Heat: a future North Country cash crop
There’s a growing body of evidence that finds farming crops to produce fuels that power cars and trucks actually costs more energy than it creates. Cornell’s David Pimentel is one of the leaders in this research. “There is just no energy benefit to using plant biomass for liquid fuel,” he says. “These strategies are not sustainable.” This includes ethanol and biodiesel.
But the North Country ag community is positioning itself to grow crops that heat things – in other words, dry biomass that’s burned, not consumed as liquid fuel. Wood pellets are the most promising example.
Massena’s Curran Renewables is already finding success making pellets from scrap wood. A couple years ago, I reported on farmer Tom Lee’s switchgrass experiment. There are also woody biomass boilers in various places in the region.
St. Lawrence County planner Jon Montan has taken on this issue as a pet project of his. He’s launched a new website with some great resources and pictures.
Do you use a pellet stove? Would you use one? If you’re a farmer, would you grow grass for energy?
I have a pellet stove that heats a good portion of my home (I also have a fuel oil boiler as my primary heat source) and love it. It's an older model Lopi Foxfire. Presently I'm considering taking advantage of the $1500 federal tax credit and buying a newer, more efficient bio-mass stove. I'm on the fence because I'm waiting for more manufacturers to begin producing multi-fuel pellet stoves. Stoves that can burn corn, grass pellets, and wood pellets. My reasoning is that farmers in my area will eventually begin growing and processing grass pellets. Harman and Quadrafire (two very good wood pellet manufacturers)currently make these multi fuel stoves, but the jury is still out on their quality and efficiency compared with strictly wood pellet models. If anyone is considering a pellet stove, check out this website for thoughts, ideas, technical info., etc. from other homeowners:http://www.hearth.com
We really do have an emerging energy economy here in NNY, a chance to keep more or our dollars in the region and start generating more jobs and wealth in the region. As for grass energy it just seems so doable with lots of ag land out of production, a history of harvesting hay. It is tough getting all the pieces to work in tandem: supply, equipment, and consumers, but we will get there. Thanks David.Doug W.
It's about time the intelligentsia out there started to realize growing corn for fuel is a no win situation, unless you're a corn farmer that is. It made no sense when it was proposed, it made no sense when corn prices shot through the roof and it makes no sense now. I hope we learn our lesson from this.Switchgrass may be a viable fuel but I have to wonder about the real future of solid fuel heating. Just today I saw where the ever progressive (restrictive) village of Potsdam is considering banning outdoor wood furnaces. Just how long do you think it will be before any solid fuel heat source is banned? A decade? Maybe more, maybe less. What's needed is a realistic point of view for the do-gooders who would outlaw anything they find the slightest bit objectionable. Until there are some laws protecting our communities from the hordes of do gooders and know betters I'm not putting much faith in anything for the future.I also wonder just how much of that vacant farm land everyone mentions will suddenly bloom in taxable value if switch grass does make a go of it. Never let a good crisis go to waste, right?
Unfortunately, disreputable outdoor boiler companies are ruining things for responsible companies. The solid fuel industry of the 1980's advocated for better emissions even though they realized there would be fewer manufacturers and dealers. But it was the right thing to do.Bad polluters should expect to be banned. Solid fuel is here to stay.
Bret, everyone knew at the time the Bush administration was proposing corn based ethanol as a solution to our energy difficulties that it was a crock of digested fodder meant as a political prop to help the Bush in Iowa and Michigan. The intelligentsia were never fooled.
Knucklehead, at the time the latest corn push came on the ONLY person I heard saying it was dumb was Glenn Beck. Everyone else I heard, NPR included, was agog at the possibilities and couldn't see anything but a wondrous future. Same as they say for wind, solar…pretty much anything but stuff that actually works like coal and nuclear.So maybe you're right, the intelligentsia wasn't fooled.
Watch out for those "do gooders" and "know betters" and that damned intelligenstia.Why, FOX news was jumping up and down and up again about how ethanol production from corn was a big waste of energy and resources (hint: no they were not doing so).And the liberal intelligentsia and do-gooders and know-betters were all cheerleading the diversion of corn from food production into the making ethanol for fuel (hint: no they were not doing so).In fact, for those who are capable of remembering recent history, these positions were reversed.Whenever I hear someone criticize a person as being "do-gooder" in a derogatory sense, I can't help but wonder if they themselves, "do-badders?"Did these people grow up as kids watching Saturday morning Roy Rogers clips while rooting for the bad guys? Did they root against Superman?Batman?Captain America?Damned do-gooders and know betters.Sarah Palin for Prez.And bring on the grass, man.
Frank, what is it they say about the road to hell and good intentions? We all strive to do good, I think anyway. It's just that sometimes our "good ideas" backfire on someone else. Surely even you can see that?