Wood pellets a viable heating alternative: Forestry rep

Wood pellets used as a heating source are an environmental and economic alternative to fossil fuels.

That was the message Bill Alexander, manager with Newfoundland and Labrador Forestry Training Association, brought to Stephenville Rotary at a lunchtime meeting on April 15.

He explained the pellets - made from wood powder that's run through a round mold at high pressures and temperatures - are used by various European countries as a way to combat global warming and reduce or eliminate dependency on fossil fuels.

Unlike fossil fuels, Mr. Alexander said burning wood pellets are less polluting than other fuels, due to low carbon emissions when burned.

"Carbon from forests or any green plant material is called biosphere carbon - it's in the biosphere, it's not stored carbon like fossil fuels or peat in a bog," he added. "It's a great way to take carbon that's in the biosphere and cycle it through heating."

He said while Canada is currently the largest producer of wood pellets in the world, the country ranks as one of the lowest consumers.

"In the last number of decades, we've gone from a society where we use the natural resources around us ... to a society where we now ship oil from Saudi Arabia all the way up here and then truck it all over the place," said Mr. Alexander. "It costs us a fortune and we burn a lot of fossil fuels just to get it here."

He noted pellets are relatively inexpensive to produce - as they can be manufactured from such objects as fallen trees, commercially undersized cuttings, and byproducts from sawmills and logging facilities.

Such countries as Germany, Austria and Denmark have been successful in converting much of their energy supply to wood pellets, said Mr. Alexander, because their governments have a strong commitment to the environment and provide tax breaks and other incentives for those availing of this energy source.

Mr. Alexander said the Bay St. George area would be a good place to set up a wood pellet production facility as it would provide and sustain local employment, utilize local resources, provide opportunities for local leadership, be a model for other areas, and possibly become a supplier of industrial pellet energy.

He also said it would be a viable alternative and for residential and commercial heating in the region.

"Right now, if you have electricity in your home and you convert to a pellet stove, you would save about 40 per cent on your heating costs," he said. "Oil is actually a little bit cheaper ... but we all know where oil is going."

Mr. Alexander said he bought a wood pellet furnace last year for $9,000 - and a good quality wood pellet stove costs from $2,000 to $4,000.

Rotarian Mary Lambert Skinner inquired about special piping needed to install a wood pellet furnace in a residence.

"Basically, if you have what's called a hot water system or a hydronic system, that's the best system, because you have a hot water boiler and you just bring in a wood pellet boiler and you twin it with that one," said Mr. Alexander.

Rotarian Rosa Dollard asked if a house completely reliant on electricity would require a complete conversion to install a wood pellet boiler, and Mr. Alexander said it would indeed. He noted installing a pellet furnace would be similar to adding on a wood furnace in a home.

Mr. Alexander said schools, hospitals or other large buildings in the Bay St. George requiring large amounts of energy could have their oil boilers easily converted, potentially saving them tens of thousands of dollars annually in heating costs.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Forestry Training Association is a non-profit corporation that partners with industry and the province's Department of Natural Resources.