What is Biomass?

Biomass is the name given to fuels which are made totally from non-fossil sources. There are basically two different kinds of Biomass. “Woody” biomass contains forest products, wood from short rotation coppicing and untreated wood products, whilst “Non-Woody” Biomass is comprised of animal waste, commercial and industrial biodegradable by-products and high energy crops such as rape or sugar cane. In a domestic setting Biomass usually take the form of pellets or chips.

The Benefits

Environmentally, the benefits of using Biomass fuel are considerable. It is considered to be carbon neutral as the CO2 produced when it is burned is balanced by the amount absorbed during its production. The second benefit is that it is often made from materials which would otherwise be placed in landfill sites.

The benefits to your wallet are not quite so straight forward. If you have a local supplier, then Biomass can be a economical way to heat your home. If you have to order it from elsewhere, the cost obviously goes up, whilst the environmental benefits go down (fuel used to transport it, etc, makes it not so carbon neutral). You also have to consider the cost of having a Biomass heater or boiler fitted (more on that in a moment).

How Biomass is used

Biomass can be used in two main ways to bring heat and energy into your home. The first is by burning it in a stand alone heater. These look like normal log-burning stoves and can be fitted in the majority of homes in the UK. There are many types available, with more and more styles being produced all the time. Most only allow the use of pellets or logs. The automatic feed version can only use pellets (and will be more expensive).

The second way Biomass can be used is in a Boiler. These can be used to heat your water and central heating systems. You can get boilers with automatic feed systems, but these are considerably more expensive to buy. It is also possible to get a Biomass room heater with a back boiler to heat your water.

Both Models shown available to buy from http://www.treco.co.uk/home/

Lets Talk Money

Buying and having a Biomass heater or boiler fitted is not exactly cheap at the moment, although prices are slowly coming down as more products become available. A fairly standard Biomass heater will cost around £3000 installed. You can pay a lot more for some models. A boiler will be upwards of £5000 installed (including flue, etc) and could easily cost more than £10,000. Compared to a price of maybe £1600 to buy and install a good quality combi gas boiler it may seem incredibly expensive. Grants are available for both types of product, which could save you up to 30% of the total cost.

If you do get yourself a Biomass boiler, you can expect to save around £200 a year on your heating bill. More importantly, you will be saving 7-8 tonnes of CO2 each year.