The Biomass Thermal Energy Council, established in 2008, is an association of informed stakeholders seeking to promote the responsible use of renewable, biogenic heating fuels in both residential and commercial applications.
We are now “doing business as” the BioThermal Energy Council, in order to emphasize our desire to work together with all other renewable energy groups to find common ground in support of all renewable energy technologies.
The mission of the Council is to both promote and facilitate the use of biogenically-derived heating fuel as well as to ensure its ongoing market eligibility. Activities include active communication with government organizations, particularly with the U.S. Congress regarding an improved “BTU Act”, with aligning trade associations, and with environmental NGOs to ensure a science-based understanding of the facts. The Council will also undertake a strong public relations campaign to demonstrate to the general public, elected officials, and regulators the carbon accounting of biogenic heating, as well as the scale and chain of custody of clean waste wood fuel as it relates to sustainable land management, low-carbon construction for mitigating climate change.
Massachusetts Forest Alliance
Jonathan Parrott, PhD, a graduate of Saint Lawrence University and UMass Amherst, is a licensed forester and ISA certified arborist who has taught forestry and worked in the public sector, where he collaborated to establish the Alternative Portfolio Standard at the Massachusetts DOER. He currently serves on a number of Boards including the Massachusetts Forest Alliance and is the Director of Safety and Education at Northern Tree Service in Palmer Massachusetts. He lives with his wife and daughter in Chesterfield MA where they raise Scottish Highland Cattle at Flat Rock Farm.
Maine Energy Systems
Les Otten has been a leader and innovator throughout his nearly five-decade entrepreneurial career including business, tourism, alternative energy, community development, and philanthropy. In 2008 Les directed his energy and passion to the renewable energy sector and founded Maine Energy Systems, the premier assembler and distributor of the most efficient, cleanest, state-of-the-art wood pellet heating systems in North America. Les is passionate about modern wood heating and the impact of reducing our heating carbon footprint.
Lignetics
Frank Kvietok is the Senior Director of Innovation at Lignetics, where he also heads up Government Affairs. A graduate of Cornell with a Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Colorado Boulder, he has 25 years of experience identifying opportunities and leading product development at numerous firms, including Proctor and Gamble. Frank is active in numerous outdoor groups in Colorado and Pellet Fuels Institute board member.
Alliance for Green Heat
John Ackerly is the founder and President of the Alliance for Green Heat, a non-profit that promotes cleaner, more efficient, and more affordable renewable heating. In 2011, he founded the Wood Stove Design Challenge, a semi-annual technology competition to advance automation in wood stove design. A certified NFI pellet appliance specialist, he lives in Takoma Park, Maryland.
Wood and Sons
Lyme Green Heat
Morton Bailey, the President of Lyme Green Heat Inc., located in Lyme NH, has owned and operated the firm since 2009. LGH, one of the leading wood pellet heating firms in New England, provides wood pellet boiler sales, service, and wood pellet bulk delivery. Morton thus brings many years of experience with project development, wood pellet fuel, combustion technologies, controls, and bulk wood pellet delivery to the BTEC board.
Professional Logging Contractors of the Northeast
Dana Doran is a graduate of Lafayette College in Pennsylvania with a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Connecticut. He joined the staff of Professional Logging Contractors of Maine in 2014 and is now the Executive Director of what has become the Professional Logging Contractors of the Northeast. A native Mainer, he and his family reside in Belgrade, Maine.
Wisewood Energy
Andrew Haden is the President of Wisewood Energy with over 15 years experience working in the biomass energy sector and has led the development and implementation of multiple biomass heating, district energy, and combined heat and power projects through complete cycles of feasibility assessment, engineering, construction and ongoing operations support. Having completed projects in AK, WA, OR, CA and ID, Andrew has become an expert on the biomass industry in the American West, and an advocate for the contribution biomass energy can make to rural economic development.
TNT Ventures
Tony “T.J” Morice, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is a founding Board Member of BTEC. On behalf of his firm, TNT Ventures, he provides energy efficiency consulting services to numerous clients and also assists a large number of commercial real estate firms. His many other activities have included 14 years as a patroller for the National Ski Patrol and lengthy Steering Committee service for Heating the Midwest.
Messersmith Manufacturing
Biomass Energy Resource Center
Adam Sherman is a Senior Consultant with Vermont Energy Investment Corporation. He has 20 years of experience in the renewable thermal energy sector with a focus on decarbonization via electrification and the use of advanced wood heating systems. His work focuses on thermal energy program design and delivery for various state and federal government agencies as well as technical consulting services for private clients.
Adam lives in Duxbury, Vermont where he heats his home with wood.
Bill Bell is a magna cum laude Yale graduate with decades of experience in association management. Previously the legislative assistant to a Maine Congressman and subsequently to the Maine State Senate leadership, he then formed Bell Associates Inc., which in 2008 helped establish the Maine Pellet Fuels Association. Other clients have included a number of state and regional natural resource organizations.
The original federal legislation, passed in December 2020 provided a federal tax credit of up to $6,000 for residential pellet boiler installs.
The subsequent Inflation Reduction Act (2022) provides a credit of $2,000 for pellet stoves (and heat pumps) but perhaps inadvertently reduced the pellet boiler tax incentive to this same $2,000.
BTEC is working with Maine Senator Angus King, the original BTU Act sponsor, and Maine’s Senator Susan Collins on language to increase the residential pellet boiler tax credit to $8,000 and include commercial installs.
The critical importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions has led some advocates to recommend exclusion of heating systems which are not “100% carbon-free”. Such recommendations have gained traction at the national, state, and local levels. BTEC is actively monitoring and opposing this trend, submitting testimony to organizations ranging from the International Residential Building Code to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. BTEC welcomes alliances with national, state, and local organizations who share our concerns, including renewable natural gas groups and also forestry organizations.
Become a member of BTEC and join us in supporting renewable energy technologies reliant on sustainable principles.