You may have noticed a barrage of negative press coverage recently about the sustainability and low carbon credentials of biomass. All of it relates to old scare stories that have been thoroughly de-bunked in the past but re-heated by our “friends” in the fossil fuel industry.
It even included a bizarre accusation published in The Times from one company that London’s “toxic air” problem was because of people burning biomass. Let me analyse that for three nanoseconds, a) there aren’t any biomass boilers in London, just the occasional person using an open fire and b) what about the 3.5 million diesel cars and vans* in London?
It’s curious why the fossil fuel lobby keep trotting out these old stories, especially in the face of all the latest evidence from Eurostat showing that total forest cover in the EU, USA and UK has been on a continuous growth curve for 50 years.
Why? Because we’re making real inroads into their old fashioned fuel markets and will continue to do so.
As a business, we’re very focused on ensuring our pellets really deliver a low carbon energy source. That’s one of the reasons why we manufacture on the South West coast of Scotland, in Girvan.
Not only do we process in the UK but all the timber we use is UK-sourced and has exceptionally short supply chains; in 2015, the average distance was 56Km. We use sea transport wherever possible to minimise road movements and fossil fuel use.
Feedstock traceability and re-stocking is critically important and we use UK timber sourced under the FSC certification scheme and the Forest Standard and we can be confident that for every tree we use at least one is planted to replace it.
We’re also firmly in the Sterling zone and since the Brexit vote on the 23rd June we have not had to manage the volatility of currency fluctuations; we buy and sell in Sterling and can fix long term energy supply contracts for up to 20 years.
Join us in backing British forestry production and manufacturing. To discuss our fixed price wood pellet contacts call Hugh Montgomery on 01465 716025.
*Source: Department of Transport
