Maine Energy Systems

Advanced Technical Training

January 24th, 2012

Dutch Dresser, Director, Maine Energy Systems

More than twenty of Maine Energy Systems “Diamond Contractors” gathered in Bethel Monday and Tuesday of this week for advanced technical training on individual boilers and cascade systems.

Dan Wheeler, Maine Energy Systems’ engineer, and Ernst Wurm, the head engineer for OkoFEN of Austria, directed the two day event that focused expressly on topics of interest to some of the region’s most successful and most experienced pellet boiler technicians. The conversations were lively and the topics rich.

The “Diamond Contractors” were treated to a fine dinner at The Phoenix House & Well at Sunday River Monday night and a night in ski resort lodging. OkoFEN owners Herbert and Stefan Ortner were honored guests at the celebratory dinner. Following Monday night’s dinner, MESys Director Les Otten presented the annual Chairman’s Award to Dan Davis and Karl Bissex of Cutting Edge Industries, of Burke, Vermont.

Dan and Karl have been instrumental in stimulating a significant pellet central heating market in residences, municipalities, schools, and businesses in Vermont using the OkoFEN boiler. Along with a beautiful crystal award, Dan and Karl received a trip to Austria to visit the home of OkoFEN products in Niederkappel and Lembach and to enjoy the beautiful, historic country.

The last formal activity of the class was a visit to the Energy Box installed at Mt Abram Ski Area which is heating its temporary Rubb lodge.

At the close of the training, the contractors previewed new OkoFEN product lines that will be available through Maine Energy Systems later this year. Ask one of the technicians from the following companies for details:

ABM Mechanical

Heutz Premium Pellets

A R Sandri Inc

Solartechnic

Lyme Green Heat

Thayer Corporation

Cutting Edge Industries

Bruce Hermanau Plumbing and Heating

New Day Energy

Froling Energy

Woodbury Plumbing and Heating

Nason Mechanical

Posted in Boiler training, Commercial pellet boilers, District heating | Comments Off

Increasingly Intelligent Marketplace

January 20th, 2012

Dutch Dresser, Director, Maine Energy Systems

For many years, I held various positions at a local college preparatory school, Gould Academy. The school has always had a thoughtful innovative streak, which kept my interest for 26 years.

I have been particularly pleased as the new Buildings & Grounds Director has focused sharply on heating efficiency and has recognized the advantages of pellet heat. His most recent small “district” project shows a real understanding of the capability of today’s efficient pellet boilers.

One of the very first OkoFEN boilers to be installed in the US was a 56KW unit placed in a very large 3-story office building owned by the school. Because the unit was of greater capacity than the building demanded, it was reprogrammed as a smaller boiler.

Several weeks ago, the old Burnham boiler in the 2-story family house with attached 8-student dormitory next door began to leak. The B&G Director saw an opportunity and ran heat lines underground between the two buildings to take advantage of the remaining capacity in the OkoFEN boiler already installed.

The system was put in use just as the temperatures in town went to -10F overnight. The B&G Director reported the next morning that he had 174F water throughout the systems of both buildings and the boiler had not yet been reconfigured to its full 56KW capacity. A little creativity and an understanding of the capabilities and values of pellet heat reduced both the number of boilers he has to maintain and the amount of money he has to spend on fuel annually.

As the school prepares to replace its most oil hungry boiler with a new OkoFEN, its thoughts wander to small districts heating clusters of faculty homes and smaller structures.

Having seen large and small district heat projects in Europe, I am especially pleased to see a school so important to me leading the way, once again, in the deployment of useful, sensible technologies.

Tags: biomass, Biomass heating, Central Pellet Heating, Energy decision-making, pellet boiler
Posted in District heating | Comments Off

“Better than Free”

November 30th, 2011

I recently had the opportunity to talk with a municipal officer in a small Maine town. As in so many small towns, the large, old town office building has an old, inefficient oil boiler in the basement in desperate need of replacement. And, as in so many small towns, financial pressures force choosing allocations among many good options with the limited resources available.

In this particular case, loan money was readily available at 4.5% interest, and pellet fuel was available at a good price for a large customer.

After doing the arithmetic, the municipal official was surprised to find that changing out the building’s boiler was “better than free” in several ways. Here are excerpts from an e-mail I sent the town official after the visit.
_______________________________________________________

Dear [municipal officer,]

I did not stop by this morning to sell you a boiler. I did stop by to get your opinion on available interest rates. Thank you for your help.

