Today was my day to visit the Minnesota State Fair and is usually my time to see all the new stoves. Imagine my surprise when I could only find one pelletized fuel burner at the whole fair! Where are the manufacturers? Are products sold so far in advance that major customer venues can be overlooked? Or, is there the oposite problem? Are the manufacturers in tough shape after the last two years? Even though consumers are hearing reports of high energy prices, are they so short on money they aren't spending?

I don't have the answers, but I can tell you it was a hard to find an alternate fuel heating suplier at the Minnesota State Fair today.  The forecast is for a record jump in the price of conventional heating, and it was what I would call strangely quiet.

I got this letter and video links from my friend Andrew who got it from Greg David, one of the Jefferson County sustainability folks. He has put together a number of You Tube videos on thier efforts, including some from his participation in Sustainable Chequemegon. The videos show their efforts at producing hydrogen from wood pellets, even to the point of running an internal combustion engine.

I was talking to my neighbor Bill tonight, who has a job which requires him to sit in far too many meetings.  This last week though he was in a meeting with the county Forestry Department.  A topic of discussion at this past weeks meeting, it was reported that the paper mills, who usually provide considerable feedstock to the pellet manufacturers.  But, this year, perhaps due to slower paper sales, they are not providing as much.  And, this is causing a shortage at the pellet factories.  A couple of pellet manufactures are resorting to buying virgin timber to turn into pellets.  Obviously this makes for some more expensive final product.  I will try to track down some more details on this later in the week.

It could be a very good year to be burning pellets as the Minneapolis Star Tribune is reporting an Excel Energy warning that natural gas prices will be 30 to 50 percent higher this year. Of course home heating oil is anticipated to have more than doubled over last year.