BTEC, RPG receive grant to promote biomass heating and cooling

ATLANTA, USA: The BTEC and the Resource Professional Group were awarded a $70,000 grant to promote energy cost savings and environmental improvement of commercial buildings by teaching architects and biomass appliance manufacturers about wood energy.

The Biomass Thermal Energy Council and the Resource Professional Group were awarded a $70,000 grant to promote energy cost savings and environmental improvement of commercial buildings by teaching architects and biomass appliance manufacturers about wood energy.

"Project partners BTEC and RPG will facilitate several meetings to bring together heating and cooling (HVAC) design experts with biomass energy equipment manufacturers to address concerns that have long-delayed broader market penetration of biomass energy in the United Sates," according to a press release from the BTEC.

Although $70,000 doesn't sound like much when you see the millions and billions of dollars funding wind and solar energy projects, I think this demonstrates more practical renewable energy applications. It is definitely something that businesses and commercial building owners can take advantage of immediately.

The project was influenced by a study called the "Report of Key Findings: Architects and Energy Professionals-The Missing Link in Wood Energy." Eighty percent of the HVAC designers who responded to the WERC-funded study said they saw woody biomass use as a way to produce energy efficiently, but they had concerns about emissions, resource protection, system reliability and operation convenience. The project is designed to address those concerns by bringing manufacturers and HVAC engineers together.

A library of publications and a stakeholder database will be created and will be available to the public. A webinar and final report will also be included in the study.

The project is being funded by the U.S. Forest Service's Wood Education and Resource Center. The WERC also provided BTEC with a grant so that it could provide free educational webinars to its members, which are held in cooperation with the US Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration and the Alliance for Clean Heat.