The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO)—in partnership with Brookhaven National Laboratory, the Alliance for Green Heat, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory—hosted the Wood Heater Design Challenge to accelerate the design and deployment of clean and efficient wood and pellet heaters in the United States.

With an estimated 12.5 million homes in the United States using wood or pellets for space heating, this challenge stands to create a significant impact on the environmental footprint of domestic heating.

The Wood Heater Design Challenge nicknamed the Wood Stove Decathlon, started in 2013 with a competition on the National Mall in Washington D.C. The challenge exists to engage and expand the wood heater community, foster relationships between academia, industry and other stakeholders while developing the most innovative wood heaters that are cleaner and more efficient. The Fifth Annual Wood Heat Design series of events consisted of virtual workshops of invited experts and stakeholders in January, March and April 2022, a Technology Slam held in the fall of 2022, followed by the Stove Competition.

Visit Brookhaven National Laboratory’s website for more information on the Wood Heater Design Challenge. 

Wood Heater Technology Slam

The Wood Heater Technology SLAM provided an opportunity for teams to pitch innovative wood stove ideas to retailers, the public, and panels of expert judges. The Technology Slam was held virtually on September 29, 2022, where teams had eight minutes to virtually pitch their wood heater technology to a panel of expert judges and an audience of wood heater stakeholders. Teams were then scored based on innovation, consistent performance, commercial potential, and expected performance. Learn more about the Wood Heater Technology Slam.

Workshops on R&D Advances for Wood Heater Technology

Three workshops were held in advance of the Wood Heater Design Challenge:

• Workshop 1: Advances in Wood Heater Design and Technology; January 2022. (View the agenda, presentations, and recordings).
• Workshop 2: Advances in Instrumentation Used for Wood Heater Testing and Field Data Collection; March 2022. (View the agenda, presentations, and recordings).
• Workshop 3: Adoption of New Wood Heater Technology and Integration with Other Renewables; April 2022. (View the agenda, presentations, and recordings).

WHDC Workshop Report

Download the Wood Heater Design Challenge Report which provides a summary of activities and outcomes from the above three workshops.