Competition on National Mall to Showcase Innovative Wood Stove, Renewable Energy Technology

MEDIA ADVISORY

November 2, 2018

Contacts: John Ackerly, Alliance for Green Heat, 301-204-9562; Kerry Darragh, The Hatcher Group,

410-990-0284 

Design Challenge inspires cleaner, more affordable wood stoves 

(Washington, D.C.) – The Wood Stove Design Challenge, an international competition to showcase innovative and clean-burning wood stoves, will begin on Friday, November 9 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The goal is to demonstrate how improved designs including sensors and computer controls can make wood stoves cleaner and more efficient. One portion of the competition will focus on how electricity can be produced from wood and pellet stoves and be paired with rooftop solar and other renewable technologies. The event is free and open to the public through Tuesday afternoon, November 13.

WHAT:	Competition among 10 teams to demonstrate how modern residential wood stoves can be far cleaner, more efficient and renewable sources of heat and electricity
WHEN:	Friday, November 9 – Tuesday, November 13, 2018
WHERE:	The National Mall, 1160 Jefferson Drive SW, Washington, D.C. (Near the Smithsonian metro stop)
WHO:	The Alliance for Green Heat Officials from the Bioenergy Technology Office, U.S. Department of Energy Officials from the U.S.D.A Forest Service The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority Testing by Brookhaven National Lab and Masonry Heater Association.
VISUALS:	Visitors will be able to see how stoves are tested and interact with the teams, and many of the country’s top wood stove experts. Guided tours are offered daily and there will be an education area with exhibits and literature for homeowners and experts alike. One pellet boiler will be charging a Tesla and another stove has a mini electrostatic precipitator.

More than 10 million American households use wood stoves to heat their homes but they are a significant source of ambient particulate matter (PM) emissions. The technology boom of the past few decades has largely missed the wood stove industry yet innovation still holds great promise. Moreover, all stoves in America were tested for EPA certification with 2x4s for fuel. 

The Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM) and Brookhaven National Lab, with support from NYSERDA, have been researching new methods for the next generation of assessment protocols for wood heating appliances.  Research has focused on in-home use to operational practices, user fueling patterns, and new real-time measurement method techniques.  The results of this work will be showcased on the mall during demonstration  on a wood stove providing real-time results.    

Automated stoves that are designed and tested with this new robust cordwood test method can help improve woodstove designs and in-use performance leading to higher efficiency and lower emissions.

“The Wood Stove Design Challenge is re-imagining America’s most common residential renewable energy device, to be part of our renewable energy future,” said John Ackerly, president of the Alliance for Green Heat and founder of the Design Challenge. “Most homes in the colder half of the US could nearly be all renewable by using pellet or automated wood stoves or boilers along with solar panels, helping to vastly reduce fossil heating fuel.”

Creators of the competition say that just as the Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon helped lay a foundation for the solar industry, the Stove Design Challenge is laying the foundation for a cleaner, more modern stove industry.  For this event, the DOE provided essential baseline funding to each of the competing teams.

The competing stoves will feature WIFI connectivity, sensors and micro-processors that eliminate the need to manually adjust air flow and help ensure a much cleaner and efficient combustion. Other competing wood stoves and boilers will generate enough electricity to power everything from a cell phone to part of a home or electric vehicle. One European pellet boiler at the Design Challenge will be charging a Tesla.

Teams from companies and universities will compete in two contests – one to find the best automated stove and the other recognizing the best electricity producing stove. The teams will be scored based on criteria such as particulate matter emissions, automation and innovation, electricity production, safety, delivered heat efficiency and consumer appeal. A full list of the competing teams can be found here. 

Other teams will showcase wood stoves that incorporate thermoelectric technology capable of converting heat into electricity. One goal is to integrate these thermoelectric wood stoves with solar residential systems to increase power output by 50 percent in northern climates like New England, where solar production is limited during winter months.  

Partners for the Design Challenge include the U.S. Department of Energy, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, the U.S. Forest Service, the Osprey Foundation and Olympia Chimney. The automated stoves will be tested by teams from the Brookhaven National Lab. The Masonry Heater Association and Myren Labs will test the thermo-electric stoves.  A complete list of partners and sponsors can be found here.

