Archive for May, 2010

Lower priced boiler added to MESys line-up

Friday, May 21st, 2010

The MESys 6000C is undergoing testing in the lab at Maine Energy Systems‘ Bethel facility.  The 6000C is designed to be a reliable, relatively low-cost pellet boiler system for those willing to manually remove ash from the boiler.

The 6000C is a vertical steel tube boiler designed and fabricated by TDC of Pennsylvania coupled with the Swedish Janfire NH pellet burner. In initial testing at TDC, the boiler had an output capacity of approximately 80,000BTU/hr; the boiler will be marketed as a 23KW (78,000BTU/hr) unit.

In its current configuration, the boiler’s vertical tubes can be cleared of flyash with the simple turn of  a handle and ash can be easily removed from the base through a large access door on the side of the system. The ash removal interval is not yet determined, but it is expected to be approximately every four weeks during the peak heating season, given the generous size of the ashbox.

The addition of  automatic de-ashing equipment for the system will be investigated at Worcester Polytechnic Institute this fall.

Images and initial test results will follow shortly.

Dutch Dresser

Posted in Wood pellet boiler | Comments Off

New Hampshire Takes Leadership Role

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

On May 11,  2010, I had the pleasure of attending a meeting in Concord, NH, in which Jack Ruderman, Director of the Sustainable Energy Division of the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission,  Laura Richardson, ARRA Coordinator for SEP, NH Office of Energy and Planning, and Barbara Bernstein, Sustainable Energy Analyst, NH Public Utilities Commission, were accepting industry assistance in the drafting of language for a proposed Residential Central Pellet Heating System Rebate for the residents of New Hampshire.

This was a refreshing experience for several reasons.  First, the New Hampshire PUC had decided to earmark a small, but meaningful, sum of ARRA money to begin to catalyze residential fuel switching in New Hampshire through incentivization of residential central pellet-fired heating systems.  Their goals for the proposed plan are intelligent and forward-looking and recognize the importance of helping homeowners take advantage of locally produced heating fuel for economic, environmental, and independence reasons.

Second, the government officials sought industry advice on ensuring that the equipment to be incentivized would include  equipment that would both be sufficiently automatic to satisfy American homeowners and insurance underwriters and would be sufficiently well developed to be environmentally friendly.  They also understood the value of reasonable pellet storage volumes to encourage a growth in bulk pellet distribution to ultimately replicate the distribution systems which have successfully provided us with liquid fossil fuels for years.

I applaud those who have advanced the constructive, forward-looking thinking represented by this effort.  New Hampshire citizens can be proud of those in their government who are pro-actively addressing energy sustainability issues.

Dutch Dresser

Tags:
Posted in incentives, Legislative, Pellet burners, Wood pellet boiler | Comments Off

Heating the Northeast

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

Thanks to Charlie Niebling of New England Wood Pellets and his intrepid band of organizers at BTEC, Maine Pellet Fuels Association, Pellet Fuels Institute, New York Biomass Energy Alliance, and Alliance for Green Heat, among others, the second annual Heating the Northeast Conference held last week in Manchester, NH, was an energizing event to a sold-out house.

Business representatives from all corners of the “biomass thermal” world were present to show their wares, share information, and plan for the future of the fuel and paradigm switching that must come as petroleum products become increasingly scarce and quests for them carry ever higher environmental risks.

During the event NH Senator Jeanne Shaheen made a virtual appearance throwing her support behind the important transition and behind bills that are working their ways through the Senate to incentivize the installation of renewable resource technologies for space and water heating.  In addition, the State of New Hampshire made an announcement that it would provide incentives to home owners of 30% of the cost of newly installed qualifying biomass central heating systems up to $6,000.  Oh, that all State governments were as forward-looking.

I left this year’s event with a couple of very strong feelings.  First, in two ways, this conference felt a bit like preaching to the choir.  There were few in the room who weren’t fully subscribed to the importance of a switch away from fossil fuels and toward renewable biomass alternatives.  Several who weren’t fully subscribed stood up to worry out loud about over-harvesting of regional forests demonstrating both their philosophical perspectives and their need for understanding of actual harvest patterns and fiber availability in the northeastern U.S.

Unfortunately, several of those who had various podiums used their time for infomercials we all could have been spared.  This was a small problem to be sure but one which should be addressed as next year’s speaking forces are recruited.

Second, the vendor display area represented a remarkable opportunity for the general public to begin to understand this technology which is commonplace in Europe but new to us. The organizers would do well next year to schedule one day for the general public to see the vast array of products, to talk with knowledgeable vendors about them, and to hear a session or two on the benefits of biomass used as a thermal energy.

The culminating experience for the Conference was the distribution of “A Bold Vision for 2025,” the work of the five organizing groups listed above.  The glossy summary and the more developed white paper are both available on the Maine Pellet Fuels Association website.

Dutch Dresser

In the interest of full disclosure, the author is the Managing Director of Maine Energy Systems, in Bethel, Maine.  The sole regional distributor of OkoFEN boilers.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Boiler training, Wood pellet boiler | Comments Off

Heating fuel prices

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

There are all sorts of strategic, environmental, and regional economic reasons for large segments of the population in the Northeast to switch from fossil fuels to renewable wood pellet heating for their homes and businesses. Reasons like

  • reducing dependency on foreign oil,
  • reducing carbon footprints, and,
  • spending heating dollars for our own products.

    • In the world outside the heating industry, these are good, noble ideas that would be nice to embrace if there were ways to adopt them that made personal financial sense.

    The good news is the spread between pellet pricing and heating oil pricing is growing as oil in Maine rests somewhere near $2.80/gallon and bulk delivered wood pellet prices have been reduced to $220/ton delivered. $220/ton pellets are the cost equivalent of $1.83/gallon heating oil. At today’s prices, a home using 1,000 gallons of oil a year would save approximately $960/year on heating and domestic hot water.

    Maine Energy Systems, a regional distributor of bulk pellets, has reduced its delivered price to $220, and has reversed last year’s policy of setting prices for the year. Last year’s effort to assure users of pellet availability and price stability had MESys hold onto its $280/ton price into the spring. As mill prices dropped, it became clear to us that despite our intention to reassure the market about stable pellet pricing, this practice was not in the best interest of the market.

    Going forward, we plan to adjust prices periodically to reflect the mill prices we pay for the pellets. With ample production capability in the region and a somewhat depressed international pellet market, we don’t anticipate significant changes in bulk pellet prices over the coming months.

    The picture continues to improve for those who seek financial justification for doing the “right thing” on so many other fronts.

    The graph linked below has fascinated me for some time. Whether it’s precisely correct or only conceptually correct, we were born into the single period in world history when all of the petroleum will be consumed.

    longperiodgraph

    Dutch Dresser

    In the interest of disclosure, the author is the Managing Director of Maine Energy Systems, in Bethel, Maine


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