A new incentive helps Vermonters who are still heating with coal to switch to renewable energy.
The program, designed by the Clean Energy Development Fund, pays 50% of the cost of installing advanced wood heat boilers and furnaces. Residents are eligible for up to $7,000, and businesses can receive up to $27,000 toward the change.
While some are shocked that some Vermonters still burn coal, for others, it’s a way of life. Andrew Perchlik, director of the Clean Energy Development Fund, said he was surprised when he learned there were businesses and individuals still heating with coal.
Perchlik said he spoke to some people who were eager to change what they saw as an antiquated and unclean heating system, but others have a longstanding commitment to coal. Perchlik worked on designing an incentive for people who wanted to switch their heating, but were facing a big bill.
Businesses still using coal have concerns about where they’ll be able to buy it in the future. “We want to make sure they switch to a local, renewable fuel,” said Perchlik, who promotes advanced wood heat — efficient wood chip and wood pellet boilers and furnaces. These fuels can be obtained locally from trees grown in Vermont.
According to Perchlik, 80 cents of every dollar spent on fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas leaves the state. With locally grown wood, the money remains in Vermont, where it supports the local economy through the purchase of fuel and delivery services. Burning wood also aligns with the department’s climate and environmental goals, reducing fossil fuel emissions.
Even with assistance, not everyone wants to switch.
“You will pry my coal stove from my dead fingers” summed up the response Perchlik got from some coal burners. But, whether they’re devoted or not, he said, coal is a dying industry. “I don’t think it’s going to be a reliable fuel to get a hold of in the future,” he said.
‘Young people don’t have any interest’
As fewer people buy coal, it’s harder for companies who provide it to stay in business. Ted Chabott — based in Keene, N.H., just 15 miles from the Vermont border — had been selling and delivering coal for 50 years, as well as repairing old boilers and stokers when they broke down. His father had purchased the family business in 1949.
But in recent years, Chabott said, he was steadily losing business. Longtime customers were dying off, he said, and “young people don’t have any interest in burning coal.”
Two years ago, Chabott lost his last two commercial accounts. One was a building in Brattleboro with five stores downstairs and 30 apartments on the upper stories. The building burned 40 tons of coal a year, according to Chabott.
The other was an apartment building in Putney that burned about 20 tons of coal a year. Both of those commercial accounts switched to burning oil, after installing new heating systems.
In June, Chabott decided to close his company for good.
“I still like delivering coal, but as the customers die down it’s not worth it anymore,” he said. He still had 20 customers, he said, but most were ready to switch to gas or pellet stoves.
Oh, those pails of ash
As the coal industry burns out, people turn to alternatives, and wood is one of them.
“There’s controversy over it,” said Jim Van Valkenburgh, who works at Froling Energy, a Keene business that specializes in wood heat systems. Some go as far as calling trees the new coal, but Van Valkenburgh says that isn’t a fair comparison.
“We’re using forests in a sensible way, a renewable way that has continued for decades,” he said.
For Valkenburgh, burning fossil fuels is a “dead-end street,” and burning coal also involves a lot of work. A coal boiler needs to be fed coal on a regular basis so it burns continuously, and pails of ash have to be hauled out by hand.
That was David Mishkin’s problem with the coal boiler that he used to use to heat his log cabin in Moretown.
“Most people who burn fossil fuels don’t have to think about it,” Mishkin said. “I was knee-deep in it.”
Mishkin applied to the coal change-over program and is “very excited” to use a new wood-pellet boiler this winter. Mishkin and his wife bought the home in 2017, and it came with a coal boiler that the previous owner had installed in 2011.
“The worst part about the coal was emptying the ash bucket and loading the hopper,” Mishkin said. In the winter, he said, “we couldn’t leave the house for more than a day or two without this thing going out.”
That’s a problem for businesses that heat with coal, too. When Sam Hooper bought Vermont Glove in 2018, the 1920s manufacturing building came with a coal boiler that required a lot of labor.
“We had to dump the ash bucket every morning and night. No matter whether it was the weekend,” he said. Plus, there was coal soot in the building, and Hooper worried about the health of his employees.
The building was cold and coal was expensive, costing Vermont Glove about $14,000 a year for 28 tons of coal. After a switch to a wood pellet boiler, the cost is down to $3,500 to $4,000 a year.
Changing over to cleaner heat was a big expense for a business that lives “hand to mouth,” Hooper said, but he expects to see a return on investment of about $50,000 within three to four years after installation.
Vermont Glove worked with the state to secure grant money and other incentives to help cover some costs of the wood-pellet boiler, and based partially on the success of the changeover, the state continues to look for incentives for businesses and individuals to change out coal heaters.
“We’re so much happier now,” Hooper said.
Stephen Dotson, Brattleboro’s sustainability coordinator, said the timing of the incentive program might present a challenge for businesses that have to prioritize spending to keep buildings in compliance with Covid recommendations. Right now, he said, “financing things feels very precarious,” especially for businesses such as multi-unit buildings that are cash-poor to begin with.
The coal change-out program runs until next June, or until the money runs out.
Interested applicants can contact Phoebe Howe at 802-540-7855 or phowe@veic.org.
