June 27th, 2019 | Updated on June 28th, 2022
Wood energy is a favorite choice of people in developing countries, and more than 2 billion people depend on it for cooking and heating. Wood is the first energy source known to mankind, and even today it is the single most important source of renewable energy that provides 6% of the primary energy supply across the globe.
Biofuels like wood hold an important place in the energy policy if European nations because of its renewability and low price. Firewood is much cheaper than traditional fossil fuels and the one that you buy from Dk Brænde, a major supplier to the people of Denmark, could cost you half the price that you would pay for oil fuel.
Moreover, wood is carbon neutral, and whatever little carbon dioxide emissions happen eases out completely leaving no traces of it. This puts to rest the environmental concerns of using it at homes.
1. Meeting A Third Of The World’s Need
Despite ongoing debates about using wood energy, its popularity seems to remain unaffected because the consumption of wood fuel by private households alone who use it for heating and cooking amounts to one third or about 33% of the global renewable energy consumption. Therefore, it is safe to conclude that wood is the most decentralized fuel on the planet.
2. Sources Of Wood Fuel
Forests maintained with sustainable goals are the most important sources for wood fuel, and many other wooded lands beyond forests also provide the wood good for use as fuel.
Besides, there are other sources like co-products from wood processing like sawdust and wood recovered after use by consumers and processed wood-based fuels.
Wood energy is an important backup fuel because in moments of crisis like natural disasters, economic difficulties, fossil energy supply constraints and conflict situations, people can quickly fall back on it to meet the energy demands.
3. It’s A Forest Product
Wood fuel is a very important forest product, and the global production of fuelwood is higher than the production of industrial round wood with respect to volume. Developing countries, as well as economies in transition, are using woody biomass predominantly as reflected in the consumption of charcoal and firewood.
4. Forms Of Wood Energy
Wood energy is available in many forms, but wood pellets and wood chips are most common even though many people also choose briquettes.
Wood Pellets – Wood pellets require less storage space than wood chips and suited for any size of household. You can use it in existing coal boilers with some minor adjustments, and it has very low ash content. Emissions are lower than any traditional fuel, and the cost is much less too, but it can be costly than wood chips.
Wood Chips – The properties of wood chips are similar to wood pellets, and its benefits are almost similar. Its energy density is low meaning you need more woodchips to generate the same amount of energy, and it would require bigger storage space.
You can either use your existing coal boiler with some modifications for using wood fuel or can install wood fuel boilers.
