All Installations are operational

We are glad to report that all of our installations are operational.
The outside hydronic furnace at the Jewett Town Garage went on line October 19 2010.
This follows the successful fire up at Brookside Hardware that coincided with our Fall open house on Oct 9 2010. The open house included in addition to the Brookside site in Margretville, The Catskill Center in Arkville and The Andes Town Garage in Andes.

The implementation of this project was much more challenging and drawn out than anyone had expected. The biggest challenge was arranging for installation especially the outside furnaces which required various levels of plumbing complexity. The variety of locations required systems specifically tailored to the type of building and to supplement the existing heating systems that were in place. Some older buildings had hydronic gas or oil furnaces using water to air convectors. The new outside furnaces were plumbed into the existing systems. Two sites are hot air systems that required stand alone hot water to air convectors hung from the ceilings. The installation in Andes was in a newly constructed building which utilizes in floor radiant heat. At this site the outside pellet Furnace is fully integrated to supplement the new heating system.

The inside pellet stoves were much easier to install, only requiring a four inch exhaust pipe to the outside.

More on the demonstration sites can be found on the Delaware CCE web site.Click on the link below to get to the site then hover on the Agriculture and Natural Resources and slide down to the Catskill Grass Energy Project tab and you will find information on the project.

Click here

Biomass technology would bring jobs to area

Letter published in Sunday Binghamton Press

By Rance Brode • October 17, 2010, 12:00 am

Hydraulic fracturing is an unacceptable risk to our environment and way of life. We are fortunate to live in an area basically free from natural disaster threats such as hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and flooding. Why create our own manmade threat?

New York state and our local communities should instead focus their efforts on establishing upstate New York as the leader in biomass technologies to create our own renewable energy source. This would greatly promote the agriculture and lumber industries in producing the wide variety of vegetation that can be converted to various forms of energy and fuels.

We should promote and establish the manufacturing of biomass equipment in upstate New York, ranging from large industrial to small home use. Our high-tech companies and universities should focus on the development of this quickly evolving technology. (Lockheed Martin in Owego already is using this technology themselves and will soon be providing it to a customer.)

My vision is that all jobs related to this renewable energy source, including growing the necessary crops, manufacturing, building, operating and sustaining the necessary equipment and facilities, researching and evolving the technology, would remain in upstate New York.

The only thing that will stop our migration of shopping to the far less taxed state of Pennsylvania is when they have polluted their land and water beyond repair. I clearly hope this does not happen, but I do not believe we should assume the risk they have when there is a far more safe, prosperous and renewable way to proceed.

Grass Energy in the Northeast

New York Biomass Energy Alliance Has recently launched a new Blog to cover news and innovation in grass energy in the northeast. Grass bio mass has started to gain traction in the Northeast of late.

Click on the link to explore the new blog

Grass Energy

Grass BioEnergy Project open house

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Delaware County will hold a Catskill Grass BioEnergy Project open house on Saturday, October 9^th in various locations in the area. The open house is designed to provide consumers more information on the use of grass pellets for residential and small business heating, and to view commercially available stove/furnaces that work well with grass pellets in operation. From 10 am to 12 pm an indoor pellet stove will be demonstrated at the Catskill Center (state rt. 28. Arkville), and an outdoor pellet furnace at the Brookside Hardware (State Rt. 28 Margaretville). Staff will be available at both sites to answer questions. From 1pm to 3 pm two different indoor and outdoor units will be demonstrated at the Town of Andes Highway Garage (Delaware County Rt. 1). The Catskill Grass BioEnergy Project is a collaborative effort between the Catskill Watershed Corporation, Cornell University and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Delaware County.