How Is Wood Or Biomass Heating A Renewable Energy?
Wood or Biomass heating uses the most primitive renewable energy first discovered by man, wood fire.
Burning wood is a renewable form of energy due to the fact that burning wood creates as much Co2 as if the tree were left to rot (creating Methane - a more powerful greenhouse gas than C02 - See separate page on this by clicking here).
Whilst there are other forms of Biomass heating and combined heat and power solutions available, this section currently covers a range of products which are designed to burn wood in various forms for space heating only.
Benefits
Your Carbon footprint is lower - Burning locally sourced wood only creates as much carbon as if it were left to rot in where it stood. In addition to this trees re-grow, converting Co2 to oxygen.
There are many applications for wood fuelled hot water and heating systems, the latter being a major benefit as few renewable sources tackle heating can tackle as wide a range of buildings as wood currently.
Wood or Biomass offers an intense heat source, higher than other forms of renewable heating such as heat pumps, which means it can heat older, less well insulated buildings.
Wood fired boilers can work well with other renewable technologies such as solar thermal.
There is something satisfying about the smell and process which brings us closer to nature.
Costs and Payback
Systems can vary hugely due to the massive range of brands and types available.
Log burners can vary in price from second hand models at £250-400 and new models from £400 upwards and in many styles.
Wood pellet boilers supplied by Freesource Energy start from £12k upwards including supply and installation of the boilers and storage equipment. There are cheaper options on the market, but Freesource has selected what it believes is the best all round quality Wood Heating equipment in Europe.
Support
Freesource Wood Heating Experts are highly qualified heating engineers with great experience in wood fuel technology. All sizing and installation is conducted by experts and grants are available.
Freesource only source wood burners for mail order and offer advice on basic information prior to purchase, so this website deals mainly with Wood or Biomass Boiler technology.
The process is handled from initial consultation through to site survey and then supply, installation and maintainance. |
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Types of Wood Boiler Available
There are three main types of wood boiler available:
- Wood Pellet
- Wood Chip
- Larger boilers for handling all kinds of Biomass fuel
The size of boilers available from Freesource range from 10kw up to 2MW+ and are suitable for anything from domestic premises through to commercial premises. Our range of Boilers is found on this page.
Wood Pellet Boilers
Wood Pellet Boilers are available in sizes from 10kw upwards. They are highly efficient
systems, capable of working with most heating systems for existing on new buildings.
Wood Pellet Boilers can be sized to suit the heat required and are capable of self cleaning and self loading, depending on the system you choose.
You will require a source of Wood Pellets, somewhere to store them and will need to decide how to load them into the system.
Check out our Wood Pellet Boiler Page Here for more information
Wood Chip Boilers
Wood Chip Boilers are available from Freesource at 25kw upwards. They have advantages in that you can use chips produced from your own wood source and have many similar benefits of Pellet Boilers.
Check out our Wood Chip Boiler Page Here for more information.
Important Basic Considerations
1) Are you near a Wood Fuel Supplier?
This applies for traditional logs or manufactured chips or pellets. It is the single most important question when considering wood burning as a renewable technology, because if you transport wood for miles and miles you burn fossil fuels and negate any carbon savings you planned to make. Check out our Wood Supplier Page Here.
2) Have you got somewhere to store the wood?
For any Wood Boiler you will need a reasonable sized dry storage area to keep your fuel stored, preferably close to your boiler (i.e. within fire safety regulations and not too far that you can't easily transport it yourself). We can offer Hoppers for storage and automatic fuel supply. Check out Our Wood Storage Page Here.
3) Sizing Your Boiler
You will need plans or measurements of the space requiring heating including the type and thickness of insulations in walls, floor, ceiling and windows. We also need to know of other heating sources. Check out our Heating Sizing Checklist Page Here.
4) As with all new heating and hot water systems there can be some upheaval during installation, so it is worth considering your lifestyle requirements during installation.
5) One which many people forget, how fit are you?
Not all Wood Boilers require heavy lifting, but some Wood heat systems require movement of wood and this is important to remember. Many new Wood Boilers come with self-fuelling mechanisms which require storage space close to the boiler.
6) Are you living in an urban area?
If so you will need to consider local regulations regarding the burning of fossil fuels. We can help you with this.
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