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In this Week's Pellet Wire:
Executive Director's Notes: October 4, 2019
Is it really October? We are squarely in our busy season now as when this month ends most of the pellet burning parts of this country will be fully into the 2019-20 heating season. The questions regarding how this approaching heating season will unfold will begin to be answered over the course of the next four weeks.
It promises to be a busy month for our organization as we work towards our fall board meeting and fly-in scheduled for October 29 and 30. As a reminder, all PFI members are welcome at any board meeting. This fall we’re pairing our board meeting with some Hill visits. I finalized the agenda just last week and I’m thrilled. On Tuesday afternoon we’re hosting a series of conversations with association leadership from across the broader wood products supply chain. We’ll be joined by representatives from the Biomass Thermal Energy Council, Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association, Alliance for Green Heat, U.S. Small Business Administration, U.S. Forest Service, National Alliance of Forest Owners, Hardwood Federation and the National Wood Pallet and Container Association. The full agenda can be found here. I’d like to publicly thank everyone for making some time for our board. I’m confident this will be an enlightening afternoon and I’m looking forward to the discussion.
The Value We Add
As we approach our time together on Capitol Hill I’ve been thinking a lot about our industry’s “elevator pitch” that we’ll be asked to share with our elected representatives and their staffs. One item I’ve been spending some time on in the past handful of days is the value this industry brings to residue streams from upstream logging and forest products manufacturing sites. Earlier this week, I tweeted a graph that I built from EIA data for total residue expenditures for the first six months of 2019. Remember there are three residue categories and one roundwood category tracked and reported in the Monthly Densified Fuel Report. Through June, this industry has spent over $220 million on these residue streams. That’s a big number and one that I’m not sure gets enough press with policymakers and the general public. This morning I tabulated the numbers for all of 2018. The total spent on residuals in 2018 was over $360 million dollars. Our industry is a vital component of the forest products sector. Demand for these materials from our sector has turned a potential disposal cost into revenue and vital cash flow for our upstream partners. For me, this information must make it into our elevator pitch and broadens the appeal and value proposition of our sector.
Residual Expenditures by Pellet Manufacturers in 2018 (by category)
—Tim Portz
Executive Director
Send us Photos!
Photo of the Week
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We’re building a collection of photos of our members, their pellets mills and product. Send them to Carrie Annand at [email protected]. This week’s featured photo is from Tim Portz's visit to Indeck Ladysmith last year.
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Industry News
Northport school cuts costs, reduces air pollution emissions (Spokesman Review, Washington):
Thanks to a $400,000 grant from the state Department of Commerce, the students at Northport School will no longer need to wear overcoats in class.
On Thursday afternoon, Commerce Director Lisa Brown toured the campus, which now features a wood pellet boiler heating system that uses biomass, or renewable low-value wood products ...
Read Full Article
Beyond the rhetoric: wood heat and climate change (Vermont Biz):
Climate change is scientifically complex and politically fraught, yet very clear. Long-term data combined with local observation tell us that natural cycles are changing, and with significant effect ...
Read Full Article
Blending passion with flavor (Biomass Magazine):
Growth of the grilling pellet industry of the past few years has been momentous, with some pellet and grill manufacturers reporting triple-digit growth, but jumping into the game isn’t as easy as it might seem, Lisle points out. “It’s definitely a different world than heating pellets ...
Read Full Article
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