DOE Selects 6 Projects to Advance Wood Heater Innovation and Reduce Wood Heater Pollution

The U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) announced at the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Expo in Nashville, Tennessee, up to $2 million in Phase 1 funding for six projects to accelerate wood heater innovation and develop the next generation of efficient and clean wood heaters. Funded by BETO and administered by Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), the Wood Heater Innovation Collaboration (WHIC) will oversee the FY23 Wood Heater Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), and leverage their unique expertise to work with award recipients to develop and validate innovative wood heater technologies.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, millions of U.S. households use wood heater technology for home heat, and it remains a vital way to affordably heat homes with a low-carbon renewable fuel. To ensure that wood heating continues as a renewable energy option, this CRADA funding will help the wood heater industry accelerate the modernization of wood heating stoves to be cleaner, more efficient and have the potential to reduce the national costs associated with thermal energy.

The following projects were selected:
Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association will work with LBNL to evaluate the performance of particulate matter sensor technologies to cost effectively quantify emissions from wood heaters in the lab and in-situ.
Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association will also work with LBNL to develop a wood stove draft prediction tool to guide manufacturers and installers on wood heater or chimney parameters.
ISB Marketing Inc., in conjunction with Stove Builder International, will work with BNL on a thermal storage solution for wood stoves providing constant heat output in an ideal thermal range.
Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM) will work with BNL to develop and verify a portable flue gas sampling dilution for use in the field to assess wood heater emissions.
One World Resource Management, in conjunction with OekoSolve, will work with BNL to demonstrate the efficiency and market readiness of an electrostatic precipitator retrofit technology to reduce wood heater emissions.
Smokeless Chimney will work with LBNL to optimize and validate an opacity emissions sensor to inform a wood stove air supply controller.

The WHIC is a BETO-funded consortium of National Laboratories (BNL and LBNL) dedicated to accelerating clean wood heater technologies to improve air quality and support energy justice. The goal of WHIC is to enable U.S. wood heater manufacturers and researchers to leverage WHIC partner laboratory capabilities to advance or accelerate commercial readiness of their technologies.