At the same time, I can’t help but point out an opportunity for you that works with, or without, [grant funding]…

If I use the following assumptions:

* #2 oil use: 2500 gallons/year
* #2 oil cost: $3.80/gallon (actual current price)
* pellet cost: $210/ton
* pellet use: 20.59 tons (energy equivalent of 2500 gallons of oil)
* installed system cost: $32,000
* full system: financed at 4.5%
* payment term: 15 yrs

I arrive at the following results:

* current annual oil cost: $9,500
* annual pellet cost: $4,353.23
* annual debt service: $2,937.60
* total pellet fuel cost and debt service: $7,290.83
* net annual cash savings: $2,209.17

Obviously, if you can make a down payment on some part of the system, your savings improve noticeably. It should also be clear to anyone paying attention that oil prices will only continue to go up. Pellet prices have remained stable, or declined, over the past decade; there is no reason to expect them to increase beyond CPI increases in the foreseeable future. Maine Energy Systems will guarantee its fuel price until June 30, 2014.

This model demonstrates that you can have a brand new, renewable fuel boiler system in [your municipal building] with no immediate out of pocket expense and spend less money annually on fuel and debt service than you’re currently spending on fuel alone. We call these systems “Better than Free.”

You can confirm my figures, and play with other models, by using the calculator at

http://www.futuremetrics.com/HomeCalcTabs.html

If you’d like me to address [your elected officials] about this, I’d be delighted to do that.

Posted in Commercial pellet boilers, Fuel switching, Renewable energy, Wood pellet boiler | Comments Off

Pellet opportunities

November 23rd, 2011

The industry is growing. To take full advantage of the opportunities that are, and will be, available, consumers have to learn a bit about pellet central heating technologies and pellets. This letter was recently sent to some Maine Energy Systems institutional and commercial pellet boiler owners.

—————————————————————-

November 17, 2011

Dear MESys boiler owner:

Pellet-fired central heating systems are becoming much more common in our region. This is good news for system owners and for the regional economy and environment.

New opportunities to buy pellets are following this growth. That, too, is good news for everyone. Competition will ensure that prices you pay are fair and that a reliable distribution network will grow to serve the increasing demand.

Maine Energy Systems provides bulk pellets delivered for residential, institutional, and business systems throughout the southern half of Maine. The price is $239/ton for all customers receiving loads smaller than 9 tons at one location. These prices are guaranteed through June 30, 2014, for new boiler owners who use the delivery service continually through the period.

Pellet fuel is inexpensive, reliable fuel if it is delivered to you intact. It is our hope that this information will help ensure that your ÖkoFEN boiler systems perform with the efficiency and reliability that is designed into them.

Sincerely,

“Dutch” Dresser, Director, Maine Energy Systems

Basic pellet and delivery information

• Different pellets burn differently in boiler systems. Those which are best produce very little ash and ash which doesn’t melt to form clinkers or slag.

• Pellets can be easily damaged during delivery. The dust that results from significant damage can accumulate and cause system outages. Several factors lead to excessive damage.
o Pellet manufacturing that results in pellets too soft for bulk delivery
o Pellet loading that doesn’t pre-screen pellets as they enter the delivery truck
o Pellet delivery from trucks designed for the delivery of agricultural products like grain and animal feed

• The dust from pellet loads accumulates in storage units as it flows differently from pellets. Accumulated dust can cause system outages when it flows in sudden slugs.

• Pellets are sold by weight. Upon delivery, your fuel provider should be able to present you a delivery weight slip from certified scales on the truck, just as oil delivery trucks provide a certified tally of gallons delivered.

