Fuel Pellets And Climate Change

Our planets climate is changing, in no small part to our heavy use of fossil fuels. This negative effect comes from the fact we are altering the climate of our planet through releasing additional carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The green house effect is increased through rising levels of CO2. What this means is the carbon reflects the suns energy back to the earth instead of it escaping through the atmosphere, hence a rise in temperatures. Therefore our source of energy has to change from oil and gas to other alternatives, which do not place additional carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Some renewable energy do not affect the carbon cycle in anyway, these are wind, solar and wave. Biomass, which is any form or organic material, which can be used as a fuel, is carbon neutral, however it does involve burning the biomass to release its energy. So how can this be carbon neutral I hear you ask? Well put simply, the carbon released through biomass combustion was absorbed from previous biomass, and as long as more biomass resources are grown to replace the used biomass, no additional carbon dioxide is placed into the atmosphere.

What Are Wood Pellets Used In?

What are pellets and what are they used for, is a question many people today still ask. Their uses and need has changed over the last century, and will continue to change into the future. So what is a pellet, and how can it impact on our energy future. Put simply a pellet is a compressed form of a material. Pellets come in various different shapes and sizes, depending on their intended use. For example, the main original use for pellets was for animal feed. Different animals require different specific diets, vitamins and minerals to keep healthy. By mixing a specific feed mix together and then compressing it into pellets creates a standardised feed, which can be easily stored and rationed out to the animals. Another key use with animals in mind that came about, was for bedding. Animal bedding and particularly horse bedding has been traditionally straw or wood shavings. However, complications can arise from the high dust content of these raw materials, and the breathing health of the animals. A dust free and more absorbent bedding is produced through compression into pellets.

Biomass Pellet Boiler In Addition To The Require For Premium Fuel Pellet Competition

One of the key compensation of pellet energy, compared to most solid energy heating answers is the automated systems which pellets can be used in. The hopper on the biomass pellet boiler or biomass pellet stove has a flexible speed or timed feeding auger to meter the required amount of fuel into the burn pot to achieve the most wanted heat. As by way of open fires or basic log stoves and boilers, constant attention is required to see if the fire needs feeding by fuel. By a wood pellet boiler or biomass pellet stove the owner can be confident that the hopper will feed the fire for at least a day in addition to in most cases quite a few days. Hopper extensions can be fitted to many biomass pellet boilers to extend the the burn time into weeks. In Europe, where wood pellet production has been firmly established for over a decade, the large external hopper is a standard request. The large external hopper will hold several months if not a years worth of fuel for the wood pellet boiler. Energy pellets will be carried from the large external hopper to the integrated hopper on the wood pellet boiler via a flexible auger. In Germany for case, the biomass pellet boiler is frequently fitted in the basement of the property. This way an mess generated from the cleaning the boiler is not within the living space, plus also more heat is captured from the wood pellet boiler into the property. Due the location of the pellet boiler, in many cases the large external hopper is positioned under the drive, adjacent to the wood pellet boiler in the basement. To fill the hopper, the owner will arrange a tanker delivery. The tank will blow pellets into the hopper via a removable grate in the drive. Depending on the size of the hopper, the hopper may call for to be filled quite a lot of times in a heating season or just once. This type of installation is clearly more expensive, though there is a substantial reduction in manual maintenance.

Wood Pellet Fireplace Along With Additional Options To Oil In Addition To Gas

To use wood pellet energy in your place they are two options. Firstly to use a straightforward pellet basket, plus burn the wood pellets as an open fire or within a stove. The second choice it to install a pellet stove also known as a pellet stove insert into the fireplace. A pellet stove insert has the same mechanism plus internal design of a pellet stove. However the exterior of the pellet stove has been designed to install into the fireplace as more of an integrated unit. The only other changes which may be constructed is the access to fill the wood pellet hopper. So what sort of warmth output should you expect to get from a wood pellet fireplace insert. Well really this depends on the type of unit you obtain, but you can get between 5 up to 15Kw units. The smaller units will be used purely to warmth the room where the fireplace is located. This way convection warmth into the room, with most wood pellet fireplace inserts having fan assisted units pushing the air around along with heating up the colder air. There are some biomass pellet fireplace stoves which also have an integrated back boiler. The back boiler can be connected up to your existing central heating system to warmth the rest of your property. Therefore a biomass pellet fireplace can turn a heating source which has been very inefficient for generations into a highly proficient warmth source to heat the whole property with a low carbon fuel source.

Wood Pellet Insert Along With The Payback Of Wood Fuel Pellets

There are a variety of forms of biomass pellet burning solutions including the wood pellet insert. The pellet insert refers to a fitted pellet stove into an existing fireplace. The look of a biomass pellet inert is of a more integrated in addition to purpose build solution instead of a pellet stove positioned somewhere in the room. Depending on the temperature output of the biomass pellet insert, it can either be used to generate ample temperature for the living room where it is located or to heat several rooms, or even the whole property. Some wood pellet inserts come fitted with a back boiler to connect to an existing central heating system for better heat distribution. The design, features along with required maintenance are essentially the same as a pellet stove, in fact practically all wood pellet inserts are based around existing pellet stove models. The only main difference maybe the loading space of the pellet fuel hopper.

Biomass Pellet Boilers As Well As Energy Consumption Along With Grass Pellets

Using biomass pellets as the main heating source for many properties will rely on the abilities plus heat output of wood pellet boilers over wood pellet stoves. Biomass pellet boilers have a greater heat output than most pellet stoves. The pellet boiler will be connected up to your existing central heating system to distribute warmth throughout the whole property by way of radiators. Some consumers can also choose multi-energy biomass pellet boilers. For instance, the Tatano biomass pellet boiler we use at PelHeat is also a log boiler is most wanted. On the other hand, I can tell you from personal experience that incineration logs requires a lot more maintaince than combustion pellets. Even when the burn chamber is full with logs, it still requires a refill every couple of hours. Even when we are burning straw pellets which need the clinker removing, the boiler will operate for over 6 hours without any maintenance. The Tatano boiler, plus some other biomass pellet boilers on the market, also has the choice to fit an extra gas or oil burner to the back of the boiler. The advantage with this feature is some consumers are not certain on the reliability of pellet energy and also the resource of pellet energy. Therefore the burner from your existing oil or gas boiler can be separated along with fitting into your new wood pellet boiler.