Firewood suppliers Suffolk - Wood Burning Solutions.

Firewood as a renewable fuel

Fire wood has been used for thousands of years to heat homes, unlike coal, oil or natural gas. Fossil fuels have only been commonly used for domestic use for a century or so.

The fact is that firewood has been used for far longer and isn't in danger of running out. There is only a finite amount of any fossil fuel available. While experts disagree on when the various fossil fuels will run out, from a couple of decades to another century, there is no doubt that they will. OK, technically, fossil fuels are 'renewable', the problem is that we'll all have to wait a hundred million years or so until there are any more available.

Firewood is possibly one of the most reliable sources of renewable energy for heating your home. Solar and wind have their place, but are limited by the weather (an iffy prospect in the UK). Whereas wood grows at a regular rate, year in, year out. Firewood is carbon neutral (in and of itself), it releases no more carbon into the atmosphere than it absorbed during the growth of the tree. If you source your fire wood (as we do) from a sustained source then the tree planted in replacement will absorb all of that carbon again.

Taking into the entire process of planting, felling, processing and transporting, fire wood is not entirely carbon neutral as there are likely to be fossil fuels consumed during these activities (the diesel in the lorry moving the timber for instance). However, as most properly managed sources of firewood will plant at least two trees for each on cut down, this additional carbon is offset.