Frequently Asked Questions
1. Does the vendor have pellet source redundancy, or is the vendor a sole source provider?
a. Pellet source redundancy assures best available pellets continually
b. Pellet source redundancy assures continuous availability despite mill shutdowns
Maine Energy Systems represents up to six mills in Maine, New Hampshire, and southern Quebec Province.
2. Does the vendor have certified delivery scales for accurately reporting delivered quantities?
a. Certified delivery scales provide printed receipts for actual weight delivered
b. Certified delivery scales are type evaluated (NTEP) by the National Conference on Weights and Measures.
Maine Energy Systems’ delivery trucks have on-board scales that are NTEP certified.
3. Does the vendor test each batch of pellets by burning before delivery? Pellet quality is best confirmed by burning
a. Pellets that produce unacceptable by-products are eliminated through burn testing
Maine Energy Systems tests every load of pellets as it comes from the mill before putting them in storage for redistribution. Occasionally, loads that don’t meet our standards are returned to the mill.
4. Does the vendor remove dust from the pellets before delivery?
a. Dust in large quantities can choke fuel delivery systems
b. Pellets from mill runs typically contain a significant amount of dust which must be removed before the pellets are delivered
Maine Energy Systems “shakes” its pellets to remove dust as they’re loaded into the delivery truck.
5. Does the vendor deliver the pellets relatively dust-free using fully pneumatic equipment?
a. Pellets can be broken. Fully pneumatic equipment is easiest on pellets
b. Mechanical/pneumatic systems can cause substantial pellet breakage and dust
Maine Energy Systems has a fully pneumatic delivery truck with the latest in delivery system technology ensuring that the pellets are delivered with very low levels of dust.
6. Does the vendor stand behind the suitability of the fuel for trouble-free operation of the boiler system over time?
a. Systems choked with dust must have their storage units emptied and cleaned
b. Delivering pellet vendors are responsible for the delivered quality of their product
Maine Energy Systems stands behind the suitability of its pellets for the purposes for which they are delivered.
7. Does the vendor routinely deliver pellets in the quantities you will need?
Maine Energy Systems delivers more pellets to residential and small commercial pellet central heating systems than anyone else in the region.

Posted in Bulk pellet distribution, Fuel consumption, Pellet fuel, Wood pellet boiler | Comments Off

Choosing Pellet Heating Equipment Wisely

August 31st, 2011

If you’re reading this, your organization or institution is likely ready to actively consider biomass heating as an option for its needs. In times of significant technological change trusted advisors must be carefully considered and opportunities for overcharging are plentiful. Here are some things to consider as you prepare your move toward renewable biomass heating.

You need basic insights: The vendors of high quality biomass heating equipment often provide training sessions for technicians, engineers, architects, and end-users. For example, http://www.maineenergysystems.com/Contractor_Training_Schedule.htm
To give your organization a basis for sound decision-making take advantage of that training. Your organization will learn the basics of the heating technology and will have a better idea what questions to ask those who submit proposals for engineering and installation services.

Trusted advisors change: Most institutions and businesses have engineering firms that they routinely use when they have mechanical systems questions. As you consider changing to a renewable energy source, you will want to confirm that those trusted advisors have expertise in energy sources you want to consider. Well meaning engineers with no training or experience in biomass energy systems of interest to you can provide expensive, meaningless, even counterproductive, advice.

Vendor trustworthiness: There are ranges of renewable energy products on the market. Some are well-established products tested through years of field installation, and some are newly developed and largely untested hoping to fill emerging needs. Take the time to talk with the vendors of products you’re interested in to learn about the installed bases of their products and check with references on performance of some of their installed equipment.

Certifications: Different state and local jurisdictions have different requirements for system certifications. All boilers installed anywhere generally require UL/CSA testing and listing. Beyond that pressure vessels might also require certification. For example, in Maine all boilers installed in schools and municipally owned buildings must be stamped as built and tested to ASME H standards (American Society of Mechanical Engineers). Some installers have left systems “open,” or unpressurized as a way around that rule, but that isn’t a recommended practice. Check with your insurance underwriters before installing such a system. Some installers have suggested installation of their non-ASME boilers in unoccupied sheds, or buildings, adjacent to the buildings to be heated as a way to circumvent the pressure vessel regulation. Be aware that some States, including Maine, define boilers installed in unoccupied buildings as “outdoor wood boilers” and require them to have EPA hangtags certifying their emissions levels before they can be operated.

Equipment specification/pricing: There are growing lists of technicians who can install and service biomass heating systems; however, the list is smaller than the list of oil or propane installers. To get the most favorable pricing on a specified installation seek competitive bids from several companies who have reasonable experience installing the products you select. This suggests that you and your well-selected trusted advisor should select the equipment you want to install prior to seeking bids from installation companies.

