Alliance for Green Heat calls on President-elect Biden to support and help transform wood and pellet heating

Press release

Contact: John Ackerly

202-365-4765

Nov. 16, 2020 - The Alliance for Green Heat congratulates President-elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on their 2020 presidential victory and welcome their commitment to scale up renewable energy and energy efficiency.

This change of administration offers the United States a historic opportunity to reduce fossil fuels through a range of renewable heating solutions and energy efficiency measures. We have already begun to decarbonize our electric grid, and now it’s time to also focus on our heating sector which can reduce heating costs for families across the country, buoy economic recovery and create good-paying jobs.

The Alliance for Green Heat’s supports all renewable heating options as well as strategic pairing of heat pumps, geothermal, solar thermal and solar PV with wood and pellet heat technologies (our specialty). The role of decentralized renewable thermal technologies, including wood, solar thermal and geothermal is essential along with the electrification of heat as our electric grids slowly become more renewable. The electrification of transportation is creating massive demands for new generation and distribution. This combined with very high peak demands in the cold, short daylength northern tier of the country calls for strategic deployment and use of non-electric heating technologies. Rural areas need special attention given the cost of new infrastructure.

Executive Branch

The Biden Administration, through executive action, can immediately begin to drive markets toward beneficial forms of advanced wood heating. It is essential that Biden’s administration analyzes small-scale wood heating as having unequivocal carbon benefits. This includes:

• Ensuring there is an in-depth, science-based analysis to account for carbon content of wood used for residential and small-scale institutional heating that is separate and distinct from the analysis used for larger scale biomass to electric pathways.
• Use the power of procurement, as outlined by the Climate 21 initiative, to “bolster markets for climate friendly products such as … heating systems that use wood pellets” in federal buildings, starting with more rural buildings in colder climates.
• Directing the GSA to require rural federal buildings to consider heating with wood, chips or pellets where it is economically feasible.
• Prioritize an interagency working group on bioenergy to focus on small scale thermal wood.
• Include environmental justice considerations in bioenergy projects and expanding employment opportunities for Native Americans and low-income populations in rural areas.

Agencies

EPA: 

We urge the EPA, under new leadership to give more priority to one of the most popular and commonplace renewable energy solutions in the country. To this end, we encourage the EPA to

• Invest in the expeditious development and adoption of test protocols that resemble how homeowners use wood heaters (we use the term “wood heater” to include wood and pellet stoves, boilers and furnaces).
• Prepare the groundwork for a national wood stove exchange program to replace old wood heaters with cleaner alternatives.
• Put resources into the offices that certify wood heaters so that the process is expedited and includes a full review of all testing requirements
• Ensure the EPA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) evaluates the carbon benefits of residential and small-scale institutional wood and pellet heating based on studies of how that wood is gathered and obtained by households and small institutions.

DOE:

• Issue a Statement on Scientific Integrity that reaffirms DOE’s commitment to renewable energy pathways that can be deployed in the short term, including wood heating.
• Expand the focus of the Bioenergy Technologies Office beyond liquid fuels to include biothermal and provide additional grants for automated, next generation wood heating technology.
• Develop strategies that utilize wood heating as an integrated approach to mitigate grid-load growth risks caused by rapid electrification in the country’s northern tier.

USDA:

• Prioritize the utilization of wood thinnings removed from high-hazard forests to be used for local heating of homes and institutions in those areas.
• Ensure Rural Development Housing programs allow for and encourage the installation of modern, automated wood heating.
• Increase funding to the Community Wood Energy program.

Congress:

We urge the Biden administration to work together with a closely divided Congress to:

• Incorporate the BTU Act into any renewable energy or tax legislation to ensure that the most carbon beneficial pathway for low-grade, bi products of sustainably harvested wood is included.
• Expand tax credits for energy efficient appliances including the cleanest and most efficient wood and pellet heaters,
• Expand funding for the DOE to continue the R&D program to modernize residential wood and pellet heating technology
• Establish a national program to retire older wood heaters in exchange for heat pumps, pellet heaters, and in some cases, new wood heaters.
• Ensure that weatherizing programs inspect wood and pellet stoves just as they do with gas and oil furnaces for both safety and efficiency and provide avenues for repair or replacement, if needed.

The Alliance for Green Heat promotes 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, particularly for low and middle-income families.  The Alliance runs the semi-annual Wood Stove Design Challenge to encourage innovation and automation in wood stoves. Founded in 2009, the Alliance is a 510c3 non-profit organization based in Maryland.  

