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
Friday, February 26, 2010
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.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
HPBAC Canadian Reception on hiatus until 2011
The HPBAC Canadian Reception has grown over the past ten years to host over 800 people and a floor hockey tournament. But, as 2010 is a special year – the 30th Anniversary of HPBA - the HPBAC board agreed at its meeting in October to take the year off. We’re going to join with HPBA and industry members in celebrating 30 years of service to the hearth, patio and barbecue industry on the show floor from 3:00 to 5:00 pm on Thursday, March 11th. We hope to see you there. We’ll be back in 2011 at EXPO in Salt Lake City with our Canadian Reception, in the same time slot of 5:00 to 7:00 pm.
We do plan to host the Focus Canada meeting on Thursday, March 11 at 7:30 am in the convention centre in Orlando. Please join us for a light breakfast and an informative meeting.
We do plan to host the Focus Canada meeting on Thursday, March 11 at 7:30 am in the convention centre in Orlando. Please join us for a light breakfast and an informative meeting.
Monday, October 26, 2009
New Wood Burning Stoves Burn Clean
From an article in the U.S.
Manufacturers of wood stoves and fireplace inserts, prodded by strict government standards, have produced some of the cleanest wood-burning devices ever to hit the market.
“If you haven’t shopped for stoves in the last 15 years,” said Steve Pettit, manager of Swim World, a Wenatchee spa and stove dealership, “then you’re going to be amazed. This is a different breed of stove using a different breed of technology.”
Years ago, after federal guidelines for wood-burning devices were revised, stove manufacturers began creating devices to recirculate smoke and gases for additional burning. The first effective device was an in-stove catalytic converter, similar in design and performance to the mechanism found on automobiles. It worked moderately well, said Pettit, but had to be replaced every three to five years.
It didn’t take long for manufacturers to invent a better pollution-reducing gadget. Borrowing technology from commercial furnaces, stove makers soon began offering home wood-burning devices with secondary burn tubes, a type of air-fed pipe that produces intense flame and heat that vaporizes particulates and breaks down many toxins. Most secondary burn tubes need no replacement and last for the life of the stove.
Modern stoves with secondary burn tubes dramatically reduce smoke and gas emissions, said Pettit.
For instance, an old-fashioned fireplace — where smoke just shoots up the chimney — produces about 70 to 90 grams of smoke particulates per hour. But newer stoves, tested and approved by the Environmental Protection Agency, produce 2 to 5 grams of smoke particulates per hour.
Even better, Pettit noted, some EPA-approved pellet stoves — devices that burn pressed-wood beads or pellets — can reduce smoke particulates to 0.7 grams per hour.
“It’s really an astounding reduction (in pollution) that’s good for the homeowner and the environment,” Pettit said. “It makes new stoves incredibly efficient.”
Of course, these stoves come with a fairly hefty price tag — anywhere from $1,100 to $2,500 or more, depending on size and extras. Ornate cast iron stoves, often the choice of traditionalists, are a bit pricier than the standard steel stoves because of add-ons that might include top-loading access, fancy handles and hardware and tempered glass doors.
Homeowners pricing a stove should also remember to figure in installation costs — stove pipe, brackets, carpentry, insulation and labor.
“You need to think long term when it comes to a wood stove or insert,” said Pettit. “These are durable appliances that, when properly cared for, can warm your home for many, many years.”
Manufacturers of wood stoves and fireplace inserts, prodded by strict government standards, have produced some of the cleanest wood-burning devices ever to hit the market.
“If you haven’t shopped for stoves in the last 15 years,” said Steve Pettit, manager of Swim World, a Wenatchee spa and stove dealership, “then you’re going to be amazed. This is a different breed of stove using a different breed of technology.”
Years ago, after federal guidelines for wood-burning devices were revised, stove manufacturers began creating devices to recirculate smoke and gases for additional burning. The first effective device was an in-stove catalytic converter, similar in design and performance to the mechanism found on automobiles. It worked moderately well, said Pettit, but had to be replaced every three to five years.
It didn’t take long for manufacturers to invent a better pollution-reducing gadget. Borrowing technology from commercial furnaces, stove makers soon began offering home wood-burning devices with secondary burn tubes, a type of air-fed pipe that produces intense flame and heat that vaporizes particulates and breaks down many toxins. Most secondary burn tubes need no replacement and last for the life of the stove.
Modern stoves with secondary burn tubes dramatically reduce smoke and gas emissions, said Pettit.
For instance, an old-fashioned fireplace — where smoke just shoots up the chimney — produces about 70 to 90 grams of smoke particulates per hour. But newer stoves, tested and approved by the Environmental Protection Agency, produce 2 to 5 grams of smoke particulates per hour.
Even better, Pettit noted, some EPA-approved pellet stoves — devices that burn pressed-wood beads or pellets — can reduce smoke particulates to 0.7 grams per hour.
“It’s really an astounding reduction (in pollution) that’s good for the homeowner and the environment,” Pettit said. “It makes new stoves incredibly efficient.”
Of course, these stoves come with a fairly hefty price tag — anywhere from $1,100 to $2,500 or more, depending on size and extras. Ornate cast iron stoves, often the choice of traditionalists, are a bit pricier than the standard steel stoves because of add-ons that might include top-loading access, fancy handles and hardware and tempered glass doors.
Homeowners pricing a stove should also remember to figure in installation costs — stove pipe, brackets, carpentry, insulation and labor.
