Media
Breaking Stories
Northeastern States Include Heat in Low Carbon Fuel Standard 12/30/09
http://www.mass.gov/dep/public/press/1209lcfs.htm"The Biomass Thermal Energy Council (BTEC) and the Alliance for Green Heat (AGH), welcome the December 30, 2009 announcement of the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the 11 northeastern governors to develop a low carbon fuel standard (LCFS) for transportation and heating fuels..."
Devising the Stove That Could Save The World 12/21/09
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/12/21/091221fa_fact_bilger"For three billion people around the world, a good stove can save lives. But designing a fuel-efficient, affordable and culturally-sensitive stove is no easy task, as New Yorker Staff Writer Burkhard Bilger reveals in a recent article titled "Annals of Invention: Hearth Surgery." With average cooking fires producing as much emissions as a car, building the right stove may be the most efficient way to combat global warming in the developing world and preventing a handful of life-threatening diseases..."
Hearing Focuses on Proposed Rules for Wood-Fired Boilers 12/02/09
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/breaking/s_655880.html"Western Pennsylvania residents faced off over proposed state regulations for outdoor wood-fired boilers during a hearing today in Cranberry. About 70 people attended the public hearing conducted by the state Department of Environmental Protection at the Cranberry Municipal Building. DEP is considering regulations that would require higher stacks for the boilers and would prohibit installation of a boiler within 150 feet of the nearest property line..."
Climate Bill Writers Must Think Small 11/09/09
http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091107/OPINION/911070302/1017/opinion"The use of wood in New Hampshire to replace fossil fuels for heating homes and businesses represents a potential four-fold benefit: climate-change mitigation, reduced dependence on foreign oil, improved forest management and economic growth for struggling rural areas..."
Green Power: How Wood Chips Save Money, Reduce Emissions 10/27/09
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1932099,00.html"The tall smokestack and the industrial clanking of conveyors in Moscow, Idaho, may look and sound ominously anti-ecological, but visitors' senses are quickly jolted by a fresh aroma reminiscent of a walk-in cedar closet. It is indeed red cedar: tons of chips discarded by a timber mill and trucked in to fuel the University of Idaho's steam plant in the town of Moscow (population roughly 23,000). Thermal biomass provides over 80% of heat and hot water to the campus of nearly 11,000 students... "
High Fuel Prices and a $1,500 Tax Credit Ignite Interest in Alternative Heating Sources 10/27/09
http://www.buffalonews.com/410/story/818306.html"Steven Hoak’s new wood-burning fireplace insert could become his primary heating source, potentially lowering his gas bill by a whopping 75 percent. On top of that, he can get a tax credit for his purchase... "
Cleaning Up Outdoor Wood-Burning Furnaces 10/19/09
http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_journal/home_improvement/4332476.html?page=1"Outdoor wood-fired furnaces can be a cheap and efficient way to heat the home. But if not run properly, these furnaces can devastate community health and neighborhood relationships. Here's how to keep your outdoor furnace running clean..."
Mount Rainier Residents Turn to Corn as a 'Greener' Fuel Alternative 10/19/09
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/14/AR2009101403049.html"Sat Jiwan Ikle-Khalsa and some of his eco-conscious friends in northern Prince George's County were concerned about the effect of greenhouse emissions on the environment, so they erected a granary to provide corn fuel as a home-heating alternative to natural gas, oil or electric heat. The granary, dubbed the Mount Rainier Urban Grain Bin, opened Saturday in a ceremony at the silolike structure at 3601 Bunker Hill Rd., behind the town's fire station. About 30 people were on hand..."
Wood-fired Boiler Burns Greener 9/27/09
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=844853&category=BUSINESS"Five years ago, David Dungate was in Vancouver looking for a place to start a plant to build European-designed, high-efficiency wood-fired boilers.
While he could have gone anywhere in North America, he found what he needed in the Capital Region, and is poised to roll his first unit off the factory floor in September.
Dungate is the head of Advanced Climate Technologies, which makes boilers based on a design developed in Austria that wrings up to 90 percent of available energy out of wood -- about twice as efficiently as traditional wood-fired outdoor boilers. He also touts it as being cheaper and generally less-polluting than fossil fuels.
Each year, New York has about 1 million tons of usable wood left over from lumbering and tree cutting around roads and rights-of-way, he said. Right now, that all goes to waste. But if shredded or pressed into pellets, that's enough wood to heat 4,000 schools, he said..."
