Today's Enviro-Hokum! - Courtesy of TheWeather Network

Who Pays for This CRAP?

Today on the weather channel as I was waiting for my morning promise and update on impending global warming in my neighbourhood ... it was -32c and -45c with the wind chill .... I caught a bit of an information piece on the manufacture and use of pelletized waste wood.

This is a topic that's close to home for me as my main enterprise these days is in the development of environmental technologies and alternative fuels. And! I've looked at many versions of the pellet burning furnace , stove or heater and I have accumulated significant data on the economics of the systems.

So, the piece starts out by explaining where the wood products come from and that's usually waste from industry or construction. This is a good thing because it keeps usable biomass out of landfills.

Next they talked about the units being easy to use and maintain. Again mostly true but disposing of ash is still a messy job and a pain.

Next they started telling us how the units are economical to run. Where they started to lose me!

Then they went on to claim that they are environmentally friendly because they do not produce greenhouse gases. This is complete BS! Besides being scientifically wrong it is an absolutely stupid thing to claim!

Then they go on to claim that they are good for the environment because they replace hydro carbon as fuel. Again hugely stupid because in most regions where these heaters are even remotely economical the main heat source they are replacing is hydro electric. And secondly going back to how the waste wood is processed into pellets, the process of pelletization uses more energy than the pellets produce. That's right! Pellet manufacturers use more resources to make the things than the pellets can displace in the energy cycle!

Even if the raw material is FREE it costs more to make them than it costs to burn other fuels in heat production.

Never mind that most of the appliances that actually burn wood pellets are only marginally more efficient than a log burning appliance and that the rest are in no way any better!

The only possible way that pellet manufacturers and end users can profit from the use of the processed bio mass is if government subsidies are provided to offset the actual costs.

So in a nutshell the Weather Network is falsely promoting an alternative energy source by lying about it's benefits!

Thanks a lot Weather Network....are these guys publicly funded?

OMMAG