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 cleaner and more efficient residential heating technology, particularly for low and middle-income families. Founded in Maryland in 2009, the Alliance is an independent non-profit organization and is tax-exempt under section 501c3 of the tax code.

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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

Thermoelectric Wood Stove, Solar Power, and a Floating Cabin!

Guest blog post, by Margy Lutz

Finally this winter, our thermoelectric wood stove generator is fully operational. Following our test runs, we placed the pump to recycle cold water down in the lake water under the cabin. In winter, it gets about 5 degrees C (41 F). That's plenty cold for a good differential between the 300 degrees C on the hot side.

Most system owners don't live in a float cabin four feet with a constant cold water source under the floor. The typical user has to use a recycled liquid (usually including a water/antifreeze mixture) that runs through a radiator for cooling.

In addition, a charge regulator/controller is used to protect the batteries and prevent overcharging. The model that came with our system has lights to let you know the status of the charging process.

Wayne likes to know more about the charge we are getting. He installed an ammeter and a volt meter. The switch in the middle controls the water pump down below the cabin. To maximize the charge to our cabin battery bank, we've installed a separate solar panel and two six volt batteries wired in a series to run the pump.

Living off the grid has its challenges, but having an alternative power sources has made our winters much brighter (pun intended). Do you generate power? What are some of the solutions that have worked for you? -- Margy

Postscript by Ken Adler, AGH Technical Advisor: 

Congratulations to Wayne and Margy on their thermoelectric wood stove. In a follow-up communication with Wayne, he reported that they are no longer using the system because the thermoelectric modules failed. Wayne doesn’t know why they failed, however, the most common reason for failure is overheating.  The modules can also fail if Bellville washers are not used to allow the module to expand and contract during heating and cooling. Wayne also reports,

Even when I was partially (marginally) operational, I produced less than 2 amps at 12V DC (23 watts) to recharge my cabin battery bank. This would have been enough to put a top-off charge on my cabin batteries (normally recharged via my solar system), particularly valuable in the winter when solar power is minimal and my wood stove is operating nearly 24-7. The primary reason for the low amperage was the need for a 1,8 amp 12V (21.6 watts) water pump to feed the cold side of the modules. In many ways, I reside in the perfect test location for this thermoelectric system, since 

I have a nearly infinite supply of very cold water 4 feet below my wood stove. I live in a floating cabin on Powell Lake BC, and the lake is extremely deep and very cold in all seasons. What an opportunity to serve as a source of cold water through the cooling system! The pump only needed to pump the cold water up 4 feet and then outflow back into the lake. Even with this tremendous advantage, I couldn’t get everything fully operational.

Does this make me a non-believer in thermoelectric from a wood stove? Absolutely not — I still believe this is an important future source of electrical power in my cabin, since even a top-off voltage during the solar-depraved Canadian winter would be worth the price. I’d be one of the first in line if a recreational property thermoelectric system was available, and I’d be quick to try again. Thus, I wish you all of the best with your preparation for the 2018 conference. I’ll be following the results closely.

In an earlier post, Wayne reports that he is using three 25 watt thermoelectric generators for a total rated power of 75 watts of output, however, he’s only getting 23 watts of power for his battery. Part of this is due to his pump, which is drawing almost 22 watts of power. If you are interested in building your own thermoelectric wood stove, there are a few improvements that you may want to consider. First, TEG suppliers (see our resources page) now sell more efficient lower wattage pumps. Second, consider starting with a thermoelectric generator rated for 100 to 200-watts. While this is more expensive, if you go with a smaller system much of your power will be consumed by the pumps and/or fans you need to cool the modules. Third, Bellville washers are critical for allowing the modules to expand and contract.

If you are interested in designing a thermoelectric wood stove for our 2018 Wood Stove Design Challenge, please visit our web site for more information. For more information on Wayne and Margy’s life on a floating cabin, please visit their blog at Powell River Books Blog.

For an overview of the potential of thermoelectric wood stoves, click here.