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Clean Warmth Services Newsletter

NEWSLETTER

May 6, 2008

After record-setting low temperatures this April, we are glad to be finally enjoying some warm weather.  Congratulations to those of you who have bought pellet stoves for the first time or have taken advantage of the great deals that became available this winter to upgrade your existing stove. With the ever-rising price of fossil-fuels, the pellet stove is fast becoming the heater of choice for many people in the Cowichan Valley and beyond.

 
Most pellet stove manufacturers recommend that a good cleaning and servicing be done when you shut down your stove for the summer. Please see our Maintenance page for more info. If you want us to do an annual service for you, please give us a call now and avoid the fall rush.

 
There were a couple of new pellet stoves introduced this past fall.  Enviro introduced the hard-working Maxx and Omega stoves-with 60 to 70, 000 BTU’s of heating power as well as the Milan, which is an attractive slim profile insert. See the Enviro link for more info.

 
We are pleased to announce that we now have a line of  high quality wood cookers  from Esse. These cookers have the durability and elegance of Grandma’s wood stove, with a lot less emissions. They work extremely well as a cooker and a heater with a viewing window. Please see our Esse link for more info.

 One of the recent developments in the “biofuel” industry has been the escalating cost of wheat and corn caused by the increase in production of  ethanol. As a result of  this, we discovered the Harman PC45 corn/pellet stove this winter. (Designed as a corn stove, but works great as a pellet stove, with less maintenance).  Here is a recent Associated Press article regarding this situation:

US, EU asked to reconsider biofuel goals as food prices rise

By AOIFE WHITE – 22 hours ago

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — The U.S. and European Union should reconsider a shift to biofuels that has helped increase food prices worldwide by turning agricultural land over to energy crops, American economist Jeffrey Sachs said Monday.

Targets to produce more fuels that release less carbon dioxide when burned "do not make sense now in a global food scarcity condition," Sachs, a special adviser to the United Nations, told reporters before he spoke to EU lawmakers at the European Parliament.

"In the United States, as much as one-third of the maize crop this year will go to the gas tank and this is a huge blow to the world food supply, so these programs should be cut back significantly," he said.

Top international food scientists recommended last month that the use of food-based biofuels, such as ethanol, be halted, saying that would cut corn prices by 20 percent during a world food crisis.

So far, the U.S. biofuel program has had more impact on food shortages, but Europe's plans to rapidly boost biofuel output in coming years would also start to bite, Sachs said.

"Neither of them makes much sense actually in terms of the environmental effect, the energy balance, or the food impact, so I would advocate a reconsideration of both under the new market conditions," he said.

European Commission spokesman Michael Mann insisted that biofuels were not a significant factor in pushing up food prices. More important are recent poor global harvests, growing food demand in Asia and export restrictions in Ukraine and Russia, he said.

"In Europe, we use less than 2 percent of our cereals production for biofuels, so their contribution to higher food prices is marginal, if not nonexistent," Mann said.

Mann said the EU did not expect replacing 10 percent of all transport fuel with biofuels by 2010 to affect future food prices because Europe planned to increase the amount of land under cultivation and use crop waste, such as straw, to make some biofuel to meet the target.

But Sachs insisted that biofuels in Europe were hitting the food supply to a "modest extent" because some wheat is turned into ethanol and "land is diverted from grains to rapeseed and other inputs for biodiesel."

The U.S. ethanol industry also rejects claims that biofuels are responsible for food price increases, saying ethanol — made from wheat and sugar cane — and other biofuels account for just 4 percent of the price surge.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture puts the figure closer to 20 percent.

Sachs, the director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, said it was unfair to blame financial speculators for soaring prices for basic foods such as wheat and rice.

"The fact inventories are very low, that food supply is more stagnant compared to food demand, gives a reason for speculators to try and buy and hold grains," he said.

Underlying problems — "a tight food supply and vulnerability to climate shocks" — need long-term solutions such as boosting aid to poorer nations to help them increase food production, he said.

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