In 2011, we noticed a glaring omission in an annual U.S. government publication.  The annual Winter Fuel Report failed to mention wood and pellets, one of the most common heating fuels in America. Members of Congress were also appalled. The next year, the report began covering wood and pellet heat, not just fossil fuel heat.

Now we find the same parent agency, the U.S. DOE, omitting any mention of wood and pellet heating in a major, consumer-oriented publication and inserting the word solar where wood and pellets should be. The publication, Energy Saver: Tips on Saving Money & Energy at Home, is one of the DOE’s main consumer-oriented energy efficiency     publications. The glossy, 41-page booklet is distributed free of charge and contains scores of excellent suggestions on how to save on your utility bills.

The section on renewable energy tells consumers they have many options for using renewable energy at home, including solar and small wind turbines. The booklet also discusses geothermal and solar thermal.  It states: “Solar panels are the most popular form of renewable energy today.”

There are not even half a million homes with solar panels and about 10 million homes with wood or pellet stoves. On an annual basis, wood and pellet stoves still outsell solar panels. By 2020, there still be less than one million homes with solar. Even if the high estimates are correct, the number of homes using solar is still less than half the number of those with installed stoves. So why does the DOE say solar panels are the most popular form of residential energy, and why does it not even mention wood or pellet stoves in the renewable energy section?

It’s understandable that wood stoves aren’t being endorsed as an energy pathway that should rapidly expand (particularly in western states where inversions often trap particulates). But pellet stoves and boilers provide an excellent option for homeowners in most of the country to reduce fossil fuels and affordably heat their homes without producing excessive emissions. 

About 10 states offer rebates or tax incentives to install pellet stoves or boilers. There are liberal leading states that are trying to expand residential renewable energy deployment, such as Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon and Vermont. Then there are more conservative states, like Idaho, Maine, Montana and New Hampshire, which also see the benefits of helping households use a local renewable resource to affordably heat their homes. Why is the DOE so out of touch with what is happening around the country?

As the Obama administration and much of the country is increasingly focused on reducing fossil fuel use, the main federal agency in charge does not even see fit to mention a powerful HVAC device that drastically reduces or eliminates fossil heating fuels in more than 10 million U.S. homes. 
A $2,000 or $3,000 dollar pellet stove can easily provide 40 to 100 percent of most homes’ space heating needs.  A typical 5-kW array of solar panels can provide about the same amount of energy in a year as a pellet stove can provide in four to five months. 

The DOE should initiate more programmatic work on wood heat.  Short of that, it should at least acknowledge the existence of wood and pellets in booklets like this and help educate homeowners about how they can best use them.  For instance, this booklet could urge homeowners to upgrade from an old, uncertified wood stove to a cleaner, more efficient pellet stove.  It could also explain how modern, automated pellet boilers, like the ones that are so popular now in Europe, can provide both space and water heating and are a great complement to solar panels.

Accuracy and honesty are above all important, and ignoring the efforts of more than 10 million homes does not advance our common efforts to reduce fossil fuel use. The DOE should be striving to reach diverse constituencies, not just the urban, affluent people who can afford more expensive energy upgrades like solar panels or wind turbines.  The booklet even suggests small wind turbines are good to charge a sailboat battery.  A sailboat battery?  What audience is DOE trying to reach? 

The demographic who could install small wind turbines is relatively small, and those who would use them to charge a sailboat battery is miniscule, but the demographic that could benefit from pellet stoves is huge.

It would help if there were an Energy Star label for wood and pellet stoves, so that federal and state agencies could better guide the deployment of these technologies as they do for all other major HVAC appliances. However, the development of such a label may be years away. For now, simply acknowledging the existence of wood and pellet stoves as a popular renewable energy option and educating the public about how and where to best use them is a good start.

Author: John Ackerly
President, Alliance For Green Heat
jackerly@forgreenheat.org
www.forgreenheat.org