Creating an edge | Maine should fire up its own renewable fuels
By Les Otten and Henry "Dutch" Dresser
Directors, Maine Energy Systems LLC, Bethel
Major changes in conventional thinking take time to penetrate our culture unless driven suddenly by strong precipitating factors. Simply put, we are not apt to change the way we do things without a crisis. In 2008 we had that crisis. Shortly after Maine Energy Systems began its quest to offer a renewable heating opportunity for the region’s homeowners and businesses, oil prices spiked to over $4.50 a gallon. Immediately, many felt compelled to reconsider their home heating practices. Hundreds of Mainers signed up to install wood pellet-fired boilers. By the fall of 2008, oil prices “stabilized”and many held off on fuel switching for a while.
Even with somewhat higher equipment costs, thoughtful homeowners, businesses, government entities and school boards are installing pellet-central heating systems at a steadily increasing rate. Many decision makers find replacing old boilers with new fossil fuel burners difficult when the useful life of the new system will likely end before its design life is reached due to high fuel prices or fuel unavailability.
Broadened awareness of the environmental and economic benefits of using locally produced, sustainably harvested fuels will foster the inevitable evolution of heating with renewable products.
The pellet industry in our region is well established. Several Maine mills manufacture high-quality pellets suitable for highly efficient use in today’s automatic pellet boiler systems. Maine’s pellet production could heat tens of thousands of homes at current production rates by simply retaining production in the state.
Maine Energy Systems, Heutz Pellet Heating in Lewiston and Jesse E. Lyman, of New Hampshire, have invested in the region’s bulk pellet distribution system with pneumatic trucks that fill household bins and automatically feed pellet boiler systems without user intervention.
This looming bulk delivery market is recognized as an opportunity by businesses ranging from the very smallest to the very largest. As this system develops, MESys has assured that bulk pellets will be available where their boilers are installed in Maine.
To ensure that this business matures with Maine roots, MESys, TransTech in Brewer and Adams & Fogg in Falmouth are collaborating in the local construction of European-style, fully pneumatic trucks. The first U.S. body will be ready for use within the next two months.
Development of clean burning pellet boilers began nearly 20 years ago in Austria. Today, Maine Eco Pellet Heating Co. assembles the best of the Austrian boilers under license in Bethel, using U.S.- manufactured boiler vessels. These boilers have enjoyed a small, but sharp, rate of sales growth in the late spring, early summer of 2010. Many have gone to New Hampshire and Massachusetts where governmental incentives and regulatory help encourage consumers to transition from fossil fuels to wood pellets. Maine still has antiquated and provincial rules that inhibit fuel switching.
The future
The time has come for the long-heralded transition from fossil fuel dependence to widespread use of regionally produced renewable energy to begin in earnest. The reasons range from geopolitical to environmental to financial.
“The dependency of the Northeastern states on No. 2 fuel oil for heat places these states in a uniquely vulnerable position,” reports MESys Director William Strauss in his recent paper, “Gulf of Mexico Offshore Oil and the Northeastern United States’ Dependence on Heating Oil.” “The heating needs of these states combined with their established high reliance on No. 2 oil makes them sitting ducks for extreme economic (and therefore social) harm if there is any disruption to the flow of No. 2 oil into the region. Those states with very high residential heating oil use proportions are particularly at risk to economic harm if homeowners’ disposable incomes are significantly reduced by higher heating oil prices.
Almost every leading energy expert expects very high oil prices, as it is a scarce and dwindling commodity.
Maine has a truly remarkable opportunity available for the taking. We have all of the necessary elements in place for heating our homes and businesses with renewable resources in a way that will save us money, enhance the regional economy and reduce our dangerous dependence and excessive home-heating carbon footprint.
The Efficiency Maine Trust was expressly established to lead the state into the energy future. This trust has the capacity and the funding to help Maine citizens adopt the next generation energy opportunities available to them. They could provide incentives for the adoption of heating systems that are better for the state. Seldom has a body been afforded such a remarkable opportunity to improve our state. We look to them for the desperately needed leadership to end our dependence on fossil fuels for heating energy.
There are many boilers to be replaced in the Northeast. Production, distribution and installation of replacement equipment is time consuming. Sudden demand can’t necessarily be met with sudden fulfillment. Wise investment in consumer support today will strengthen the infrastructures that will be desperately needed when there’s widespread demand for a change from fossil fuel.
As a state we are poised to help Maine lead the nation in energy independence. Our future is economically and environmentally bright if we seize the opportunity.
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