Report from Heat NE - Biomass Conference

[webbie]

Just returned from the conference - enjoyed myself meeting some old industry friends and some new Hearth.com folks!

Here are some pics......
I'm going to move this thread to the Pellet and Boiler Rooms (cross-post somehow) since it related to all.

 

[webbie]

Note - this conference was put on by a coalition of groups which promote the use of CLEAN biomass for heating uses. The focus is on the Northeast Region of the US - but many of the subjects are relevant to other parts of the US.
Here is a business wire PR release with many of the relevant links:
http://www.environmental-expert.com/resultEachPressRelease.aspx?cid=28518&codi=165064

One thing our readers should understand is that this is not a "chuck a log" group. They are quite sophisticated in their approach to education, technology, planning, government relations and all the other pieces of the complex pie which must be baked in order for their long term vision to succeed.

And what is their long term vision?
Here is the short answer- but this is backed up by quite a bit of research:
"We, the five proposing organizations, call for an American Revolution to domestically produce the thermal energy consumed in the six New England states and New York. We propose that 25% of all thermal energy requirements in the Northeast are met with renewable energy resources by the year 2025. This shift in our sources for thermal energy will produce extraordinary economic, social and environmental benefits for the region, which currently relies on fossil fuel for 96% of its thermal energy. Furthermore, we call for three quarters of the renewable energy to come from sustainably produced biomass from forest and farm resources transformed into heat with clean and efficient technology, and for solar and geothermal technologies to provide the balance. Today, renewable energy accounts for 4.3% of the total thermal energy sources for the region, and forest biomass (wood) comprises 96% of all renewable thermal energy in the region."

A Grand Plan, to be sure.

 

[webbie]

I was honored to be invited to sit on the closing panel which discussed the Grand Plan (the Vision). Each of the six panelist had to give a short introduction or critique of the Vision, however I decided that the audience had heard enough of the specifics, and therefore planned to just tell a story....those who read my blog may recognize part of it. Here's the story, because I hate to just use words once!

-----------------story start------------------
As many of you know, the 40th anniversary of Earth Day has just passed. While many of us here might consider that milestone to be quaint, there is another side to the story which might help express how I feel about this vision and the alignment of our mutual interests.

I was 16 years old when the first Earth Day happened - it was Spring of 1970, and the celebration was to to be held at Belmont Plateau, a large hillside in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia. Of course, I had no idea what it was really about, but there were advertisments and annoucements all over the local radio stations - and some good rock bands were playing, so I planned to attend.

It was a beautiful afternoon and over 15,000 people were in attendance. The headline bands did some really nice sets, and then the Speakers took the stage. Among the speakers that day were Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine, one of the first well known politicians to address clean air, water and energy on the national stage. However, I was too young and naive to be impressed much by the words of a politician.

However, soon after Muskie left the stage another speaker came up who I think said it best.

The man who was led up to the stage looked like a character out of a storybook. He had long grey hair, a scraggly beard and tattered clothes which today we might call Homeless Garb. He was introduced as the Hermit of Fairmount Park.

He took the mike - and looked at us and started crying. He said "Children, this is the day I have waited for my entire life - the day when people started to understand what they have been doing to the world, and the time they started down the path of realizing that we live as one with the natural world"....
With that, he left the stage - and I found tears welling up in my own eyes.

And so, reflecting on that Hermit and the Vision laid out today by our kind hosts, I say "This is the day that we start on the path of our own, doing our part in the Arena of Renewable Energy, to continue on that same path of living more in harmony with the natural world".
------------------end story----------------

 

[webbie]

Immediately following the closing session, one attendee came up to me holding out his smart phone with a headline on it! The headline was that the Cape Wind Project had been approved by the US Government - and the attendee was inspired because the headline arrived on his phone at the very second I was giving the punch line of my little story!

Who says there is no such thing as vibes? Have we reached a tipping point? Stay tuned.