individual homes in winter ranged from 0.1–0.6 (Barn et al., 2008); another study reported similarly low mean infiltration levels of 0.32 Å}0.17 during the winter (Allen et al., 2009). Combustion of wood in residential areas and often under cold, calm meteorological conditions can nonetheless lead to high exposure compared to other pollution sources, owing to the principle of intake fraction.

  

Indoor pollution

Modern wood stoves and fireplaces, when operated according to the manufacturers’ instructions, release some PM and gaseous pollutants directly into indoor air, although in most cases the evidence for substantial indoor emissions from these modern stoves is very limited. With poor operation, poor ventilation or backdrafting, however, elevated concentrations of combustion products (such as PM, CO, VOCs, NOx and aldehydes) may result indoors. Acute CO poisoning, which can sometimes even be fatal, may occur due to indoor wood burning and infiltration of dirty ambient air), especially when ventilation of the wood-burning appliance is not managed properly.

Stove Change outs

p. 21. Such change-out initiatives have potential limitations. The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) – the association of environment ministers from the federal, provincial and territorial governments – evaluated 12 stove exchange and educational efforts conducted in Canada and concluded that exchange programmes may have limitations relating to both the cost of new technologies and the long service life of appliances once installed. The assessment supported the use of regulation effectively to curb the sale of high-emission appliances. This approach is used in a number of Canadian provinces and American states.

The Canadian National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health found that emissions standards (based on best available technologies) are needed to ensure that the newer devices installed through change-out programmes are among the cleanest available in the marketplace. Without these standards, change-out programmes may, in fact, be lost opportunities to install the cleanest available wood-burning devices, which will be in use for years to come.

The study also found that removal of conventional noncertified appliances (through exchanges, time limits or prior to the sale or transfer of a property) was the most effective strategy included in a model municipal by-law for mitigation of residential wood smoke (Environment Canada, 2006) (see “Other regulations and voluntary measures” in section 6). [Click for more on stove change out programs - editor.]

HEPA Filters

While household or individual-level strategies are not typically part of air quality management programmes, two studies from Canada indicate that inhome HEPA filtration might reduce health impacts from wood smoke. An initial single-blind randomized crossover study of 21 homes during winter, in an area affected by residential wood combustion as well as traffic and industrial sources, reported a mean 55% (standard deviation = 38%) reduction in indoor PM levels when HEPA filters were operated (Barn et al., 2008). Use of the HEPA filters reduced indoor PM2.5 and levoglucosan concentrations by 60% and 75%, respectively. [Click for more on HEPA filters - editor.]

Regulatory Emission Limits

p. 26. Over the past decade, the European Commission has worked towards the possibility of regulating solid fuel local space heaters and boilers, particularly those that use various forms of woody biomass fuel (wood logs, pellets and biomass bricks), to create proposed ecodesign emissions limits.

According to the Commission proposals, implementation of ecodesign standards would lead to significant reductions of PM2.5 emissions from solid fuel local space heaters and boilers compared to baseline projections. The draft regulation for solid fuel local space heaters2 states that in 2030 the proposed requirements for those products, combined with the effect of the energy labelling, are expected to save around 41 petajoules (0.9 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe)) per year, corresponding to 0.4 million tonnes of CO2. They are also expected to reduce

PM emissions by 27 kilotonnes per year,

Voluntary Measures

p. 30. The Wood Stove Decathlon, an initiative of the Alliance for Green Heat, was organized in 2013 to focus creativity and resources on designing next generation wood stoves. The main goal was to challenge teams of combustion engineers, engineering students, inventors and stove manufacturers to build wood stoves that are low-emission, high-efficiency, innovative and affordable, in a common process that may point to commercially attractive next generation stove production (Alliance for Green Heat, 2013). 

Policy Needs

p. 31 Any renewable energy or climate change related policies that support combustion of wood for residential heating need to consider the local and global ambient air pollution impacts and immediately promote the use of only the lowest emission or best available combustion technologies.

Legal regulations for wood combustion efficiency in new heating appliances are urgently needed throughout the world. These will both slow down the current rapid speed of global warming (relating to BC in fine particles and VOCs that promote ozone formation) and reduce the great burden of disease caused by wood combustion-derived particles (especially organic compounds carried by BC). Such regulations should include tight – but technically achievable – limits in particular for the primary emissions of particulate mass, gaseous hydrocarbons and CO from new boilers and heaters.

p. 32. As new wood-burning devices become more energy efficient and emit less pollution (especially PM), national governments need to prepare heater exchange regulations or voluntary programmes. Municipalities, counties and states should consider requiring heater exchanges at the time of home remodels or sales. In many cases, these regulations will be most successful if financial compensation is offered to assist with the cost of replacing old heaters with those meeting tight energy efficiency or emission limits regulations.

“No burn” areas are needed. Especially with current combustion technologies, it is important to define urban areas with dense populations and/or geographical features (such as valleys between mountains) where residential heating or cooking with small-scale appliances burning solid fuels (wood and coal) is not permitted at all or is at least limited to registered models of low-emission wood combustion devices. Residential heating with coal in small-scale appliances should also be permanently prohibited, at least in communities of developed countries, as should the use of wood log burners for central heating without a sufficiently large water tank (which otherwise leads to badly incomplete combustion and very large emissions).

Co-benefits for health and climate

As wood is burned ... carbon is released back to the atmosphere, not only as CO2 but in most household combustion also in the form of short-lived greenhouse pollutants such as BC, CO and VOCs including CH4. Thus, to be perfectly “carbon neutral”, wood fuel has to be not only harvested renewably but also combusted completely to CO2. For both climate and health purposes, the form these fuels’ carbon takes when it is released matters greatly, since BC and CH4 are both strongly climate-warming.

p. 34. A World Bank study found that replacing current wood stoves and residential boilers used for heating with pellet stoves and boilers and replacing chunk coal fuel with coal briquettes (mostly in eastern Europe and China) could provide significant climate benefits.

Another study coordinated by the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization found that widespread dissemination of pellet stoves (in industrialized countries) could improve health, since these interventions lead to reductions in PM2.5.

If Arctic climate change becomes a focus of targeted mitigation action (because of threats from rising sea levels, for example), widespread dissemination of pellet stoves and coal briquettes may warrant deeper consideration because of their disproportional benefit to mitigating warming from BC deposition in the Arctic (UNEP & WMO, 2011). The World Bank found that replacement of wood logs with pellets in European stoves could lead to a 15% greater cooling in the Arctic (about 0.1 ÅãC). For Arctic nations the modeling strongly indicates that the most effective

BC reduction measures would target regional heating stoves for both climate and health benefits (Pearson et al., 2013).

Conclusions

p. 35. Given that residential wood combustion for heating will continue in many parts of the world because of economic considerations and availability of other fuels, an urgent need exists to develop and promote the use of the lowest emission or best available combustion technologies.

 It may be preferable in many cases to focus on making biomass-based home heating more efficient and less polluting rather than transitioning away from biomass to fossil fuels, given the climate change implications of using fossil fuel for heating.