Sustainable House

Biomass Heating

Biomass heating is the combustion of plant based organic material for heating a volume of air. Either Woody or Non-woody fuel can be burnt. Wood is best sourced from sustainable fast growing trees such as Short Rotation Coppice (SRC) Willow or from waste products such as sawdust or recycled untreated pallets. Non-woody sources include animal waste and the secondary organic output of activities such as oil seed rape and sugar cane processing.

Biomass fuels will be carbon neutral. What that means is that the CO2 freed when energy is released from the fuel during combustion is balanced by the CO2 absorbed during the fuel’s production (for example, as coppiced willow grew). This is the opposite to fossil fuels that when burned release carbon dioxide that was captured millions of years ago and therefore serves only to increase total CO2 levels.

Biomass systems are often bulky (for example, pellet fed boilers driving central heating and hot water systems) and can require extensive space for storage of both fuel and machinery. Additionally, the fuel will need to be sourced from a appropriate producer that may be geographically distant and so transportation costs and the environmental impact of the production and transportation of fuel will need to be taken into account in assessing the overall sustainability of a given installation.