National Pellet Distributor Receives $11 Million in Financing 8/31/09
http://cleanenergynews.blogspot.com/2009/09/investorideascom-marketplace-biomass.htmlwww.PelletSales.com, this is now WoodPellets.com, the nation's leading independent distributor and direct-to-consumer retailer of wood pellet heating fuels, today announced it has successfully completed an $11 million financing led by Monitor Clipper Partners. .406 Ventures, the lead investor in the Company’s previous financing, also participated. WoodPellets.com will use the capital to continue its rapid business expansion through a series of strategic initiatives.
The Series A lead investor, .406 Ventures, has a successful history helping to build technology-enabled businesses in emerging markets. Monitor Clipper Partners brings extensive middle-market business management and development expertise to WoodPellets.com. In connection with the investment, Adam Doctoroff will join Jon Strimling; Liam Donohue; Thad Hill, CCO of Calpine Corporation; and Ben Miller, managing director at Cummins Generator Technologies on the Company’s Board of Directors.
In Cold Northeast, Officials Consider Limiting Furnace Emissions 8/10/09
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/08/10/10climatewire-in-cold-northeast-officials-consider-limitin-84422.html?pagewanted=1"Politicians could become squeamish if the fuel standard is perceived to hike home heating bills during Northern winters.
But that may not be the case, said Nancy Seidman, deputy assistant commissioner for climate strategies with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection."If folks switch to wood or a different fuel, then in some cases, it may be cheaper or more efficient," she said..."
Pellet Boilers Increasingly Used To Heat Municipal Buildings 7/10/09
http://www.timberbuysell.com/Community/DisplayNews.asp?id=4984“Wood pellets are increasingly the fuel of choice in new and renovated municipal buildings: According to the German Energy Pellets Association (DEPV), more and more municipalities are turning to pellet heating systems to provide heating for non-residential buildings such as schools, kindergartens or city halls. The German government's second economic stimulus package, along with further incentive programs, provides municipalities with additional funding opportunities. "Thanks to financial incentives, the decision to replace heating systems as part of an energy efficient renovation has become much easier. The modernization of roofs, windows, facades and indeed heating systems also guarantees the economic operation of public buildings in the long term," states Horst Dufner, Interpellets 2009 Project Manager, in assessing the trend...”
Treasury, Energy Departments Announce More than $3 Billion in Recovery Act Funds for Renewable Energy Projects 7/9/09
http://www.energy.gov/news2009/7623.htm“The renewable energy program provides another important avenue for the Recovery Act to contribute to economic development in communities around the country,” said Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. “It will provide additional stimulus to economies in urban and rural America by helping to develop domestic sources of clean energy. This partnership between Treasury and Energy will enable both large companies and small businesses to invest in our long-term energy needs, protect our environment and revitalize our nation’s economy...”
New Wood Boiler on the Horizon for Bono 7/9/09
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/new-boiler-on-the-horizon-for-bono-1738867.html“Bono has been given the go-ahead to install a wood-pellet boiler to heat his Victorian mansion. The U2 singer and his wife Ali Hewson have been granted permission by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown co council to a develop a room below their two-storey house to put in the hi-tech heating system. They had applied to build the 53sqm 'plant' room at their 'Temple Hill' home on Vico road in Killiney, south Co Dublin. Council officials raised no objections to the development and recommended that permission be granted...”
Wood Pellets Catch Fire as Renewable Energy Source 7/7/09
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124691728110402383.html“European utilities are snapping up the small combustible pellets to burn alongside coal in existing power plants. As a global marketplace emerges to feed their growing appetite for pellets, the Southeastern U.S. is becoming a major exporter, with pellet factories sprouting in Florida, Alabama and Arkansas.
If a federal renewable energy standard is approved, "we won't be shipping pellets overseas," said Phoenix Renewable Energy's development director, Steve Walker. "We'll be shipping them domestically...”
A House in the Woods, After the Woods Are Gone 7/2/09
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/02/garden/02tree.html?_r=1“The forest — the reason many people moved to the small towns and rural areas of the West — is disappearing. It’s happened before, but never to this degree, and there is no end in sight. Scientists believe the proliferation of beetles is a consequence of a warming climate. Bitter cold temperatures are the only way to keep them in check, and our coldest winter temperatures are now as much as 10 degrees warmer than in the past, which allows the beetles to escape significant winter kill. Now all bets are off...”
First Biomass Pellet Mill in United States to Receive FSC/Rainforest Alliance Certification 6/18/09
http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/news.cfm?id=certified_biomass_pellets"The FSC/Rainforest Alliance certification acts as a guarantee to consumers and producers that their efforts to promote energy independence and reduce greenhouse gas emissions are not compromised by destructive impacts to forests, communities and wildlife that can result from overharvesting. Curran Renewable Energy's efforts establish FSC certification as a guide for balancing environmental and social values with the production of forest-based biofuels..."