the future of firewood

[The Count]

It is happening guys,
don`t know if that would take 10 or 100 years, but it will happen.

I was hosting a stand in an expo regarding biodiesel.
the expo was about green renewable energy.

more and more they talk, develop etc the idea and the classic woodcutting will come to an end.

we, people from today will be the same with those who hunted to extinction the aurochs Tasmanian wolf.

in my area 50 km from the city there is an experimental field on energetic willow.
I am part of a team who will soon build a briquetting mobile unit that will turn any vegetable "leftovers" aswel as material cultivated for that purpose and turn it into a firewood......
....food for thought...

 

[wigglesworth]

As long as I have access to trees, I will be burning wood.

BTW, Pellet heat has been around here for years.

 

[JDNicol]

Thats been around here for a while now. The way i see it is these briquettes are aimed at people who at present have gas/oil central heating. They want them to install wood burning furnaces to drive their boilers. However, i do not see how they are going to make us the people who cut our own firewood extinct. For example, i live on a farm and a major job that has to be done each year is hedge laying, a by-product of which is bigger trees that have no use and thus end up as firewood. Additionally i do not see how it is going to become so economically unviable for people who cut their own firewood such that they end up having to buy in wood that has been processed.

 

[The Count]

it is true, the technique is there for decades now I think.
their way to enforce is the law and the economic stimulants such as green certificates etc.
pelets and briquets also include tall grass and corn strain etc.

 

[D&B Mack]

I will pay to cut my own firewood before I pay for a bunch of rabbit #### pellets showing up on my doorstep. Hell, if global warming monkey causes the lowest temperature around here to be 70 or above, I will cut trees for the hell of it.

 

[teatersroad]

the Tasmanian Wolf is extinct??

The threat to firewood isn't that other bio-fuels will be more practical, it is more likely the threat is bio-fuel producers will gain enough commercial traction to be able to effect policy. Policy that would eliminate competition like raw wood burners. I'm all for bio-mass as an energy source (soylent green is people), and lot's of folks choose pellets over firewood.

That said, I'm trying to help a friend unload a 100,000 gallon per year Bio-diesel operation. Larger plants are sitting idle as well.

 

[fireman]

If I'm not mistaken they have a process were they take are wood chips from trimming and compress them into pellets.I was looking into it was alot of money.Buy tub grinder and the pellet maker your in business and keep us working for another 100 yrs.That would be nice make money off the wood chips.Lets do it who's in?The price of pellets sky rocketed when there are enough people producing them and competition kicks in price will come down.

 

[ATH]

As long as I have access to trees, I will be burning wood.
...

There are factions with the EPA who are working on having a say in that

I was at the US Forest Service Forest Products Lab 3+ years ago and a researcher there at that time said that the unused, yet available for harvest wood in the US could supply 1/3 of our Country's fuel needs (with 2007 processing technology). So it does make sense to explore using this renewable resource. While there may be some downsides, I am pretty sure running out of wood is going to be one of those.

Regarding residential burning, there will always be folks who will want to burn "standard" firewood while others will look for the more effecient (and more expensive) newer technologies.

 

[The Count]

you know why I posted this?
I must have thinking out loud;
it is one thing to hear of it, like a tv news or a distant event and (to me) was altogether different thing to see a field of willow designated to that very purpose.....
I mean, I love the idea of not wasting anything, but....where it ends?
our children`s children won`t be able to hold a buck of wood in their hands? just twigs and pelets ?

on the other hand I have seen trees, oaks and such, hundred years old being preserved in parks; I just imagine how crowded it will be when I`ll go visit in order to see a tree.


as long as I have a garden, there will be a tree to cut !

 

[arborsoldier]

But, But ,But What will I do with my chain saws. They will be so lonely! Sniff, sniff poor little guys. Sitting collecting dust, useless. NEVER!!! I will give up my saws when you pry them from my cold dead fingers!!!!

 

[lxt]

If I'm not mistaken they have a process were they take are wood chips from trimming and compress them into pellets.I was looking into it was alot of money.Buy tub grinder and the pellet maker your in business and keep us working for another 100 yrs.That would be nice make money off the wood chips.Lets do it who's in?The price of pellets sky rocketed when there are enough people producing them and competition kicks in price will come down.

