From the Director's Desk:
Happy New Year
Welcome to 2022. The calendar flip finds the wood pellet industry managing through a lackluster winter all across pellet burning regions of the country. The PFI Index (now published on our homepage) shows slight improvement in accumulated Heating Degree Days in most geographies but still lagging long term averages. An artic air mass moved into Minnesota for the final week of the year and the forecast has a handful of days on it where the mercury will never climb above zero. Still, the entire state is lagging long term HDD averages, putting it right on trend with the rest of wood pellet land.
The Pellet Fuels Institute has its work cut out for it in 2022 and a combination of factors outlined in this edition of the Pellet Wire make that clear. I’ve included a story in the Industry News section that should get everyone’s attention. On January 4th, the Times Union of Albany reported that a state council charged with the task of making the state carbon-neutral by 2050 is recommending that state codes be amended to prohibit the installation of heating appliances that burn fossil fuels. The story then goes on to note that the same council has also set its sights on wood combustion (including pellets) citing particulate matter. While the story clarifies that the council isn’t currently considering a ban on wood heat, the implications are nevertheless sobering.
There is incredible momentum towards a decarbonization of our energy infrastructure and while those of us within the wood energy are well versed in the carbon benefits of wood energy, the Times Union story makes it clear that many groups spearheading the thinking on decarbonization approaches are either ignorant of the carbon benefits of wood pellets or remain unconvinced by the claims made by the broader wood energy sector.
We are on the right side of the decarbonization ledger, but stories like the one printed in the Times Union highlight the folly of trusting the policy wonks to fully understand our industry, the value we add to the forest products sector and the carbon benefit of wood heat without help.
We better get busy.
