Egni bioFuels can supply woodchip and wood pellets to most specifications throughout the UK and Ireland. This sourced from virgin forest products and clean recycled timber, some of the raw material coming from our own forest resources with the secondary processing carried out at EGNI managed ‘treestations’. This chip can be delivered in bulk or bagged form.
Wood is an age old fuel which fell out of use in Britain with the industrial revolution and advent of cheap fossil fuels. However, wood is still the primary fuel for people in many countries around the world, both developing and developed. In Britain, with increasing concern about climate change, wood is now an increasingly attractive energy source along with other forms of biomass. Modern biomass boilers are efficient and clean and wood energy is renewable, as once trees or other biomass such as elephant grass (miscanthus) are harvested they are replanted and grow again, reabsorbing the CO2 emitted when the wood is used.
Certification of good woodland management, supported by independent inspection, is the best guarantee of sustainably produced wood. Using wood for fuel will help bring under-managed woods back into management. This in turn will open up the woodland canopy allowing more light to reach the ground. Conditions will be greatly improved for wild plants, butterflies and animals which have been declining in recent years such as the dormouse and the nightingale.
In the UK there is a lot of timber potentially available for fuel. For example, in south-east England the National Inventory of Woodlands and Trees completed in 2000, indicated that over 1 million tonnes of fuel wood could be harvested each year. The Forestry Commission has a target of an additional 2 million tones of wood fuel produced from Britain’s woodlands annually.
Woodlands are not the only source of wood fuel. In urban areas the trees on the streets and in parks and gardens all produce timber. A 2005 survey by the London Tree Officers’ Association estimated that 127,000m3 of tree waste is produced each year. Much of this poses a disposal problem for tree surgeons.
Untreated reclaimed timber from demolition sites and clean waste pallets can also be used as fuel. Waste from timber using industries is increasingly used for pellet production. Finally, trees such as willow and poplar can be planted as short rotation coppice and cut every 2 or 3 years for fuel. An assessment of the wood fuel potentially available in London in 2005, identifying a minimum of 500,000 tonnes a year after allowing for existing uses.
Wood and other biomass has an advantage over other renewables such as wind and wave since it can be easily stored until it is needed. This flexibility in use comes at a cost as it has to be harvested, processed and physically transported from where it grows to where it is used, slightly offsetting the CO2 emission reduction from using wood fuel.
Wood is now recognised as good value, at least as cost effective as other renewables. Following price rises for fossil fuels in 2007 wood chip is cheaper than natural gas. Its potential was recognised by the government when they set up the Biomass Task Force. Their report identified potential for wood fuels to save 3.6 million tonnes of carbon emissions nationally from existing resources. Planting biomass is an attractive way for farmers to diversify their businesses. The government’s response to the task force report, published in April 2006, supported its conclusions and contained commitments to foster the development of wood and other biomass as modern energy sources.
EGNI sells 3 different biomass products