Testimony in Support of Thermal Energy in Maryland's Renewable Portfolio Standard

HB 931 – Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard - Thermal Energy

Date: February 20, 2014
Committee: Economic Matters
SUPPORT

John Ackerly, President
Alliance for Green Heat
6930 Carroll Ave., Suite 407
Takoma Park, Maryland 20912
301-841-7755

Email: jackerly@forgreenheat.org

Position:

The Alliance for Green Heat urges the Economic Matters Committee to issue a favorable report on HB 931 either in its present form or with amendments offered by Delegate Stein.

Comments:

Thank you Chairman Davis and member of the Committee for this opportunity to testify.

We would also like to thank the Maryland Thermal Energy Task Force for the work they did and  we support their recommendations. While it was disappointing that the bill to include thermal woody biomass in the RPS last year did not pass, the creation of this Task Force was an excellent process to bring more coherence and consistency to thermal energy pathways in the RPS.

Any RPS that focuses on only one renewable energy pathway – electricity – creates unfair and mostly unintended consequences for other energy pathways, notably heat energy. If an RPS excludes heat energy, we lose leverage over a huge piece of the energy pie. Including thermal energy gives us many more ways to reduce fossil fuels and bring more renewable technologies to the table so that we can achieve even more aggressive renewable energy goals.

Delegate Dana Stein, sponsor of
HB 931

The Alliance for Green Heat focuses on residential wood and pellet heating which is by far the largest contributor of residential renewable energy in Maryland and the United States.

There are 12 million installations of wood and pellet heating appliances in the United States, compared to less than half a million solar panel installations. Biomass heat can tap into this huge residential renewable energy market because it is far more affordable than solar or geothermal. The problem is that most homes in Maryland and the US that use wood heat have old stoves that are too polluting. Including residential thermal biomass in the RPS will help thousands of Maryland families to be able to afford an upgrade to modern, cleaner and more efficient technology.

We have focused our incentives on solar and geothermal, which favor wealthy families and left out rural middle and low-income families who heat with wood and pellets. Including residential thermal biomass in the RPS will extend the benefits of the RPS to average Maryland families and not just focus those benefits on the wealthy families that install solar and geothermal and who are typically concentrated in Montgomery and Howard counties.

We believe all Maryland households should have the option to participate in our renewable energy future and that means including technologies like new, high efficiency EPA certified wood and pellet stoves in the RPS. We commend the Maryland Energy Administration for starting a grant program for wood and pellet stoves, like they have for solar, but this rebate is simply not enough for many families to overcome the initial purchase price of a system that can effectively heat their entire home. Residential thermal RECS will enable lower and middle-income Maryland families to benefit from this economic framework just like wealthy Maryland families.

For these reasons, we strongly favor reforming the RPS to be more cost effective and more technology neutral in achieving the renewable energy goals that are important to Maryland’s economic and environmental health and well-being. 

HB931 creates an incentive to more efficiently utilize our finite biomass resources, putting less pressure on the sustainability of our forests to meet increasing energy demands. HB931 will increase jobs, wealth, and economic benefits associated with using biomass for energy in Maryland.

We support the 65% efficiency minimum. If anything, with respect to residential wood and pellet heating, 65% is on the low side. Most residential wood and pellet heaters achieve 70% efficiency and the best ones are over 80%, measured in higher heat value (HHV) using the EPA endorsed CSA B415.1 calculation. Given the diverse stakeholders impacted by this legislation, we think 65% efficiency is fair and achievable for new, thermal systems.

We also strongly support excluding wood waste that includes treated or painted wood because most non-utility scale plants do not have the emission control systems that could handle wood waste without creating air quality problems.

Thank you and I would be happy to take any questions.

Click here for a pdf copy of the Fiscal Note analyzing the costs of this bill.

Alliance urges West Virginia to include Wood in Energy Plan

The Alliance for Green Heat mobilized stakeholders in West Virginia to urge the state to include thermal biomass in its next five year energy plan. Their draft plan analyzed biofuels, biodiesel and other forms of bioenergy but failed to make any reference to the most common use of biomass in the state: heating. And, with three companies making pellets in the state, we felt that was a major oversight. The plan is supposed to "include analyses and policy guidelines for WV in reliably meeting its future energy needs in a cost-effective and sustainable manner while fostering an innovative clean energy economy." The public comment period has ended but there is still plenty of time to engage state regulators and legislators. The comments we submitted and other can be found here: http://www.wvcommerce.org/energy/energyplan/comments/default.aspx