Pellet supply, storage, and delivery: There are many pellet mills in the northeastern United States; they produce lots of good quality pellets. However, it is important that you understand what pellet attributes are most important for the equipment you’re considering installing. It is also very important to know how the pellets you contract for will get from the mill to your silo or storage bins. Pellet distribution in the US is still an industry in its infancy. Pellets are delivered by auger truck, by a truck with a mechanically fed Airlock, and by fully pneumatic trucks with pressurized bodies. Each delivery style is different. Make sure the delivery proposed for your system will deliver undamaged pellets quickly and quietly to the storage systems you plan to use.

There are many people who have devoted time to understanding the biomass heating industry in its entirety. Those people are generally happy to help direct you to trustworthy advice and products.Two significant trade organizations can provide such help, BTEC (Biomass Thermal Energy Council) http://biomassthermal.org and the Maine Pellet Fuels Association http://mepfa.org In the Northeast Maine Energy Systems is also a repository of information for those considering biomass fuel-switching. http://maineenergysystems.com

Dutch Dresser is a Director of Maine Energy Systems.

Posted in Fuel switching, Renewable energy, Wood pellet boiler | Comments Off

Energy box in the energy box

July 8th, 2011

Maine Energy Systems is Les Otten’s latest brainchild, and, as with so many of his ventures, the office could easily be considered an “energy box.”

In the three years this young company has been in existence, it has been continuously involved in pioneering work in the introduction of fully automatic, pellet-fired central heating systems to the United States. It has imported the world’s very best available pellet boilers, started a young, robust regional bulk pellet distribution network, facilitated the production of the first fully pnuematic bulk pellet delivery truck in the U.S., and worked with countless financial and regulatory agencies to help decision-makers understand the state-of-the-art in pellet central heating.

Today the energy box is producing an energy box.

Two heating system practices are common in Europe that haven’t yet become common in the United States–district heating and the use of “energy boxes.” District heating is the provision of heat to a number of buildings from a single boiler system; it is quite common in Western Europe. Districts large and small efficiently serve communities from clusters of residences to whole villages and segments of cities.

Energy boxes are small structures outside the building to be heated that contain the boiler system(s) and the stored fuel. These inconspicuous small enclosures preserve valuable space in the heated building for other uses while housing the whole boiler system just outside.

Maine Energy Systems is building the energy box of material researched and acquired from a Canadian manufacturer by Ben “BJ” Otten (standing in the doorway). That energy box will house two OkoFEN 200,000 BTU pellet boilers and lots of pellet fuel. In fact, there will be enough fuel in the box so that there will only need to be three, or four, deliveries made per year to fire the two-boiler system.

Energy boxes are fabricated at the Bethel facility and equipped with boilers, electrical systems, feed augers, chimneys or power vents, and all necessary piping. They are transported to the installation site by truck, set in place on a prepared concrete slab, attached to power and the heating system of the building and fired up.

As our culture understands the value of this style of heating, these small structures will become common means of heating individual buildings and collections of buildings.

Dutch Dresser is a Director of Maine Energy Systems in Bethel, Maine.

Tags: Energy Box
Posted in Commercial pellet boilers, District heating, Wood pellet boiler | No Comments »

Summer Pellets/Storage Emptying

June 30th, 2011

My large, New England farmhouse-style home has served as a lab of sorts for our heating products and practices since we began installing wood pellet central heating systems more than two years ago. Because I have received more than two years’ worth of pneumatic deliveries of pellets of various types into the chromatiq pellet storage bag in my typically damp Maine basement, I recently decided to empty my storage bag to see what two years of deliveries and several seasons of high humidity had left for residue in the bottom of the bag. Dust does not move as quickly down a storage unit as pellets do, so it can accumulate over time. To my delight, the bag emptied fully, including whatever dust may have been in the bottom through my auger system. Everything burned leaving no residue for cleaning.

My boiler is now in “summer mode.” In this mode, the burner starts only when my domestic hot water tank demands heat. The pellet boiler runs once, or twice, a day depending upon water usage in the house. My summer pellet consumption will be very small, indeed.

Following the bag emptying, I filled the storage unit with pellets for my summer and fall use. I received 2.5 tons for $587.50 ($235/ton). That quantity of pellets has the energy of 300 gallons of #2 heating oil for which I would have paid $1,170.00 on the market here in Maine today ($3.899/gallon). This load of pellets will last me deep into the fall when I will top off for the serious heating months. I will use about 10 tons of pellets during the coming calendar year.

