The Irish Bioenergy Association (IrBEA) has previously submitted an outline proposal to the Department of Communications, Climate Action and the Environment for the regulation by the Department of the moisture content of firewood for sale for domestic combustion. This document updates the previous proposal and suggests a pathway and timeline for regulation of the moisture content of firewood for sale.
The objectives of the proposal to regulate the moisture content of firewood for sale are:

• To contribute to improving air quality in Ireland in the context of the developing Clean air
  Strategy, the recent EPA report Air Quality in Ireland 20181, and the CAFE Directive, and
• To enable the continued use of sustainable firewood fuel in domestic heating as a replacement
  for fossil fuel and thereby contribute to climate change mitigation.

Read the full document here

McCauley Wood Fuels is a family owned business and a leading biomass and wood fuel supplier in Ireland. Based in County Leitrim, an area known for having a high level of forest cover, the region they are in the heart of has significant suitability and potential in terms of biomass production. The business is operated by Kenny McCauley along with his father Brian; began in 2008 and with ongoing investment in production and equipment they have steadily grown the business.
The primary motivation for McCauley Wood Fuels is to displace Carbon intensive fuels such as oil, gas and peat. Using locally grown wood biomass, they provide a fuel source that allows both homeowners and businesses to move towards Carbon neutrality. Ireland is particularly well suited to biomass production, given the climate, soil types and existing agricultural industry.
Not only does wood biomass provide a Carbon neutral energy source, in most cases it is also very cost effective, particularly where there is a large and consistent heating demand. As a result, typical consumers of the wood biomass produced by McCauley Wood Fuels are industrial operations, farming enterprises (poultry, pig, and fruit/veg), as well as hotels and leisure centres.
A typical week at McCauley Wood Fuels sees the dispatch of enough wood chip to heat the equivalent of 4,500 households, or 36% of the households in County Leitrim – Displacing fossil fuels with carbon neutral, WFQA certified wood biomass for Renewable Heat.
Over the past three years, the McCauley’s have increased production to over 10,000 tonnes per annum – equating to roughly 400 truckloads and enough biomass to displace approximately 4 million litres of fossil fuel oil per year – all with wood grown in Leitrim and surrounding counties.

IrBEA responded to the Department of Environment, Climate Action and Communication  consultation on the draft National Air Pollution Control Programme (NAPCP) before the January 22nd deadline. The main points raised in the IrBEA response were as follows:

• The draft NAPCP recognises proposals for roll out of a large number of heat pumps in domestic homes over the next decade. IrBEA highlighted that heat pumps will only be able to partially decarbonise our economy considering the cost of retrofit, availability of labour and age profile / energy efficiency of the housing stock across the country.
• The decarbonisation of heat will need to include wood fuel systems in domestic houses, particularly in larger and older houses and those in rural areas.
• Less than half of Irelands heating requirements are at temperatures suitable for heat pumps.
• Any heating above 60OC will need to be decarbonised using a technology other than a heat pumps and bioenergy has a major part to play at all temperatures.
• The use of properly designed appliances for wood fuels have a dramatic impact on particulate emissions

Decarbonising Irelands housing stock is a significant task that needs to be undertaken in the next 15 to 20 years. Current plans call for deep retrofitting 60,000 houses per year for the next 10 years so that these houses reduce their heating demand to a level suitable for heat pumps, or other low heat systems. With Ireland struggling to build 30,000 houses per year for a variety of reasons including labour shortages it is obvious that the plan to deep retrofit 600,000 houses by 2030 can not be achieved. Biomass heating with wood pellet boilers or gasification boilers offer the opportunity to dramatically reduce carbon emissions from houses traditionally using oil and peat, and to do so at much less cost than the deep retrofit / heat pump model. In this webinar we will discuss the costs and practicality of converting houses to biomass, and will discuss with technology providers the options available for householders.
View the live Webinar here and the presentation slides here
Speakers
Ger Crosse - WoodCo Renewable Energy
WoodCo Renewable Energy has become a leading manufacturer and supplier of residential and commercial Biomass Boiler systems. Their manufacturing facility is located in Tipperary, they have supplied over 4,000 boilers worldwide. Installations include pigs, mushroom and poultry farms, care homes, hotels & leisure centres.
In recent years, the company’s Research and Development team have begun to focus on complex waste-to-energy systems and Woodco has won several awards including the prestigious Green Product Award in 2018.

Colm Byrne - Glas Energy
Biomass combustion is a complex process from forest to flue. Often design issues only arise after many years of operation. It was for this reason that in 2005 Glas Energy decided to partner with one of Europe’s industry leaders, HDG Bavaria. Built on a tradition of heating with timber the Bavarian company manufacture a highly reliable efficient range of boilers to manage all wood-based fuels including sawdust, shavings, chip, pellet and solid timber. In this webinar Colm will speak about 15 years of experience with wood Gasification boilers in Ireland. He will highlight the importance of setting expectations, system design and components and the essential role that solid timber can and needs to play as a fuel source for both the rural home, local economy and national targets.

IrBEA Panelist
Noel Gavigan - IrBEA Technical Executive (Chair)

Wood and biomass used for heating have the lowest emissions of carbon of all dispatchable renewable heating systems, reducing emissions by as much as 94% from that of using heating oil. Wood fuel quality is an essential component of ensuring the maximum efficiency, minimising harmful emissions, and ensuring that heating appliances are maintained. In this webinar IrBEA will hear from two WFQA certified suppliers of wood fuels. They will discuss the aspects of producing consistent quality fuels, the benefits for consumers and how this has positively assisted their businesses to confidently supply the market, and to grow their own market share. The future for wood fuels is directly linked to the need to decarbonise our economies. Wood fuels predominantly come from forest and sawmill residues, ensuring that forest management can utilise all the woody material in the forest, with little waste and maximize utilisation of our resources. View the live Webinar here and the presentation slides here

Speakers
John Sherlock – Sherlogs
A Certified Wood Fuel Quality Assurance Supplier based in Navan, Co Meath
Ken McCauley - McCauley Wood Fuels
A Certified Wood Fuel Quality Assurance Supplier based in Mohill Co Leitrim
Noel Gavigan – IrBEA Technical Director (Chair)

This webinar, the fourth in the ‘IrBEA Bioenergy Webinar Series 2020’.  Bioenergy Europe shared their expert knowledge and insights. Secretary General, Jean-Marc Jossart outlined how the Bioenergy sector can contribute to 32% renewable energy target by 2030 as set out in the Renewable Energy Directive II (RED II). The European Green Deal recently published by the EU Commission, has an overarching aim of making Europe climate neutral by 2050. Noel Gavigan IrBEA Executive also presents, he addresses the role  the Bioenergy sector can play in Ireland in contributing to reduced emissions. A recording of the two presentations and Q&A can be found HERE and the presentations slides HERE