|
Most forms of renewable energy (RE)
harness energy from the sun - photovoltaics directly, wind,
wave or hydro-power indirectly. However, the use of woodfuel
and other forms of biomass is unique among renewables because
it is based on harnessing stored solar energy in the form
of a fuel, whether woodfuel from forestry and timber processing,
agricultural by-products such as straw, or dedicated energy
crops grown specifically as an energy feedstock. This has
gives it a much wider range of applications than most RE
technologies:
1. Whereas wind and other renewables
can generally be used to generate electricity only, because
it is based on a fuel, biomass can replace fossil fuels
in all three sectors of the energy market:
- heating and process fuels
- electricity generation
- transport fuels
This opens up the whole of the energy
market to penetration by biomass technologies, of which
heating and process fuels is the largest single element
(approximately 45% by final use across the UK as a whole).
2. Because it is based on using a fuel
in some form of prime mover (combustor, gasifier etc), biomass
energy is schedulable, ie. it can be used on demand, if
necessary year-round, and is not dependent on external factors
such as weather. This too allows it to be used in a wide
range of applications, including heating, where reliability
and continuity of energy supply is essential.
Elsewhere in Europe, wood heating is
a well established and thoroughly embedded energy source
and, when viewed in a northern European context, the UK’s
lack of an established sector is the exception that proves
the rule. This stems from the fact that we have had access
to and have exploited rich reserves of hyrdocarbos (coal,
oil, gas), but these are now running out and we are fast
becoming a net energy importer. Thus, under pressure both
to reduce CO2 emissions and also to secure our future energy
supplies, our energy economy is on the cusp of major changes.
Wood heating has the potential to play
an important part in these changes and to grow rapidly,
bringing with it a raft of potential benefits. These cut
across many different strands and might be said to offer
a model of sustainable development:
1. Woodfuel is ‘carbon neutral’
and renewable, leading to reductions in emissions of CO2
by offsetting the use of fossil fuels. Development of wood
energy applications therefore contributes to meeting emissions
reduction targets and renewables targets.
2. Woodfuel is a competitive source
of energy compared to most fossil fuels such as oil, and
even natural gas, and energy from woodfuel used for heating
is perhaps the lowest cost of all RE technologies. It therefore
has the potential to offer end-users affordable energy at
prices that can also in some degree be insulated from increases
in fossil fuel prices. This is particularly so in rural
or urban fringe areas where natural gas is often unavailable.
In addition, moneys spent on woodfuel are almost by definition
spent locally and so are retained within the Regional or
sub-Regional economy and even, in the context of ‘self-supply’,
within individual rural businesses.
3. Production of woodfuel offers an
important diversification opportunity for forestry and timber
processing enterprises, and specifically offers a market
outlet for the low-grade products that result from all timber
harvesting or processing operations: small dimension roundwood
(chipwood or pulp) and sawmill co-products (produced either
in chipped form or as slabwood).
In this regard, the limited and uncertain demand for these
products is an acknowledged barrier to better woodland /
forestry management throughout much of the UK and the ‘demand
pull’ created by a growing wood energy industry would
in turn bring a range of benefits, including:
- income generation for owners, contractors and processors,
and suppliers
- employment and job creation
- increased forest management and therefore improved quality
and value in terms of:
- future productivity and asset value
- habitat value and biodiversity
- sporting and other amenity uses, including improved
access
- local markets and reduced road transport
4. Finally, woody energy crops such
as Short Rotation Coppice (SRC) or Short Rotation Forestry
(SRF) have the potential to offer an important diversification
opportunity for farmers, and the use of clean woody
arisings for energy also offers a route for reducing waste
disposal costs and for taking significant quantities of
material out of the waste stream and from landfill.
|
