The latest version of B366.1, Solid Fuel-Fired Central Heating Appliances, is now available for public review:
https://review.csa.ca/opr/opr_list.asp
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Check out my @constantcontact newsletter
February 2010 HPBAC Voice Newsletter
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs046/1101832902636/archive/1103023825576.html
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs046/1101832902636/archive/1103023825576.html
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
PLUG PULLED ON FEDERAL ECOENERGY RETROFIT PROGRAM: FUTURE OF MATCHING PROVINCIAL PROGRAMS UNCLEAR
The federal government has suspended the Eco-Energy Retrofit Homes Program. After promising that the program would be available until March 2011, Ottawa announced that it would no longer accept applications to book pre-retrofit evaluations as of midnight on March 31, 2010. This means that anyone who has not already booked an evaluation is no longer eligible for a rebate. The program provided homeowners with incentives to have their homes evaluated for energy efficiency, and then perform upgrades to improve their rating. One of the qualifying upgrades was changing out old technology woodstoves. Critics are already voicing their concern and disapproval of the decision, on the heels of the Home Renovation Tax Credit being recently extinguished.
Cancelling the retrofit program is a serious mistake, says Green Communities Canada. "Canada needs to get with the program," said Clifford Maynes, executive director of Green Communities Canada. "Instead of turning its back on energy efficiency, Ottawa should demonstrate vision and leadership. Canada needs a bold commitment to bring Canada's inefficient housing stock into the 21st Century."
The decision by the federal government seems to have taken the provinces by surprise. No news yet as to how the matching provincial programs may be affected, although the federal government has said it will continue to offer administrative support for those programs.
Cancelling the retrofit program is a serious mistake, says Green Communities Canada. "Canada needs to get with the program," said Clifford Maynes, executive director of Green Communities Canada. "Instead of turning its back on energy efficiency, Ottawa should demonstrate vision and leadership. Canada needs a bold commitment to bring Canada's inefficient housing stock into the 21st Century."
The decision by the federal government seems to have taken the provinces by surprise. No news yet as to how the matching provincial programs may be affected, although the federal government has said it will continue to offer administrative support for those programs.
Friday, February 26, 2010
One of many reasons why the installation of clean wood burning heating appliances should never have been banned in Montreal
Winds cut power for 95,000 in Quebec
Schools close because of dangerous driving conditions
Last Updated: Friday, February 26, 2010 9:50 AM ET Comments8Recommend9
CBC News
High winds cut power to about 95,000 Hydro-Québec customers Friday morning, while officials closed dozens of schools because of blustery road conditions.
Environment Canada issued wind warnings for Montreal, Trois-Rivières and Quebec City and reported gusts as high as 90 km/h in several regions including the Laurentians, the Lanaudière, and the Outaouais.
The hydro outages are affecting 14,000 customers in Quebec City, 3,200 in Chaudière Appalaches, 15,300 in the Laurentians, 17,500 in the Lanaudière, 5,500 in the Outaouais, and 2,100 households in Laval.
The power utility said it could take part of the day to restore electricity to all its customers.
Most schools in the greater Quebec City region were closed, including those under the Central Quebec School Board, because of high winds and blowing snow on major highways in the area.
Transport Quebec urged drivers to be cautious.
On Thursday, the Transport Ministry closed Highway 10 in the Eastern Townships because of high winds, blowing snow and poor visibility.Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2010/02/26/wind-gusts-knock-out-power-in-quebec.html#ixzz0genfEPEC
Schools close because of dangerous driving conditions
Last Updated: Friday, February 26, 2010 9:50 AM ET Comments8Recommend9
CBC News
High winds cut power to about 95,000 Hydro-Québec customers Friday morning, while officials closed dozens of schools because of blustery road conditions.
Environment Canada issued wind warnings for Montreal, Trois-Rivières and Quebec City and reported gusts as high as 90 km/h in several regions including the Laurentians, the Lanaudière, and the Outaouais.
The hydro outages are affecting 14,000 customers in Quebec City, 3,200 in Chaudière Appalaches, 15,300 in the Laurentians, 17,500 in the Lanaudière, 5,500 in the Outaouais, and 2,100 households in Laval.
The power utility said it could take part of the day to restore electricity to all its customers.
Most schools in the greater Quebec City region were closed, including those under the Central Quebec School Board, because of high winds and blowing snow on major highways in the area.
Transport Quebec urged drivers to be cautious.
