On the Bright Side: Open House Set for Pellet Project
March 7, 2009
An article about the three-year pilot Delaware County Grass Bio-Energy Project appears in the March 7th edition of The Daily Star and discusses Enviro Energy’s important contribution.
“…Kiraly said the local project became possible when Bob and May Miller of Franklin, owners of EnviroEnergy LLC in Wells Bridge, purchased equipment to make grass pellets.
The Millers have been purchasing hay from Delaware and Otsego County farmers in a 40-mile radius. They then grind and pelletize it, selling it by the bag to homeowners who primarily used wood pellets in their pellet stoves….”
To read the full article, please click here.
We at Enviro Energy are very pleased to be a part of such an exciting program, and we will continue to keep everyone updated as it progresses.
Sharing Our Experience
February 18, 2009
We at Enviro Energy would like to thank the following organizations for inviting us to present our idea of manufacturing grass pellets and to share our experiences, for better or for worse, thus far on our journey.
- Franklin Rotary Club
- Oneonta Lions Club
- Oneonta Kiwanis Club
- Unadilla Rotary Club
Plan Ahead & Help Our Feathered Friends Too!
February 11, 2009
We recently received an email from Joe B. and with his permission we wanted to pass along his very helpful information. . .
“I manage nature preserves for a living, including some meadows. One of the major reasons for conserving meadows in this region is for grassland birds, which are in decline nationally. I think that your organization should mention grassland bird conservation as another benefit of mowing fields for grass pellets. However, the timing of mowing is critical for grassland birds. If you mow too early (which many people do), then you can disrupt and destroy grassland bird nests and young.
As a general rule for this region, it is best to mow after August 1. You mention wanting to purchase August hay. Perhaps your site could promote a first mowing in August as a best management practice that provides environmental benefits. See the Massachusetts Audubon site for a good overview of this issue http://www.massaudubon.org/Birds_and_Birding/grassland/small.php ”
We at Enviro Energy thank Joe for taking the time to review our website and for passing along another very good reason to plan ahead now and help our very important feathered friends too! We need August-cut hay to make our pellets, and now is a great time to start thinking about the upcoming season.
Thanks Joe!
EE Family
The Catskill Grass Bio-Energy Project
February 6, 2009
Enviro Energy LLC is pleased to support, and participate in, the Catskill Grass Bio-Energy Project, formerly known as the Delaware County Grass Bio-Energy Project, developed by the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Delaware County in partnership with the Catskill Watershed Corporation, the Delaware County Department of Economic Development, and Cornell University.
In an effort facilitate the development of a local grass bio-energy system, this distinguished group is developing a “production to consumption” grass bio-energy pilot project. The basics of this program are as follows:
- To work with farmers to produce and test grass biomass feedstock suitable for combustion purposes. This is not hard, but requires some different management techniques.
- To work with local grass biomass processors, in particular EnviroEnergy LLC of Franklin NY to produce and test grass biomass pellets
- To test and demonstrate bulk delivery and on site handling of grass pellets
- To install, research, and demonstrate residential and small business/municipality scale combustion technologies (pellet stoves and outdoor boilers) that are known to work with grass pellets. This will include a variety of technologies as they emerge in the next 3 years.
Please Click Here to open the The Delaware County Grass Bio-Energy Project Fact Sheet provided by the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Delaware County.
Please Click here to go to the Cornell University Cooperative Extension of Delaware County website.
Enviro Energy’s Pellet Testing
November 25, 2008
In early November we contacted a group of local folks that expressed interest in our pellets to ask them if they would be interested in testing a few bags of our pellets in their own homes. We are so grateful to all those that participated and are very happy to have had so many interested in doing so.
Along with 2 or 3 bags of our pellets, our testers left with a simple fact sheet attached to a questionnaire, that both we and they will find helpful, provided by our friends at the Cooperative Extension.
While we have not received feedback from all our testers, the feedback we have received so far has been very helpful and informative. Below are excerpts from just a few:
“I tried out your grass pellets this week. Here’s my feedback- burning them alone is difficult…. they ignite at a much slower pace than wood. … i found out if you mix the pellets at 70% wood to 30% grass it helps a lot. There is a lot of ash but the auger can handle it on a setting of 2. using the wood pellets to them does help with the amount of ash… I’m think about trying them in my fireplace. They make a basket you load pellets into. Seeing they seem to burn slower it may work perfect for that. Thank you for offering a new alternative to oil and making it locally. Dwight”
We do not know the brand of stove that Dwight has. While we have found that several original wood pellet stove brands do handle burning grass pellets well, we are aware that some stoves intended to burn wood pellets only, will not handle the ash from grass pellets properly. From our feedback we have found that stoves made for multi-fuel work best. We may have corrected your slow ignition problem by making a lower moisture pellet. Some folks are changing the air flow to their stoves for more success. Thanks for your feedback.