“You need to think long term when it comes to a wood stove or insert,” said Pettit. “These are durable appliances that, when properly cared for, can warm your home for many, many years.”
Friday, October 16, 2009
How woodstoves have changed
New technology makes woodstoves more environmentally friendly
October 14, 2009
Re: Act together to ban woodsmoke so autumn doesn’t take breath away, letter to the editor, Huntsville Forestre, Oct. 7.
I could not help but wonder what possible justification this lady had in calling for such a draconian act as banning wood-burning appliances.
A third of all Canadian households have a wood burning appliance and many of these choose to use this locally available, renewable green energy source as their primary heating fuel. For many residents of Muskoka and elsewhere, it is by far and away the most cost-effective way of heating their homes and for many others represents the only emergency backup heat during our all-too-frequent hydro outages.
Fortunately, here in Muskoka, as in most of Ontario, we do not have a problem with our air quality during the heating season. Our smog days come on hot summer days and are a gift from the industrial and hydro-generating south, on both sides of the border.
That is not to say, however, that ‘nuisance’ smoke on a neighbour-to-neighbour level does not occur. Such nuisance smoke can take many forms, but in the most severe cases can be extremely distressing for those involved. However, the technology employed in woodstoves has changed dramatically in recent years. New technology woodstoves, that is to say those certified by the US EPA (US Environment Protection Agency) or by CSA (Canadian Standards Association) B415, emit up to 90 per cent less “smoke”, including particulate matter, than old technology stoves. Such stoves are mandatory in the entire United States and several Canadian provinces but, alas, not yet here in Ontario. It is up to the householder or cottager, therefore, to make the sensible choice. There are hundreds of dollars of rebates available from both the provincial and federal governments to help consumers change from old stoves to the new, efficient, cleaner stoves. Added bonuses are that the new stoves take a third less wood to produce the same amount of heat and deposit less creosote in the chimney. Good burning practices should also be employed regardless of the type of appliance being used. The most important of these being, only untreated, seasoned wood (9 to 12 months drying time) should be used and under no circumstances should garbage be burnt in wood stoves or any other wood-burning appliance. I would also remind the readers, from a safety standpoint, that wood-burning appliances should be swept and checked over at least once a year by a qualified technician.
If any of my fellow wood-heating brethren are still feeling somewhat anti-social given the comments of the letter writer and her kind, I would add the following: Queen’s University biology professor, Paul Grogan, a leading expert on climate change, has recently gone on record citing the environmental benefits of wood heating as a virtually carbon neutral, entirely renewable, locally available and green energy source.
Our forests are a great Canadian resource and, when managed properly, are completely sustainable. Tonight I shall relax in front of my Ontario-built wood stove and give thanks for nature’s harvest, including my locally grown wood. The only thing my neighbours will be able to see coming from my chimney stack will be a faint heat shimmer.
Tony Gottschalk
Huntsville
October 14, 2009
Re: Act together to ban woodsmoke so autumn doesn’t take breath away, letter to the editor, Huntsville Forestre, Oct. 7.
I could not help but wonder what possible justification this lady had in calling for such a draconian act as banning wood-burning appliances.
A third of all Canadian households have a wood burning appliance and many of these choose to use this locally available, renewable green energy source as their primary heating fuel. For many residents of Muskoka and elsewhere, it is by far and away the most cost-effective way of heating their homes and for many others represents the only emergency backup heat during our all-too-frequent hydro outages.
Fortunately, here in Muskoka, as in most of Ontario, we do not have a problem with our air quality during the heating season. Our smog days come on hot summer days and are a gift from the industrial and hydro-generating south, on both sides of the border.
That is not to say, however, that ‘nuisance’ smoke on a neighbour-to-neighbour level does not occur. Such nuisance smoke can take many forms, but in the most severe cases can be extremely distressing for those involved. However, the technology employed in woodstoves has changed dramatically in recent years. New technology woodstoves, that is to say those certified by the US EPA (US Environment Protection Agency) or by CSA (Canadian Standards Association) B415, emit up to 90 per cent less “smoke”, including particulate matter, than old technology stoves. Such stoves are mandatory in the entire United States and several Canadian provinces but, alas, not yet here in Ontario. It is up to the householder or cottager, therefore, to make the sensible choice. There are hundreds of dollars of rebates available from both the provincial and federal governments to help consumers change from old stoves to the new, efficient, cleaner stoves. Added bonuses are that the new stoves take a third less wood to produce the same amount of heat and deposit less creosote in the chimney. Good burning practices should also be employed regardless of the type of appliance being used. The most important of these being, only untreated, seasoned wood (9 to 12 months drying time) should be used and under no circumstances should garbage be burnt in wood stoves or any other wood-burning appliance. I would also remind the readers, from a safety standpoint, that wood-burning appliances should be swept and checked over at least once a year by a qualified technician.
If any of my fellow wood-heating brethren are still feeling somewhat anti-social given the comments of the letter writer and her kind, I would add the following: Queen’s University biology professor, Paul Grogan, a leading expert on climate change, has recently gone on record citing the environmental benefits of wood heating as a virtually carbon neutral, entirely renewable, locally available and green energy source.
Our forests are a great Canadian resource and, when managed properly, are completely sustainable. Tonight I shall relax in front of my Ontario-built wood stove and give thanks for nature’s harvest, including my locally grown wood. The only thing my neighbours will be able to see coming from my chimney stack will be a faint heat shimmer.
Tony Gottschalk
Huntsville
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)