On Thursday, the Transport Ministry closed Highway 10 in the Eastern Townships because of high winds, blowing snow and poor visibility.Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2010/02/26/wind-gusts-knock-out-power-in-quebec.html#ixzz0genfEPEC
Monday, January 4, 2010
From the New York Times
December 31, 2009, 9:15 am — Updated: 10:22 pm -->
The Smoldering Wood Pellet Business
By JOHN LORINC
With millions of families preparing to pitch their Christmas trees, the North American wood pellet industry is thinking optimistically about environmentally minded uses for waste timber.
Associated Press The wood pellet industry is poised for expansion.
This month, a start-up in Arkansas, NexGen Biomass, announced plans to build 150-employee plant capable of producing 440,000 tons of pellets a year on the site of a former saw mill in El Dorado. It is the second such investment in the state this year, according to The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
In August, Phoenix Renewable Energy started construction on a $110 million pellet processing facility in Camden, Ark.
Both are responding to Europe’s rapidly growing appetite for biomass fuel.
A milled wood pellet is slightly smaller than a multivitamin tablet. Made from timber harvesting residue or sawdust, pellets can be burned in residential wood stoves, or ground up and used in industrial heating applications. The so-called pelletization process concentrates energy and reduces moisture content.
According to The Timber Trades Journal, a British publication, the North American wood pellet market has grown sixfold in the last five years, largely on the strength of exports to the European Union, which wants to move to 20 percent renewable energy by 2020.
The American South, the journal reports, is expected to become North America’s leading pellet-producing and exporting region.
The Pellet Fuels Institute, based in Washington, estimates that North American production reached about 6.2 million metric tons in 2009.
Canadian firms, the institute noted, were first to tap into the market.
In recent years, British Columbia leaped into the pellet sector as the province’s timber industry struggled to find alternative uses for trees infested with the Asian pine beetle. Ontario is also looking to stoke the pellet market as a major electrical utility, Ontario Power Generation, moves to convert one of its coal-powered plants to biomass fuel by 2012.
In the United States, meanwhile, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included a provision to spur consumer interest in wood heat, offering consumers a tax credit of up to $1,500 for the installation of a 75 percent efficient biomass stove.
From an emissions perspective, pellet proponents argue that this form of fuel is greenhouse gas neutral, because burning wood doesn’t release additional carbon into the atmosphere.
The Smoldering Wood Pellet Business
By JOHN LORINC
With millions of families preparing to pitch their Christmas trees, the North American wood pellet industry is thinking optimistically about environmentally minded uses for waste timber.
Associated Press The wood pellet industry is poised for expansion.
This month, a start-up in Arkansas, NexGen Biomass, announced plans to build 150-employee plant capable of producing 440,000 tons of pellets a year on the site of a former saw mill in El Dorado. It is the second such investment in the state this year, according to The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
In August, Phoenix Renewable Energy started construction on a $110 million pellet processing facility in Camden, Ark.
Both are responding to Europe’s rapidly growing appetite for biomass fuel.
A milled wood pellet is slightly smaller than a multivitamin tablet. Made from timber harvesting residue or sawdust, pellets can be burned in residential wood stoves, or ground up and used in industrial heating applications. The so-called pelletization process concentrates energy and reduces moisture content.
According to The Timber Trades Journal, a British publication, the North American wood pellet market has grown sixfold in the last five years, largely on the strength of exports to the European Union, which wants to move to 20 percent renewable energy by 2020.
The American South, the journal reports, is expected to become North America’s leading pellet-producing and exporting region.
The Pellet Fuels Institute, based in Washington, estimates that North American production reached about 6.2 million metric tons in 2009.
Canadian firms, the institute noted, were first to tap into the market.
In recent years, British Columbia leaped into the pellet sector as the province’s timber industry struggled to find alternative uses for trees infested with the Asian pine beetle. Ontario is also looking to stoke the pellet market as a major electrical utility, Ontario Power Generation, moves to convert one of its coal-powered plants to biomass fuel by 2012.
In the United States, meanwhile, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included a provision to spur consumer interest in wood heat, offering consumers a tax credit of up to $1,500 for the installation of a 75 percent efficient biomass stove.
From an emissions perspective, pellet proponents argue that this form of fuel is greenhouse gas neutral, because burning wood doesn’t release additional carbon into the atmosphere.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
New Press Release on Heating With Wood
HPBAC has issued a press release To Be Honest, Wood is Good. This press release is available to all members to submit to their local newspapers, along with a photo of an EPA-certified wood stove.
Visit hpbacanada.org or contact HPBAC at 1-800-792-5284 for a copy.
Visit hpbacanada.org or contact HPBAC at 1-800-792-5284 for a copy.
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