Wood Fuel Heating

What is it?

Wood Fuel Heating is a renewable source of energy, which typically converts the energy from wood into heat for water and space heating.

How does it work?

Combustion is the easiest way to recover energy from dry biomass to provide heating or hot water. A range of sources of wood fuel (also referred to as biomass or biofuel) can be used. Examples include: low-value whole tree chips; harvested wood crops; mill residues made of waste wood from saw mills and wood processing mills (including bark, sawdust etc.); paper and cardboard; and wood pellets (compacted from mill waste).

Modern wood heating appliances come in a range of designs and sizes to suit a variety of applications. Boilers are usually automated and consist of a receiving area, combustion and boiler systems, ash handling mechanism, and pollution control device. Chip and pellet fuelled boilers are particularly appropriate for use in the UK.

Who is suitable for?

Wood burning technologies tend to be used for heating, and can replace oil, LPG, coal and electric heating. They can be used in any sector including domestic, commercial, public, and industry. Wood fuel can be used for under floor heating or other forms of steady heat supply in new buildings.

They are ideally located where there is an almost constant or high demand for heat, and close to a local supply of biomass. This could be from sources such as waste wood from forestry clearings or industry cut-offs.

Uptake is restricted by the comparatively high capital costs when compared to gas boilers, and undeveloped local fuel supplies and fuel storage issues.

Benefits

• Creation of jobs in manufacturing, construction, plant operation, servicing, forestry, and fuel supply
• Carbon dioxide (CO₂) neutral over the process life cycle, leading to minimal climate change impacts
• Potential revitalisation of unused or derelict woodland
• Collected ash can be used as fertiliser
• There is a proven market for modern wood heating systems
• Wood heating has the lowest capital cost of all the renewable energy technologies
• It may be possible to convert existing boilers to take wood fuel