The development of sustainable, renewable energy resources to combat global warming and climate change has never been more important. They are an alternative to the combustion of traditional fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas and the associated pollution caused by these. Renewable energy is thought of as energy which can be replenished within a human lifetime and which causes no long term damage to our environment.
The sun is a source of clean FREE nuclear energy. It supports the other alternative renewable energy technologies by heating our planet and the air that surrounds us. It also promotes the growth of organic matter through photosynthesis.

What is Bioenergy?

Bioenergy is the energy that can be produced from the combustion of biological organic matter such as trees or animal derived waste material such as methane gas. Trees and plants absorb CO2 in the growing process and release the CO2 in the combustion process when producing energy.  Bioenergy falls into two main categories:

1. Biomass
Biomass is the material obtained from recent origin compared with fossil fuels such as coal, oil or gas which absorbed CO2 millions of years ago. Providing the trees or plants have grown within a human lifetime this is considered to be a carbon neutral process. These fuels can be sustained by woodland coppicing, managed farming and harvesting as a rotational crop.

2. Biofuels
Biofuels are made from animal wastes, industrial and biodegradable municipal products from food processing and high energy crops such as rape, sugar cane and maize. Biofuels are normally used as transport fuels. (Source: Energy Saving Trust).

We are concerned with the practicalities of producing energy that can be used to heat our homes and possibly generate electricity.

How can it be used?

For small scale domestic applications the fuel usually takes the form of wood pellets, wood chips and wood logs. Wood pellets are a compacted form of wood which have low moisture content and a high energy density. Although they are more expensive than logs and woodchip they are easier to handle and ideal for automated heating systems. The type of heating system you choose will determine the fuel to be used and the storage space required.

There are two main types of appliances:

Stoves can achieve efficiencies of more than 80%. They are normally used to provide background heating whilst adding aesthetic value as they are designed to be located in the living area. The higher output versions may be fitted with an integral back boiler to provide domestic hot water and central heating via radiators. Log boilers require manual loading whilst automatic pellet and woodchip systems will require space for large storage hoppers and be more expensive.

In smokeless zones wood can only be burnt on exempted appliances under the Clean Air Act.