Interested in using wood to heat your home but don’t know where to start? Wood is the most common renewable energy source in the UK and although it releases carbon dioxide it is only the same amount that was absorbed by the plant as it grew so effectively it is carbon-neutral. This is even better if the wood is sourced from a sustainable company that replaces the trees that are cut down and choosing a local source helps cut down carbon from transportation. Wood-fuelled heating comes in lots of forms either as stoves that heat an individual room or are connected to a back boiler to provide hot water or as a wood fired boiler that is connected to a full central heating system. Therefore costs vary considerably - anything from £500 for an individual stove to £13,000 or more for a fully fitted system. In terms of savings that it can make it depends on your current method for heating your home. The bigger savings will be made from those who are on solid fuel or electric heating. A few things to think about first: • Is your home fully insulated? This will reduce the heat demand of your home so you will be able to have a smaller/cheaper system. • Do you have a suitable chimney/flue or room to fit one? • Do you have space to store fuel – logs/pellets/chips? • Is there a local supply of suitable wood? Wood needs to be seasoned for at least a year to be effective. • Most of Middlesbrough comes under domestic smoke control orders so you will be restricted to exempt appliances and authorised fuels. If you are off the gas network or have electric heating there is currently financial help through the Renewable Heat Premium Payment (RHPP) until March 2014 to help with the cost of installation. Otherwise there is the Government scheme Green Deal that is a loan that you pay back through the savings that you make by installing the system. Next year the Government is introducing the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) which means you could receive payments for the heat you produce, although please note if you received the RHPP to help with installation this will be deducted from any payments under this scheme. If you would like further, more detailed information on installing a wood heating system download this document from the Energy Saving Trust: energysavingtrust.org.uk/Publications2/Generating-energy/Buyers-guides/A-buyer-s-guide-to-wood-fuelled-heating Or if you have any further questions on any of the above information feel free to email us on [email protected]
Posted on: Mon, 16 Sep 2013 15:13:28 +0000
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