PowerSwitch

Pete - I will actually be keeping a couple of bags of coal in storage every winter in case of emergency. It's just so energy dense that every lump gives a huge amount of heat. In the event of wood shortages etc, it would be my last resort. Fischertrop - I actually work as an Energy Officer for my lo...

Andy Hunt wrote: The theme which seems to come up time and time again with this problem is that there is no single solution to the coming energy crisis. If and when it is resolved, it will be through a mixture of whatever technologies happen to be available. I totally agree Andy Hunt wrote: I'm sure...

You have a fair point, fischertrop - if everyone did it, there most certainly would be a problem. The theme which seems to come up time and time again with this problem is that there is no single solution to the coming energy crisis. If and when it is resolved, it will be through a mixture of whatev...

- Most wood stoves these days are 'clean burning', and suitable for use in smokeless zones, as they have emissions very low in the particulate matter that causes pollution. I didn't know that, thanks for the info. - There is currently a large overcapacity in UK wood resources. Many forests were pla...

Some interesting points:- - Most wood stoves these days are 'clean burning', and suitable for use in smokeless zones, as they have emissions very low in the particulate matter that causes pollution. - There is currently a large overcapacity in UK wood resources. Many forests were planted years ago w...

I totally agree with you on biomass vs fossil fuels - you can regrow one and not the other. And your comments about pollarding and coppicing were most interesting (new to me!). Even with quick growing varities, trees take quite a long time to grow, right? During the winter, one wood stove providing ...

Obviously there is a danger of deforestation, but with biomass, unlike oil, you can also put back (i.e. replant) as well as take out. A wise policy would manage resources so that a constant stock (initially a growing one) was maintained. Of course, if you have too many people trying to live off a fi...

I have a concern that widespread adoption of wood as a domestic fuel would encourage further significant deforestation - and I don't believe thats something the UK can afford. Wood has lots of benifits but (and correct me if I am wrong) wood for burning only comes from either 1) UK trees cut down es...

TIMBER HAS A PRETTY GOOD ENERGY PROFIT RATION _ see http://www.csiro.au/index.asp?type=mediaRelease&id=ForanEnergy&stylesheet=mediaRelease Tropical trees are better than temperate, and it is better to use the nuts and not cut the tree down - better EPR and better sequestration of the carbon....

I read an article recently where coal-fired power stations are being combined with wood-pellets to reduce the fossil-based proportion of CO2 emitted.

Presumably, the calculations have been done somewhere? I think that generally there?s a big question about which way we want to go: Big centralized, presumably nuclear, power stations (though some big wind farms might fit this, especially the off-shore ones); Or small, decentralized renewables. I ca...

Yes, not necessarily. But I thnk there would be a risk of it. There would need to be a careful planning and energy measurement exercise. There's also the scale thing. We're used to economies of scale"" where bigger is cheaper but bigger is often also more energy intensive - it's only cheap...

But not necessarily, presumably? Would locally grown biomass have an EROEI less than 1?

On a related note, does anyone know how much land it would require (roughly) to provide for the UK's heating needs using, say, efficient wood-fired boilers?


Peter.

This is all good stuff - as long as it's waste wood that's being burned.

If we start growing plants specifically to burn, then there's a risk of the energy profit dropping below 1, as farming can be very energy intensive.

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