With Maine Energy Systems pellet prices guaranteed (for new boiler customers) at not more than $239/ton through June of 2014, customers like me can be assured of savings of 50%, or more, over #2 heating oil in Maine over the next three years. For me that will represent a savings of approximately $7,050 over the next three calendar years, assuming oil does not exceed its current retail price.

Add to this the fact that virtually all of the $2,350/year I spend to heat my house and hot water will remain in the regional economy, and I’m feeling quite good about the heating solution I have chosen and the one I help make available to the Northeastern United States.

Posted in Bulk pellet distribution, Fuel consumption, Pellet burners, Pellet fuel, Small boiler experiment, Uncategorized, Wood pellet boiler | No Comments »

Avoid Inadvertent Decisions

May 18th, 2011

I recently watched an institution make a fully mystifying decision to install a large propane boiler despite the fact that propane is the most expensive of the fossil fuels. While some in the institution were anxious to transition the organization’s facilities to renewable resource heating and had a biomass alternative specified for the installation, the decision was fully contrary to that goal.

There was much to learn in this decision. The organization faced three significant complexities:

the basic complexity of the repair or replacement of a large, age-degraded heating system of old, inefficient design;
the decision-making complexity common to organizations overseen by Boards; and,
the complexity of making a wise, long-term decision in a time of substantial energy use transformation.

Arguably, the third complexity above is both the most important one for this, or any, organization to solve and the most difficult to achieve. We are living in a time in which “traditional” energy use has clearly become unsustainable. Bright people around the globe are looking for ways to enable us to maintain, or enhance, our lifestyles while shifting energy sources toward those which can be sustained.

How then did this group of well-educated, thoughtful people make such a curious decision?

The administration of the organization employed a traditional mechanical services firm to advise the decision with the implicit assumption that the firm would manage the selected system going forward. With that choice, the organization eliminated from serious consideration all but the technologies with which the mechanical services firm was familiar and comfortable. All emergent energy sources were eliminated from consideration by that application of administrative information to the complex process.

This sort of “selection information” will serve as a flywheel favoring existing, unsustainable energy use until architectural, engineering, and mechanical contracting firms gain broader understanding of emerging energy technologies and gain comfort in their application.

In the meantime, organizations anxious to make wise long-term decisions about energy use are advised to carefully avoid this “selection information” trap. This is best achieved by employing an advising engineer with a broad understanding of traditional and emergent energy technologies and no vested interest in the organization’s ultimate energy application decision.

Tags: Energy decision-making
Posted in Commercial pellet boilers, Wood pellet boiler | 1 Comment »

To Accumulate or Not To Accumulate, That is the Question

April 29th, 2011

We have been asked a number of times recently to explain why we don’t require a large accumulator tank in heating systems served by our ÖkoFEN boilers. It’s a great question that generally comes from people who have taken the time to do some learning and some comparing.

Accumulators are quite common in cordwood fired solid fuel systems. In those systems, the purpose of the large, highly insulated water tank is thermal storage. The boiler is fired, produces lots of heat, which heats lots of water, and that hot water is stored for distribution as the heat demands of the house dictate over time. This system allows for batch firing of cordwood boilers so that the homeowner doesn’t have to try to continually match boiler output to heat demands.

Some pellet boilers use accumulators in a similar fashion. The boiler system responds to demand by coming to full fire to replenish the stored heat in the accumulator when the water in the tank reaches a preset low temperature. The boiler ceases firing when the temperature in the accumulator tank reaches the preset maximum temperature. As the heat needs of the house change, the heated water from the accumulator is circulated through the house to meet that demand. The somewhat cooled water returns to the accumulator after circulation gradually cooling the water in the accumulator tank leading to the next cycle.

This sort of accumulator use reduces the number of start/stop cycles the boiler would have to go through to meet the changing demands of the house if there were no thermal buffer in the system. By providing a large mass of water to be raised in temperature a significant amount, the boiler can work at full power for a reasonably long time before shutting down to await the next replenishment cycle.

Other pellet boilers achieve the same start/stop cycle reduction without a massive thermal storage system. These boilers modulate their heat production to achieve long run times while meeting the changing heat demands of the house as they arise. When demand, determined by comparing boiler water temperatures and outdoor temperatures, calls for maximum heat, the burner runs at peak output. As the demand diminishes, fewer pellets and less air are fed to the burner reducing heat output to match actual demand. The end result is the same: lengthened run times and reduced numbers of stop/start cycles.

