Biomass heating

Biomass is a generic term referring to organic materials that can be used as fuels (sometimes called bio-feedstock). Biomass differs from fossil fuels because of the timescale required for its regeneration and replacement. Whilst both take carbon out of the environment during their creation, before releasing it when used as a fuel, fossil fuels deplete much much faster than they can be replaced (by thousand of years in the natural cycle) so are not sustainable whereas biomass can be replaced in cycles of between 10 and 50 years depending on the fuel used, and so may be considered 'carbon neutral'.

Solid bioenergy options include woodchips and pellets. Using these types of biomass fuel as a heating source is well established across Europe and the UK. The use of biomass as an energy source is traditionally through combustion within a biomass boiler, providing hot water. This technology can be a central boiler supplying heat via district heating or individual biomass stoves or boilers in each property.

Biomass fuel can also be used to generate power through Combined Heat and Power (CHP) technology. Smallscalebiomass CHP systems are in development, but they are still considered to be an emerging technology. The specific requirements of a biomass CHP system are similar to a biomass boiler, with the notable difference being additional spacerequirements, particularly height.