December 16, 2005

Wood pellets are this year's gold
By Raja Abdulrahim
Times Herald-Record

When the Rock Hill resident bought a wood pellet stove in September, thinking  she was buying a stove with less hassle, little did she know she was about to encounter a nationwide shortage of wood pellets. Caused by the rising prices for natural gas and heating oil, more and more people were seeking this alternative form of heat.

Turns out she wasn't the only one buying a pellet stove this year. In fact, from June through September, the shipment of wood and pellet stoves was up 100 percent from last year, said Leslie Wheeler, spokeswoman for the Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association.

Buying pellets, which are made of saw dust and look like rabbit food, turned out to be easier said than done. She contacted at least a dozen retailers and came out with only a few bags from one store, not nearly enough to take her through the winter until she turned to the internet.

Don Kaiser, executive director of the Pellet Fuels Institute, said there are 50 pellet mills in North America and all are scrambling to meet the high demand and running nearly 24 hours a day. But production capacity cannot be increased overnight, he said, and he couldn't tell when the shortage might end.

The New York State Consumer Protection Board predicts this unprecedented pellet shortage will continue until the spring - you know, when no one actually needs pellets anymore.

Next year, she plans to buy her pellets in March.

January 22, 2006

Now they're pinching pellets 
By Caroline D. Porter
Record-Journal Staff

Many New England homeowners have responded to the rising cost of oil and natural gas by buying wood-pellet stoves and bags of pellets to burn in them. But the cost of wood pellets is also going up.

Sales of wood-pellet stoves hit an all-time high in late 2005, according to Leslie Wheeler, director of communications for the Hearth Patio & Barbecue Association. The association, with headquarters in ArIington, Va., has local members... which sell wood pellets and pellet stoves. The pellets are made of compressed sawdust.

"There's an enormous demand for them," Wheeler said. "The association collects shipments to retailers. At the end of September, pellet-stove shipments were up 100 percent from the same quarter last year.

Factors contributing to the increase in demand for wood pellets and pellet stoves include the high cost of home heating oil and natural gas, the hurricanes hitting the Gulf Coast, and warnings that heating costs would go up, Wheeler said.

Manufacturers. and thus retailers. are facing a shortage of pellet stoves and pellets. One of the factors is a shortage of welders needed to manufacture the stoves.

Stoves may be on backorder," Wheeler said. "Nobody could have predicted that increase a year ago, as manufacturers are scheduling their production for the coming year. They came up short."