Board of Directors
John Ackerly
Alliance for Green Heat
Lily Donge
Calvert Asset Management
Company, Inc.
Nick Salafsky
Foundations of Success
Jon Strimling
Woodpellets.com
Advisory Board
David Ackerly
UC-Berkeley
Gillian Caldwell
1Sky
Gary Dodge
Forest Stewardship
Council—U.S.
Josh Elmore
Lighthouse Solar
Michael Green
Center for Environmental
Health
John Gulland
The Wood Heat
Organization
Eric Kessler
Family Alliance
Foundation
Steve Nadel
American Council for an
Energy-Efficient Economy
Charlie Niebling
New England Wood Pellets
Organizations for identification
purposes only
Analysis of Biomass Provisions in the Senators Snowe – Bingaman
Discussion Draft to Modify the Internal Revenue Code of 1986
for the tax credit for residential energy property
Summary
The Alliance for Green Heat applauds Senators Snowe and Bingaman for this
discussion draft which raises the tax credit to $3,000 for heating units. Biomass
stoves are a mainstay for helping working families across America reduce their
fossil fuel use and affordably heat their homes. We believe that the eligibility
requirements should be simplified and only require that stoves be 75% efficient
using the lower heating value, and they emit no more than 3.0 grams per hour.
Requiring stoves to meet such a strict emissions test will be the first time that such a
low emission threshold is used in any state or federal incentive program and is a
major step forward in promoting only the cleanest and most efficient stoves.
Background
The Snowe-Bingaman discussion draft would extend the individual 30%, up to
$1,500 tax credit for energy efficiency measures under the Internal Revenue Code
that expires on Dec. 31, 2010.
During 2009 and 2010, biomass appliances were eligible for the tax credit and the
only restriction was units had to have a thermal efficiency rating of at least 75% as
measured using a lower heating value. Almost all stoves being produced in
America are able to claim 75% efficiency because there were few guidelines on
how that 75% could be achieved.
The Snowe-Bingaman Proposal
The Snowe-Bingaman discussion draft would double the maximum tax credit based
on the expense of high efficiency heating systems. Thus, biomass heaters could get
30% up to $3,000. Biomass heaters would have to meet a series of somewhat
confusing requirements, including:
1. Meets at least 75 percent of the heating demands of the home,
2. Replaces an existing stove with a stove that is EPA-certified, certifying that
the old stove has been removed and made inoperable,
3. Has a distribution system (such as ducts, vents, blowers, or affixed fans) that
allows heat from the stove, furnace, or boiler to reach all or most parts of the
unit,
4. Is independently tested to have a thermal efficiency rating of 75% for stoves and 80% for boilers
using a lower heating value, and
5. Emits less than 3.0 grams of particulates per hour for stoves, and less than 0.32 lbs per million
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BTU for outdoor boilers and furnaces.
Analysis and Recommendations
The federal tax credit provided an important incentive for modern wood and pellet stoves which are used
extensively by rural, low and middle income families to provide affordable and reliable heat.
1. Increasing the tax credit: The increased credit level of $3,000 would provide an incentive large
enough to allow families to buy larger stoves and boilers that easily meet 100% of a home’s
heating needs and displace 100% of the fossil fuels previously used.
2. Existing stove requirement: The requirement that you already have to own a wood stove should
be removed. While that serves a good role – to get older stoves off the market – it means that
working families who really need this credit, can’t take advantage of it unless they already have
a stove. At a minimum, the requirement should only apply to wood, and not pellet, stoves.
3. Home heating needs: The requirement that the stove or boiler has to meet 75% of a home’s
heating needs is unnecessary and should be removed. Even small stoves that can only effectively
heat one or two rooms are very valuable and cost efficient for reducing fossil heating fuel usage.
Moreover, this requirement would add costly burdensome paperwork and analysis to determine
if the stove met the requirement.
4. Distribution system: The requirement that the stove or the house have a distribution system
should also be removed. Many stoves and homes have distribution systems, but stoves are often
very effective at distributing heat in open floor plans without distribution systems. Fans in pellet
stoves or on the back of wood stoves do not necessarily help heat get even into the next room.
5. Stove Emissions: The emission threshold of 3.0 grams per hour is an excellent requirement and
in our analysis gets to the core of what needs to be regulated in wood stoves – and what should
be incentivized by a tax credit. This requirement will cut out an estimated 50% – 65% of all
wood stoves, leaving only the cleanest and most efficient. It will only cut out an estimated 20%
– 30% of pellet stoves since they are much cleaner to start with. Almost all the all the major
stove brands have at least 3 models that emit under 3 grams an hour: Blaze King (WA), Buck
Stove (NC), Country Flame (MN), England’s Stove (VA) Harman (PA), Hearthsonte (VT), Jotul
(ME), Lennox (CA), Vermont Casting (VT/KY), Quadrafire (WA), Travis (WA), US Stove
Company (TN) and Woodstock Soapstone (NH).
6. Boiler emissions: Adding the requirement that outdoor boilers emit no more than .32 pounds per
million BTU is a good one, and if anything could be strengthened.
7. Efficiency: While we support the third party tested 75% efficiency for stoves, we believe boilers
should have to be 85% efficient, using lower heating value.
The Alliance for Green Heat promotes clean, high efficiency biomass heating as a low carbon, affordable
solution for America. The Alliance is an independent, national non-profit and tax-exempt organization based in
Takoma Park, Maryland.