Unsustainability:
Wood Chips in Warwickshire

I am frequently contacted by ordinary scientists and engineers who are angry that the BBC, a taxpayer-funded organization, is failing to comment on energy and climate matters in an unbiased manner.

The following piece is a good example of what the BBC will refuse to report ... it concerns a large property in the East Midlands.

....A big farm estate near me decided to change from oil fire to wood chip burning for heating for the main house and some estate workers’ houses. After weeks of work the installation was completed and the boiler fired up.

Before start-up, many of the estate trees had been cut down and chipped, some of the trees being very old and mature. The wood chips were piled up ready for use.

Recently the system was started, checked out and seemed to work well with the initial stock of wood chips. However, this week, there has been bad trouble with severe smoke from the furnace and reduced heating. Some of the surrounding houses now smell like a garden bonfire.

The problem was found to be that much of the stock of wood chips was very wet because all the chips had been left in piles out in the open, exposed to rain.

In order to overcome the problem, the wood chips are being dried in an oil fired grain dryer and it will now be necessary to construct a big storage facility for the wood chips.

It has now been found that the estate does not have enough trees to allow it to run on its own resources. Consequently, they will have to purchase wood chips and this will make the system no cheaper than the original oil fired system.

(sent to me by a retired engineer living in Warwickshire.)



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