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What is the second fastest growing renewable energy industry in the world? Wind, solar?
Nope. It's wood.
Wood pellets to be exact. The wood pellet market is growing at 20 percent a year, and that does not even include China!
You may have seen these little jewels if you have a friend with a pellet stove. Densified wood pellets are changing the entire wood products industry, and can help us in Nevada County too.
Wood pellets are made by putting woody biomass into hammer mill which produces a dough like mass. This mass is then
pressed into a mold. The heat during compression melts the lignin in the wood which acts like a kind of glue, making the whole thing stick together.
The mass comes out looking like a miniature Presto Log the thickness of about a pencil, which is then cut into standard lengths, typically about half an inch.
Wood pellets are considered a renewable energy source because wood grows back. Pellets also are considered carbon neutral (with admittedly arguable logic). The theory being that the trees took the carbon out, and when you burn them, you're just putting the same carbon back, so it's a wash. Also, because the pellets are identified, they pack more btu per ton than cord wood.
All this is nice for “greenness,” but the actual force driving this market growth is the fact the European Union has mandated that 20 percent of EU energy must come from renewable energy sources by 2020, and industries which do not achieve this objective receive economic penalties; imagine energy policy with teeth.
Densified wood pellets are the cheapest renewable energy source available for the EU, and they are using it for utility scale boilers, commercial boilers, residential heating and adding it to coal plants as well.
The EU policy created a market, and a new industry has grown up to support that market. This new industry is already having an impact in California, and soon it will impact Nevada County.
The German firm Enligna recently was awarded a permit to build a wood pellet facility in West Sacramento which will produce 170,000 tons of pellets destined for foreign markets and employ 35 people. This firm has been inquiring about the local supply of biomass to feed their facility.
The results of research conducted by the North Sierra Biomass Utilization Task Force indicates that a densified pellet and brick facility could work in Nevada County, if it can be constructed in conjunction with a facility which produces heat and electricity, such as the power plant in Loyalton or a newer technology.
If this combined facility can operate without subsidies, pay its own way, and still pay $60 a bone dry ton (bdt) then we will have opened the way for sustainable economic growth, jobs and a strong position for Nevada County moving into the 21st century.
Keith Logan is the owner of Logan and Associates, a sustainability consulting firm in Nevada County. He can be reached at (530) 913-4720 or loganandassociates@gmail.com.
Nope. It's wood.
Wood pellets to be exact. The wood pellet market is growing at 20 percent a year, and that does not even include China!
You may have seen these little jewels if you have a friend with a pellet stove. Densified wood pellets are changing the entire wood products industry, and can help us in Nevada County too.
Wood pellets are made by putting woody biomass into hammer mill which produces a dough like mass. This mass is then
pressed into a mold. The heat during compression melts the lignin in the wood which acts like a kind of glue, making the whole thing stick together.
The mass comes out looking like a miniature Presto Log the thickness of about a pencil, which is then cut into standard lengths, typically about half an inch.
Wood pellets are considered a renewable energy source because wood grows back. Pellets also are considered carbon neutral (with admittedly arguable logic). The theory being that the trees took the carbon out, and when you burn them, you're just putting the same carbon back, so it's a wash. Also, because the pellets are identified, they pack more btu per ton than cord wood.
All this is nice for “greenness,” but the actual force driving this market growth is the fact the European Union has mandated that 20 percent of EU energy must come from renewable energy sources by 2020, and industries which do not achieve this objective receive economic penalties; imagine energy policy with teeth.
Densified wood pellets are the cheapest renewable energy source available for the EU, and they are using it for utility scale boilers, commercial boilers, residential heating and adding it to coal plants as well.
The EU policy created a market, and a new industry has grown up to support that market. This new industry is already having an impact in California, and soon it will impact Nevada County.
The German firm Enligna recently was awarded a permit to build a wood pellet facility in West Sacramento which will produce 170,000 tons of pellets destined for foreign markets and employ 35 people. This firm has been inquiring about the local supply of biomass to feed their facility.
The results of research conducted by the North Sierra Biomass Utilization Task Force indicates that a densified pellet and brick facility could work in Nevada County, if it can be constructed in conjunction with a facility which produces heat and electricity, such as the power plant in Loyalton or a newer technology.
If this combined facility can operate without subsidies, pay its own way, and still pay $60 a bone dry ton (bdt) then we will have opened the way for sustainable economic growth, jobs and a strong position for Nevada County moving into the 21st century.
Keith Logan is the owner of Logan and Associates, a sustainability consulting firm in Nevada County. He can be reached at (530) 913-4720 or loganandassociates@gmail.com.