“I picked up a bag of grass pellets from you. I found them to burn in my stove the same as wood pellets. They did not break up or cause any problems. My stove is set up to burn all kinds of free flowing product, corn, commercial pellets and wheat. I think you are the right track! Leslie”
Thank you Leslie for the feedback , and for testing our pellets. Indeed, with a multi-fuel stove such as yours, we expected you to have a good amount of success. Thanks again for participating!
“I tested a few bags of your pellets and wanted you to know that I was concerned about burning grass pellets because my daughter has severe allergies to hay. Well, I am pleased to tell you that my daughter had no problems what so ever and the pellets burned just fine”
Thank you so much for the feedback and we are so happy that your daughter had no ill effects from the grass pellets. This is such an important piece of feedback for us and for potential consumers.
And finally, we at Enviro Energy have been burning/testing our own pellets in our outdoor boiler. We have had great success, even using our experimental “cast offs.” The boiler is burning the pellets very well. Even more interesting is that there is no smoke emitted from the boiler. In fact, the gentleman that installed our boiler dropped in one day and asked why we were not using the boiler. We asked why he would ask that since it has been continuously used. He said he had driven by several times and never saw any smoke coming from the stack[pipe?], so he finally had to stop to see if there were any problems! Nope, no problems at all with the boiler or the pellets!
We will keep adding the feedback from our testers as we receive it, so please check back to read about our progress.
All of us at Enviro Energy extend our sincere appreciation to all our testers and we look forward to receiving more feedback. We are still perfecting the formula and continue to work on improving Enviro Energy grass pellets every day.
Our family wishes everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving and a joyous holiday season.
Our Farmers Are Delivering
September 11, 2008
Enviro Energy is excited to announce that our local Farmers and Landowners have answered our call for baled, poor quality, AUGUST cut hay!
Our need for for this crop will continue to grow, as the consumer demand for alternative heat sources is increasing daily. If you want to discuss how we can work together, please give us a call at 607-829-3183 or 829-8372.
Enviro Energy in The Daily Star
August 21, 2008
An article about Enviro Energy LLC is in the August 21, 2008, edition of The Daily Star!
” ‘With the price of oil, we feel it’s only going to get better,’ Willis said, and the Millers’ project will benefit Delaware County residents, farmers, loggers and the local economy….”
Please view the full article at http://www.thedailystar.com/local/local_story_234040028.html
Pellet Supply/Demand – The Daily Star
August 21, 2008
In the August 21 edition of The Daily Star an interesting article discussing the supply and demand of pellet heat and pellet stoves is featured.
“The high price of oil has driven demand for pellet stoves, according to area stove retailers.
But the pellets to fuel the stoves are in short supply, and a leading pellet supplier is advising consumers to limit their purchases…..”
Please read the full article at http://www.thedailystar.com/local/local_story_234040030.html
Manufacturing & Office Building UP!
July 29, 2008
We are excited to announce that our 4,000 sq. ft. building on NYS Rt. 7 in Wells Bride is up!
The concrete floor is being poured today, and the manufacturing equipment is being moved.
We anticipate being able to accept round baled hay or large square bales at our Wells Bridge, New York site after August 18, 2008, and plan on having wood and grass pellets for sale at our Wells Bridge facility by Sept/Oct 2008.
If you are interested in selling your hay to Enviro Energy, carrying Enviro Energy Fuel Pellets in your store, or purchasing our product for your home heating needs, please give us a call after August 18 at 607-829-3183 or 829-8372 or fill out our contact form.
Check back at www.enviroenergyny.com often as we will keep everyone posted on our progress!
Enviro Energy Launchs Web Site!
July 29, 2008
We are please to announce that Enviro Energy LLC has launched their web site – www.enviroenergyny.com!
Our goal is to provide information about pellet fuel in general, and grass pellets in particular.
We believe that grass pellets create a new opportunity for farmers/landowners and homeowners. For the Farmer/Landowner, we are providing a viable market for severely weather damaged hay crops and hay crops that are not high quality enough for traditional uses. This allows our farmers to increase the use of their existing equipment, increase the sustainability of their land, and maintain their beautiful open spaces.
For the homeowner we are providing a new type of pellet fuel that is environmentally friendly, cost effective, and allows its consumers to support the ideas of maintaining open spaces, contributing to the local economies, reducing harmful emmissions, and lessening our dependance on fossil fuels.
We would love to hear your thoughts on this new fuel…the FUTURE of heat!
May, Bob, Mike and Mary Lou – The Enviro Energy Family