"Heating the Midwest" - Is biomass thermal fuel an option?

The forest products industry has been impacted by the downturn in the housing sector and a diminishing paper industry.  However, harvest levels have been well below what most consider sustainable removals even during peak demand.  Because of the low populations in the rural areas, it is not cost effective to pipe natural gas into these areas.  The result is that most of the heating is done with heating oil (primarily East coast) or Liquid Propane (LP-primarily Midwest).  Biomass, especially wood pellets, are a very cost-effective alternative to either heating oil or LP, with a general ROI of 5 to 7 years.  In other words, the money saved over a 5 to 7 year period to heat homes or businesses with wood verses oil or LP would pay for the capital cost of the boiler or wood stove.

From an environmental perspective, these newer wood burning appliances are extremely energy efficient, with most having emission factors similar to heating oil. By most accounts wood is considered to be a carbon neutral fuel source (combustion does not add to the carbon footprint). Innovations and advancements in technology have also made many of the systems fully automated, with a minimal amount of routine annual maintenance.  Reliability (uninterrupted service) has also improved significantly with the last few years.   Further, many of the heating systems can be retrofitted to an existing system to create a “dual system” which can be easily switched between the two fuel sources (i.e., wood to LP and back to wood).

Co-generation or combined heat and power (CHP) are also potential opportunities to expand the use of biomass.  This involves using biomass (wood) to generate electricity and/or heat and electricity.  However, to be cost effective the scale of these systems is typically many times larger.  For example, a 25 megawatt power plant will use in the vicinity of 250,000 tons of wood fuel per year.  A residential home heating primarily with wood will typically use less than 10 tons per year.   While there is potential here to increase the use of an under-utilized wood resource, it is very important that larger facilities be strategically located and appropriately scaled for them to maintain economic viability.

 

Pictures show a wood pellet manufacturer (Great Lakes Renewable Energy), a small-scale commercial heating system (Midwest Forest Products), and a large-scale electric utility (Excel Energy) in Wisconsin. These locations emphasize the versatility of wood for heating and electrical generation and the advancements (many recent) in the combustion technology to render wood as a clean and cost effective alternative. 

It is very likely that using biomass for thermal and CHP applications will remain a hot topic of interest and action in the coming years.  Some have gone as far as saying the wood energy sector will save the forest products industry in the future.  While that is a bold statement there is little doubt this is a huge area of opportunity. Some of the statistics that support this include:

•          78% of every dollar spent on LP and heating oil leaves the regional economy
•          Wind development produces .6 jobs per megawatt hour of electricity.  Biomass use supports 14 jobs per megawatt hour
•          The biomass fuel supply chain the Midwest alone has the potential to produce over 13,000 new jobs (direct, indirect, and induced)

Simply put, expanded use of biomass creates jobs within the local economy while utilizing a renewable resource which reduces our use of and dependence on fossil fuels.  However, it must also be noted that for this use to be considered sustainable long-term, the wood supply must originate from well managed forests. Current estimates indicate the supply and availability of low-grade round wood and residual materials from processing significantly exceed demand (end use).  The key to driving further innovation and use of this resource will be to strategically increase the use of woody biomass for both thermal and CHP applications by displacing LP and heating oil use.  The Sustainable Development Institute and Center for First Americans Forestlands will be monitoring these dialogues and developments in this emerging field of opportunities. 

Much of the information and resources gained from this article came from Dean Fellman's recent experience at the "Heating the Midwest" conference in Carlton, MN where he served as a representative of CMN/SDI through the Center for First Americans Forestlands. Heating the Midwest (HTM) is a group of volunteers with a serious interest in growing awareness and usage of biomass thermal fuel for heat in the Midwestern U.S. These volunteers have formed a steering committee of 13 people from diverse backgrounds and interests that have formed an efficient group of biomass advocates that work towards promoting biomass to a larger constituency, primarily through the conferences offered. This was the second annual Midwest conference which has been patterned in a very similar manner to the “Heating the East” conferences which are conducted in the New England states along the East coast of the U.S. and recently offered their 5th annual event. These 2 areas of the country share a number of characteristics that make them unique in terms of biomass utilization, especially for thermal (heating) applications.  They are in cold weather climates, have extensive forest resources, and have large sparsely populated areas within the forested landscape.