About Us

Up North Alternative Energy Solutions was started in the Spring of 2009 by Bev and Brian Crawford of East Jordan, MI.

It started much out of necessity – we purchased an EKO40 boiler from an internet based company and installed it ourselves. Although not too complicated to install, it proved very difficult to get the system running at an optimum performance level as was promised by the company we purchased it from.

Thus, after many months of late nights and early mornings I was finally able to have the system operating at a performance level that was acceptable to me. As I showed my gasification system to more and more people it quickly became obvious to me that the US market for gasification boilers was extremely new (the traditional method of burning wood in an outdoor wood stove/boiler (OWB) is all that most US citizens are familiar with).

Thus, having experienced first hand the ultimate efficiency and convenience of a gasification wood boiler system I just had to spread the word. As a degreed Mechanical Engineer and outside salesman for 10+ years, it was obvious that the alternative energy market needed a knowledgeable boiler dealer!!!!

In the summer of 2009 we became a Paxo boiler distributor for the state of Michigan and installed a   demo/working Paxo 25 boiler system inside of a brand new 18’ enclosed trailer. We attended the Buckley Steam Engine Show and Michigan Energy Fair in an attempt to educate the traditional wood stove crowd on this much more efficient (90% +) method of burning wood to generate heat and hot water for a typical home or small business.

ONE YEAR LATER!!!! Wow, did I get an education on how the rest of the world does bioenergy.

I recently attended the World Bioenergy Fair in Sweden (May 25-27th) where I witnessed an amazing amount of technologies that I was not aware of. In addition, I met with Effecta AB – an awesome company that has been producing gasification wood boilers for almost 30 years in Sweden. Effecta currently has 40% of the market share in Sweden for gasification wood/pellet boiler systems and hot water solar systems.

Shortly, we will be the US sales agent for Effecta AB and will be distributing their products through a network of qualified, educated dealers.

Stay tuned for updates as we move forward in this endeavor!!!!

Brian Crawford,
President