This reduction is desirable because boilers are most efficient when they are run as nearly continually as possible. To think about that consider the difference in fuel efficiency between a car as it travels in stop and go traffic in the city and the same car operating at a more or less continuous speed on the highway. We all understand that the car driving highway miles does much better on fuel mileage; the same is true for boilers.

The reason for the difference in operational practice among pellet boilers has to do with the manner in which the manufacturer has chosen to minimize emissions levels for their boilers. Some boiler designs operate cleanest at full fire, so these boilers prefer the accumulator tank system configuration. Other boiler designs can operate cleanly through a significant range of output levels, so they generally modulate during operation and are used without accumulator tanks.

ÖkoFEN boilers have a certified ability to operate very cleanly through output levels from 100% down to 30%, so they are configured to modulate throughout that range during normal operation and are commonly used without accumulator tanks.

Dutch Dresser

Tags: Boiler modulation
Posted in Uncategorized, Wood pellet boiler | No Comments »

Wood Pellet Quality Standards

April 28th, 2011

I had the great pleasure of moderating an expert panel at the Heating the Northeast Conference in Manchester, NH, on April 14. The presentation was entitled “Pellet Fuel Standards: The Key to Successful Pellet Heating.” The topic of discussion was the most recent set of pellet quality standards adopted by the Pellet Fuels Institute under strong recommendation from the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Chris Wiberg, Chief Operating Officer of Twin Port Testing in Superior, Wisconsin, discussed the new pellet quality standards, the enforcement protocols associated with them, and the processes used to create them. The standards are a rather simple evolution of the PFI’s recent voluntary standards focusing largely on physical properties of the pellets. Chlorine content is a new, significant measure added to the protocol. Likely the most substantive standards change is the enforceability of the standards when pellet producers use terms like “premium” in describing their product. This enforceability stems from the EPA’s need for a “standard fuel” to use in describing test methods for emissions from pellet-fired appliances.

Three expert panelists responded to Wiberg’s explanations. Herbert Ortner, founder and CEO of OkoFEN Pelletsheizung, Niederkappel, Austria, Steven Walker, President and CEO of New England Wood Pellet, Jaffrey, NH, and Robert Rice, Professor of Wood Science, School of Forest Resources, University of Maine, Orono, Maine, each offered thoughts about the standards from their own perspectives.

Ortner reflected on the importance of standards to reliable performance and widespread adoption of pellet-fired equipment. He noted the continuous, ongoing evolution of pellet fuel standards in European countries and the European Union. Wiberg said that the PFI Committee had followed the European work and used it as a basis for its own standards.

Walker applauded the standardization efforts as important for the health of the pellet fuels industry. His remarks drew on years of experience in the pellet production business and recognized the importance of protecting industry image by ensuring quality products from all manufacturers.

Rice discussed pellet attributes beyond those currently measured that are important to successful pellet performance. He based his presentation on his long history of wood properties measurement and his extension recent work analyzing regionally produced wood pellets.

Audience participation in the question and answer people was lively and educated. Lisa Rector of NESCAUM noted that her lab had found evidence of foreign substances, probably from construction debris, in many pellet bags it tested. She suggested that a test to ensure that wood pellets include no such contaminants is important. A test for lead as an indicator was suggested.

The absence of ash fusion temperature as a required parameter in the test was discussed. Low ash fusion temperatures indicate the likelihood of clinker or slag formation during combustion.

There was a discussion of whether or not the current durability test, derived from the poultry feed industry, is the most effective test to predict the pellets’ ability to survive handling in bulk distribution practices. The Holmen Test used in the EU and a strength test used by Bob Rice may provide better information about pellets’ performance in pnuematic handling systems than the conventional shaker test. As bulk handling moves from mechanical handling common to the animal feed industry to the more effective pnuematic handling common for pellet handling in more experienced countries, protocols for durability/strength tests should probably be reconsidered.

I left the session impressed with the good work of many in the pellet production/testing industry and with the abundance of expertise on pellet attributes and performance available to that industry. I also left convinced that the committees and panels that work on the ongoing development of pellet standards should include representatives from related industries and agencies. Good questions about the standards and their use in ensuring reliable system performance were raised by members of the environmental community and members of the bulk distribution community.

I extend sincere apprecation to all who took part in this discussion, both those on the panel and those in the audience.