Taking the Course of Least Resistance: The Success of the Pellet Stove Industry

March 17, 2007 – Vol.11 No.51

TAKING THE COURSE OF LEAST RESISTANCE:
THE SUCCESS OF THE PELLET STOVE INDUSTRY.

The Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association (HPBA) reports that shipments of hearth appliances of all kinds fell 11 percent in 2006 compared with 2005.

Yet that’s not bad news, particularly for green energy.

Shipments of pellet-fueled stoves and fireplace inserts grew by 12 percent in 2006. Wood stove and wood stove insert shipments increased seven percent.

HPBA says the overall downturn in hearth products was swayed by the 19 percent drop in the sales of gas fireplaces, stoves, inserts and gas logs which make up 61 percent of the industry. The HPBA says that the overall slowdown was due to the slowing of the US housing market.

(High natural gas prices may also have steered people away from appliances like gas logs. Sales of electric hearth appliances grew by 20 percent ; further steerage away from gas.)

The upward trend in pellet wood appliances is evidence that homeowners like the idea of energy independence and energy from renewable sources. Their interest in biofueled green energy for the home is buoyed by the wide and growing array of pellet and wood appliances now available: fireplace inserts, free standing stoves, boilers, furnaces, combined heat and hot water devices and outdoor hydronic boilers.

(Pellet stoves are popular in Europe, by the way. Attractive products there could create business opportunities in the US as well as provide even more choices for US consumers.)

The growing popularity of biofueled pellet stoves may create a new debate: Should we be using biomass fuels to heat our homes or fuel our cars? Which is more logical and, in the end, a more efficient use of resources?

The biofuels industry should have a mantra: “Look for the shortest route between energy harvesting and consumption.” The shortest route will need less effort, the least energy for processing from feedstock to salable fuel. The shortest route will be the course of least resistance.

Given that the emissions from our homes and from our vehicles is roughly equal, on average, which makes more sense: use a convoluted process to convert biomass into fuels for our vehicles or use the relatively simple process to convert biomass to fuel our homes?

Corn for ethanol or corn fuel for pellet stoves? Cellulosic ethanol from switchgrass or pelletized switchgrass?

Studies could be made to compare the two, but in the end the markets may decide. The pellet appliance industry is growing without government help. Drivers aren’t exactly begging for ethanol at the pump.

The markets are creating new feed stocks for pellets as well. Once just clean waste sawdust from sawmills, the pellet market has grown to dried corn kernels, waste paper, wheat, sunflower seeds, and cherry pits.

There may be more pellet opportunities as well. Clean tree trimmings are usually chipped on site and sent to the landfill for disposal or used for mulch. Can they be sent to the pellet producer? Ditto for grass clippings. Sent to the landfill or to the local pellet maker?

Ethanol from a wide range of sources is possible, yet is still in the research and development stage. Pelletized biofuels are here today, and if the statistics from the HPBA are any indicator, people like pellets. Visit the http://hpba.org/