Wood burning has provided heat and energy to the world for thousands of years but new advances are on the rise offering everything from cheap, clean heat to electricity. Over 800,000 Americans have switched from older wood burning stoves to new, automatic pellet burning stoves. Pellet stoves burn ¼” pellets made from wood, sawmill and paper wastes. Pellets made from switchgrass are also on the horizon. Grass grown on farmland unsuitable for growing food can produce between 1-15 tons of pellets per acre. Easier to use than a typical wood stove, pellets are added to a hopper and the stove automatically drops them into a burner using a timer. No more cutting wood and stoking the fire! Pellet stoves burn clean, creating less soot than woodstoves though they do require a small amount of electricity to operate the timer. U.S. homeowners who purchase a 75%-efficient biomass (wood or pellet) burning stove, fireplace or insert and place it into service in their home during 2009 or 2010 can receive a U.S. federal tax credit for 30% of their cost, up to $1,500.
Not only can pellets heat homes they can also produce electricity. Mingo County, WV in partnership with FRIEnergy plans to build a 2.4 megawatt biomass power plant that will burn lumber mill and wood industry waste and produce enough electricity to power 1200 homes. Elsewhere in the world, pellets burn alongside coal in coal-fired power plants to produce electricity. Cheaper than solar or wind for producing electricity, pellets and biomass, with prices similar to lignite coal, offer the fastest way to a renewable energy economy.
So what’s stopping us from making the switch from fuel oil heaters to clean pellet stoves? Primarily, the US lacks domestic demand for home heating and electricity generation from pellets. In 2008, Green Circle Bio Energy Inc. opened a pellet manufacturing plant in Cottondale, FL which creates over 500,000 tons of pellets a year, most of which is shipped to Europe where it’s used to create electricity. Europe’s high demand comes from a mandate that 20% of electricity production must come from renewable sources by 2020. Though slightly more expensive than coal, pellets are far cheaper at providing consistent electricity than solar or wind farms. With similar mandates in the US, Green Circle Bio Energy may turn from shipping pellets internationally to shipping them domestically.
Do your part to provide a cleaner, energy independent U.S. and buy a pellet stove today or write your congressman and tell them we need more pellet manufacturing plants and a mandate to produce more renewable electricity domestically.
