Wood Pellet Fuel is made from compressed sawdust that is a waste product
from other industries like sawmills. These wood pellets are held together by the natural lignin in the wood – no glue is needed. Lignin makes up about a quarter to a third of dry wood. It strengthens the wood as well as having water proofing properties.
Wood Pellet Fuel takes energy to produce – the majority of the the energy required is used in drying the sawdust, so it is much more efficient to work with wood that is already dry.
An alternative way to heat your home
Wood Pellet Stoves offer you an alternative way to heat your home. These stoves use wood pellets that are made out of dried recycled compressed sawdust from lumber mills that otherwise ends up in landfills.
Wood pellet stoves have a number of advantages over normal wood stoves. Because the stoves are so efficient, there is almost no smoke or creosote produced, in fact the exhaust is barely even hot so the stove doesn’t need a masonry chimney and can be installed anywhere a tin metal liner can be put in, either directly into the roof, or sideways out a wall. They can be stand-alone stoves on legs in the corner of a room, or chimney inserts using an existing chimney. Unlike wood stoves, pellet stoves work well in urban environments because of little exhaust and no need for a chimney and can be installed
in any room.
Cost Savings
Major cost savings can be achieved by having a Wood Pellet Stove. Pellets have the following advantages over other types of wood fuel:-
* Less volume to transport and store (due to higher energy density)
* Fewer deliveries
* Consistent size and moisture content
* Versatility – can be used in stoves and boilers
* Less ash
* Lower emissions CO2 neutral
* Exempt from CO2 tax
* Pellets are dry and can be stored without degrading
* Flow like a liquid and can be used in automatic machinery
* Easier to handle
* Easier to ignite
Are wood pellets carbon neutral?
Wood and wood pellets are not carbon neutral. This is because it takes some energy to plant, harvest, process and transport the pellets, and this energy is usually derived from fossil fuels. The manufacturing of wood pellets takes a relatively high amount of energy, especially when compared to wood chips. If the whole process were powered by carbon neutral energy sources then wood pellets would be carbon neutral. Compared to other fossil fuels wood pellets (and wood) still result in MUCH less CO2 production.