Why is it important?

Burning wood does not contribute to climate change as long as the wood is from a sustainable source (i.e. one tree is planted for each tree felled). Carbon dioxide (CO2) is still released when wood is burned, but this is approximately equivalent to the CO2 which is taken in by the trees over their lifetime (see Carbon Cycle diagram adjacent).

Using wood as a fuel can also help the rural economy. Wood fuel can be provided from local sources in rural areas, creating new business and employment opportunities.

The main sources of wood fuel are listed below:

• Sawdust and debris from wood processing
• Residues from forestry or forest management
• Energy crops such as coppiced willow

Room Heaters

Direct room heaters can be sized to heat a single room, a small home or the core of an open plan house. They can also be used with a back boiler to provide hot water and to heat radiators elsewhere in the building.

Room Heaters designed specifically to burn wood pellets tend to be efficient and clean burning as well as convenient to operate. Most room heaters are designed to provide an attractive feature within a household.

How does it work?

Wood can be burned directly to provide heat in a central heating boiler or a room heater. Wood can also be burned to run a turbine and generate electricity.

Modern wood-fired heaters are highly efficient (keeping the heat inside the house much longer) and burn the wood more completely and cleanly than older systems or open fires. Wood pellets and wood chips are small and have a uniform size and shape so they are suitable for automatic feed systems such as hoppers or screw-feeds, which are more convenient than hand-feeding.

Refined wood fuels, such as wood briquettes or pellets made from compressed sawdust, are now available. Using these dense fuels more units of energy can be moved in each lorry-load of wood, reducing the cost and impact of transport.