Wood burners are hot!

05 September 2011

Wood fuelled-boilers are increasingly being installed in buildings in the UK, a trend that is likely to accelerate as costs fall and supplies of wood from managed forests improve, said a new report from BRE.

The report ‘Biomass energy: wood fuel for space and water heating’ looks at the use of wood – logs, pellets and chips – as a renewable energy source for space and water heating in housing and larger buildings.

Currently, Britain obtains less than 1% of heat from renewable sources and this will need to increase to approximately 12% if the carbon emissions reduction targets set by the government for 2020 are to be met.

“The opportunity for renewable energy, and biomass energy as a key strand of this provision, is substantial given the focus and incentives to reduce carbon emissions and that more businesses and households are spending more on energy as vulnerabilities in the existing energy supply chains continue to increase unit price” said the report’s author Ed Suttie.

“The UK has a significant biomass resource, estimated at an annual 20 million tonnes, although only a fraction of this is effectively captured for energy, contributing about 4% to heat and electricity production in the UK.”

As the use of biomass energy rises, costs will fall which makes its use more economic. In addition, a diversity of technologies to suit various applications has been developed, and supply chains are becoming established across the UK. The security of supply of biomass fuel will be improved as under-managed woodlands are brought back into active forest management, the report noted.

Biomass energy: wood fuel for space and water heating is available from www.brebookshop.com.