I have checked into this...... a hammermill & pellitizer with cooling tower, there not really that expensive, can be had for under 10 grand, however the "matrix dies" are what is expensive & the part you will go through!

The machine I was looking at produces 250+ lbs an hour, then you gotaa figure a ton of chips = how many pellets??? I did make a home made pellet maker......but the press & die only hold up for so long & to experiment is expensive.


LXT....................

 

[Ax-man]

Is there much difference in the carbon footprint we are leaving on our earth's atmosphere burning pellets verses burning firewood logs???? Are the pellets the lesser of two evils.

I kind of like the idea of the Willows being used for pellet wood. Reminds me of a place I went to in Nebraska for a weekend seminar. They heated the whole building during the cold months with Popular woodchips from a whole tree chipper. Those chips were much bigger than those that come out of a hand fed chipper and much nicer looking , very uniform looking with no little twigs.

It was a nice set-up. The truck dumped the load . Heat from the furnace was used to dry the chips on a conveyor before they went into the furnace. In addition to heating that huge building it also heated the water. Very efficient with a renewable supply.

 

[Tree Pig]

They heated the whole building during the cold months with Popular woodchips from a whole tree chipper.

If the trees they are using are that popular they are going to be running low eventually.

 

[ATH]

Is there much difference in the carbon footprint we are leaving on our earth's atmosphere burning pellets verses burning firewood logs???? Are the pellets the lesser of two evils.

Pellets burn more effecient and cleaner (less smoke). They are also cleaner to bring into the house and you don't need that many. Finally, some of the stoves have a hopper on them that will self feed the stove as needed so no need to get up at ungodly hours of the morning to stoke the stove or worry about being away for the weekend and coming home to a cold house. I think all of those factors make pellets attractive in the right market.

Is the carbon footprint less??? I think carbon footprint accounting is so sketchy/undeveloped you can make whatever you want have the footprint you want it to have. It is easy to show how much more effecient they burn, but how much energy does it take to make, transport, market, store, and transport again?

....Reminds me of a place I went to in Nebraska for a weekend seminar.....

Was that the Lied Lodge (National Arbor Day's place)? They have a poplar plantation on site they use for this.

 

[rmihalek]

I raked up a thousand pounds or so of leaves this fall. Maybe someone can collect them from my backyard and turn them into pellets?

 

[Ax-man]

ATH,

Yes, I think that was the place, sounds familiar.

 

[Ax-man]

It is a shame there isn't a little niche market for common wood chips that can be used for heating on a small scale. It would be a way to recoup money for a tree service.

I would rather see chips being used for heat instead of mulch.

 

[The Count]

not yet, but it will be.
I have contacted a company that grows willow for pelets and briquets and they also buy wood materia for 28 euro/ton. from what i remember the humidity must be no higher than 30%.
when our briqueting machine will be running, maybe wouldn`t be a bad idea to start a briject based on cultivating willow.
they say it is 1.700 euro/ hectar to start it and 25-30 years you just gather the fruits of your labor. also the willow can be used to clear the location (soil/water) from poluation factors.

 

[The Count]

can`t you guys that produce nice quality saw dust contract with local pet stores?
we have here 1 kg, 2 kg, 5 kg, 10 kg saw dust and there`s no cheap either.

 

[rarefish383]

It is a shame there isn't a little niche market for common wood chips that can be used for heating on a small scale. It would be a way to recoup money for a tree service.

I would rather see chips being used for heat instead of mulch.

Back in the 70's a company from Sweden contacted us looking for sales reps for a furnace that would burn chips and virtually any biodegrable material, quite effciently. We had 2 crews at the time and dumped about one full F600 with a 12 foot dump box 6' high per day. We were too small of an operation to utilize the thing, and not interested in changing careers. They had a ton of info on the furnaces that was very impressive. Lots of pics showing the things heating giant buildings with very little visable smoke coming from the stack. Never did any follow up on it though, Joe.