Technical information

Solid Solar Energy

Trees turn sunlight and carbon dioxide into carbon - wood - which we can burn to create energy, a truly renewable resource so long as:

• The wood comes from a sustainable source
• It is burned in a clean, efficient way
• It is used close to where it was felled

As it burns wood produces carbon dioxide - one of the main greenhouse gases responsible for climate change. But this CO2 will be absorbed by a new tree planted to replace the one being burnt.

This means that no extra carbon is put into the atmosphere - which is why wood fuel is 'carbon neutral'.
the Carbon Cycle


Although planting, harvesting and transport does use fossil fuels, wood for heating reduces carbon emissions by 90 per cent- 95 per cent compared to fossil-fuelled heating.

Wood has the same effect in electricity generation:
Power Source
Carbon dioxide -gCO2/kWh
Coal steam turbine
950
Combined Cycle Gas Turbine
450
Wind turbine
10
Photovoltaics
80 - 160
Biomass steam turbine
20 - 80

Next: >>> Wood fuel for a better landscape
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Unit 7 Dyfi Eco Park,
Machynlleth, Powys SY20 8AX
(+44) (0)845 456 0342