BACK TO THE FUTURE FOR WOOD AS A FUEL IN KINTYRE

The opportunities and advantages of using locally grown wood as the sustainable, environmentally friendly heating fuel of the future will be highlighted at an event in Campbeltown next Wednesday. (27th October)

And local people, from house owners to the owners and managers of business buildings, are welcome to attend the free seminar in the Ardshiel Hotel.

Highland Wood Fuel Development Programme project officer Rebecca Carr, of Forestry Commission Scotland, explained,

"Wood is emerging as an important fuel of the future as part of the Government's and Scottish Executive's drive for increasing the proportion of our energy that is produced from sustainable sources.

"Modern technology has enabled the production of a new generation of wood-fuelled boilers that use clean, convenient chips and pellets, and which are easy to use and economical to operate.

"Scotland has an abundance of wood from its growing area of sustainably managed forests that can be turned into chips or pellets to stock these new boilers. Wednesday's seminar will highlight the opportunities that are now becoming available in Kintyre to build on the projects developed by ALIenergy and use modern, wood-burning technology to heat homes, offices, hotels, factories, swimming pools or whole communities.

"You could say we're going back to the future - for most of our history, wood and peat were the main heating fuels in Highland homes and buildings until coal, oil and gas began to be brought in. However, wood is coming back into its own now that we are looking more and more to sustainable fuels to reduce the effects of climate change and depletion of the Earth's non-renewable resources."

There is no fee to attend the seminar, which includes lunch. Anyone wanting to attend should reserve a place with Rebecca Carr, Forestry Commission Scotland, Woodlands, Fodderty Way, Dingwall IV15 9XB; telephone 01349 862004 / 862144; fax: 01349 866624; e-mail: rebecca.carr@forestry.gsi.gov.uk

NOTES TO EDITOR:

1. Media representatives attending the seminar should report to Rebecca Carr, 01349 866004 / 862144, mobile 07717 618650.
2. The Wood Fuel Development Programme in the Highlands was developed by the Highlands & Islands Wood Fuel Group. It is using £216,900 from the European Regional Development Fund to help get boilers installed at a range of buildings, such as those owned by small and medium-sized businesses and community groups. The EU grant is being supplemented by match-funding from Highlands & Islands Enterprise and funding from the Scottish Community & Householder Renewables Initiative (SCHRI), which is sponsored by the Scottish Executive. As a result, building owners and wood-chip suppliers have a grants fund worth nearly half a million pounds available to draw on. Their own, matching contributions towards the costs will bring the project value up to nearly £1 million.
3. The fund helps building owners with the costs of installing boilers, boiler houses, and hoppers with which to feed wood chips into the boilers. It also helps wood chip suppliers to buy and install the equipment, such as chippers, grading equipment and drying sheds, that they need to supply customers with chips.
4. It is expected that in many cases the wood-powered heating systems will replace systems that currently use fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gas. Fossil fuel reserves cannot be replaced once they are used up, but Scotland's forests are constantly being replaced as they are harvested. The replacement trees reabsorb the carbon from the atmosphere that the previous trees release when they are burned. Therefore when wood replaces fossil fuels there is no nett increase in carbon emissions to the atmosphere from burning wood from sustainably managed forests, and nor does burning wood from such forests deplete the Earth's resources. The Scottish Executive is committed to increasing Scotland's energy production from renewable sources to 40 per cent of the total by 2020.
5. The chips are made from the "co-products" produced by sawmills, such as the outer parts of logs that are being sawn into planks, and from "low-grade" wood from forestry operations.
6. The Highlands & Islands Wood Fuel Group comprises Forestry Commission Scotland, Highlands & Islands Enterprise, Highland Council, Argyll & Bute Council, ALIenergy, the Forestry & Timber Association, Communities Scotland, Highland Birchwoods, North Highland Forest Trust and Scottish Natural Heritage.
7. Ms Carr helps and advises applicants, and helps to bring suppliers and customers together in local "clusters". She works closely with the Community Energy Unit and ALIenergy, which administers the SCHRI, to develop a sustainable market for wood fuel.
8. Modern, wood-fired boilers can be used for both space and water heating. They are especially suited to buildings with a constant demand for heat, such as hotels, offices, schools, hospitals, care homes and factories. They can be fed with chips from automated hoppers that only need refilling at intervals ranging from a few days to more than a week, depending on their size.
9. Scotland's wood supply is growing and there is considerable capacity to expand the use of wood chips for fuel. Annual wood production is set to grow from about 5 million tonnes at present to nearly 10 million tonnes by 2020 as new forests planted in the late 20th century reach maturity and are harvested for the first time.
10. Wood-fuelled heating is a tried and tested technology, especially in Scandinavia and Austria. For example, wood supplies more than 20 per cent of Finland's primary energy consumption.
11. The Highlands & Islands Special Transitional Programme is part of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The project received funding under the ERDF's Priority 2 - "Creating the Conditions for Regional Competitiveness, Measure 3 - Improvement of provision of energy networks, energy efficiency and sustainable exploitation of renewable energy potential".
12. Forestry Commission Scotland serves as the Scottish Executive's forestry department. It manages nearly 667,000 hectares of national forest land owned by Scottish Ministers to provide multiple benefits including public recreation, timber production and nature conservation; supports other woodland owners with grants, felling licences, advice and regulation; and advises Ministers on forestry policy.

• Forestry Commission Scotland :
  Rebecca Carr, project officer, 01349 866004 or 862144.
  Charlton Clark, press office, 0131 314 6507; mobile 07810 181067;
  Bob Dunsmore, Highland Conservator of Forests, 01349 862144.
  
• Highlands & Islands Enterprise – Stan Arnaud, communications department, 01463 244244; e-mail: stan.arnaud@hient.co.uk