Ourpower Guides - Biomass - Quick Overview

If you have an open fire or a wood-buring stove, then you already use biomass heating in your home.

• Biomass, for domestic and small businesses, usually refers to wood based fuels, such as wood pellets, wood chip or logs. However, increasingly, agricultural crops such as wheat or rapeseed could be used, as could waste products such as straw or even some household waste.

• The advantage of wood pellets or chip as opposed to logs is that stoves and boilers now exist that can run for hours or days unattended, with fuel fed in as required. Also, in many cases, starting the stove or boiler is as easy as lighting a gas or oil boiler.

• The uses of biomass cover simply heating your sitting room, right through to replacing your boiler to provide full central heating and hot water.

• Biomass is renewable and considered carbon neutral. Why? Because, the wood can be regrown within a few years (unlike coal, gas or oil), and the same amount of CO2 is absorbed by the tree when it grows as is then emitted when the wood is burnt.

• Unlike some other renewable energy sources, you do need to buy or get hold of fuel - for instance wood pellets. As transport of such materials is expensive and is not carbon efficient, consideration of a local supplies is always important. Having suitable storage space and any restrictions on chimneys or smoke are also important considerations.

But biomass has real potential, and has been used for thousands of years.

Read the Biomass Details Guide for more information.