Chris,

Local wood can be used in wood burning stoves. It is important the wood is dry (below 25% water content) otherwise most of the heat value of the wood is used to drive off the water.

Many of the people who purchased wood burners are finding it difficult to source local wood, especially wood that has the correct low moisture content.

However for biomass to really compete with oil, bottled gas, natural gas and coal for central heating, it really needs an automatic fuel feed. On large commercial boilers that can be achieved with wood chips available from the DAFF St John facility.

Unfortunately the size of the wood store and feed auger required for chips mean they do not really work at a domestic level.

Fuel pellets are the answer as they have 5 times the energy content of chips per cubic meter and flow just like a liquid,making delivery, storage and handling almost as easy as oil.

from Peter Taylor

Wilf highlight
Well actually the Chairman and Chief Executive have been to a Renewable Energy Conference in the U K to be made aware of 'future technologies that we need to utilise in the future for our ongoing energy security which drives our economy'

Does it not rather miss the point that we would still be importing energy which means the money to pay for it will still leave the Isle of Man Economy.

It might be worth pointing out that around 80% of the renewable low carbon energy in the world is currently derived from Biomass, if you exclude large scale hydro.

Has the MEA done any studies to look at the future potential of Biomass ?

If it has , why not publish the results so that we ( the effective shareholders) can see the data and conclusions. What is there that needs to be kept secret, I cannot switch and purchase my electricity from a competitor to the MEA ?

This news item headline on the MEA website certainly caught my attention. Solar power for the Isle of Man will mean less fossil fuel being imported - wow I want some! When can I have it? Ah not just yet, but maybe in 15 to 20 years time according to Chairman Quentin Gill and that's 'with appropriate political will and investment' 'The Desertec Concept' would require 1.5 square miles of the Moroccan Desert developing with solar thermal power generators and the construction of a European grid. So why is this an M E A news item? Well actually the Chairman and Chief Executive have been to a Renewable Energy Conference in the U K to be made aware of 'future technologies that we need to utilise in the future for our ongoing energy security which drives our economy'.

All these aspirations could be met here, right now on the Isle of Man by developing our own home grown biomass energy industry.
All that's needed is the 'appropriate political will and investment'.