Biomass boilers

Last updated: January 4, 2010.

On chill winter days, our thoughts tend to turn, not surprisingly, to better ways of heating our homes. Here in the affluent developed world, we love the cosy-convenience of natural-gas, oil, and electric-powered central heating, though their dependence on fossil fuels could mean a heavy price for generations to come in the form of dramatic climate change. Meanwhile, many people living in developing countres still rely on wood fuel (pretty much the only reliable energy source humans had before the 19th century). Burning wood may seem primitive, but it's now enjoying a huge renaissance as one of the most environmentally friendly forms of home heating. Plants grown for their energy value are called biomass and you can now get home biomass boilers that are simple, convenient, and almost fully automatic. They're good for the planet and they can often work out good for your pocket—typically saving a great deal of money compared to the more expensive fuels such as oil and electricity. How they do work? Let's take a closer look!

Photo: Biomass is more environmentally friendly than other fuels. If it's a waste product of industry, burning it avoids sending it to landfill. Photo by Warren Gretz courtesy of US Department of Energy/NREL.

What is biomass?

Biomass is a fashionable, fancy word that really just means plants used as fuel (especially ones grown specifically for that reason). Wood fuel gathered by people in an African country is biomass; ethanol, used to make diesel for car engines, is also biomass; and chicken manure used to fire biomass power plants is biomass too. The great thing about biomass is that it's a kind of renewable energy: plants grow using sunlight, which they convert into chemical energy and store in their roots, shoots, and leaves. Burning biomass releases most of that energy as heat, which can we use to warm our homes, generate electricity, and fuel our vehicles.

Biomass is more environmentally friendly and sustainable than fuels such as coal for three main reasons. First, unlike coal (which takes many millions of years to form from plant remains), biomass can be produced very quickly and we can easily grow new plants or trees to replace the ones we cut down and burn (in other words, biomass can be genuinely sustainable). Second, plants absorb as much carbon dioxide from the air when they grow as they release when they burn, so in theory there is no net carbon dioxide released and burning biomass does not add to the problem of global warming. (That's why biomass is sometimes called a carbon neutral form of energy.) I say "in theory" because in practice growing, harvesting, and transporting biomass may use energy (tractors or trucks running on oil might well be involved, for example) and that reduces the overall environmental benefit. Third, biomass is often simply wasted or sent to landfill. Burning something like waste wood offcuts from a lumber yard or chicken manure from a poultry factory not only gives us energy, it also reduces the waste we'd otherwise need to dispose of.

What is a biomass boiler?

People tend to burn biomass in two ways. The simplest method is to use a wood-burning stove, an enclosed metal box made from something like cast iron, with opening doors at the front where the fuel is loaded up and a small smokestack called a flue to carry away carbon dioxide, smoke, steam, and so on. This generally provides heat in a single room, much like a traditional coal fire.

Photo: Right: Wood-burning stoves haven't changed all that much over the years, though modern ones are designed to burn their own waste gases so they generate less pollution. This traditional stove dating from the 1860s is at Fort Larned in Kansas and was designed to get soldiers through harsh winters. Photo by courtesy of US National Park Service: Fort Larned National Historic Site.

A biomass boiler is a more sophisticated option that can heat an entire building. Unlike a wood-burning stove, a biomass boiler does the same job as a central-heating boiler powered by natural gas, oil, or electricity: it can provide both your home heating and hot water and it can even power modern underfloor central heating. A biomass boiler is not at all like a dirty and labor-intensive coal-fire and doesn't require huge amounts of starting up, cleaning, or maintenance. All you have to do is load in your biomass (generally, you'd use wood pellets, wood chips, chopped logs, cereal plants, or a combination of them) and periodically (typically every 2-8 weeks, depending on the appliance) empty out the ash, which you can recycle on your compost.

While wood-burning stoves have to be manually filled up with logs, biomass boilers are often completely automated: they have a large fuel hopper on the side that automatically tops up the furnace whenever necessary. Unlike with a coal fire, you don't have to mess around trying to get the fuel lit: biomass boilers have simple, electric ignition systems that do it all for you. It's perfectly possible to run a biomass boiler all year round, but in summertime when you don't need home heating it might be excessive to have your boiler running purely to make hot water. Many people switch off their biomass boilers entirely for the summer, relying on solar thermal hot water systems (glass panels on the roof that warm up water using the Sun's heat), electrical immersion heaters (a heating element fitted inside a hot water tank), or an electric shower to tide them through until fall or winter. It's perfectly possible to couple together a biomass boiler with a solar hot-water panel so the boiler switches on when the panel can't produce enough hot water for your needs.

Biomass boilers and wood-burning stoves are generally considered to be far more environmentally friendly than home heating systems powered by fossil fuels, but one drawback is worth bearing in mind: burning biomass is cleaner than burning coal but still produces air pollution. If you're considering buying a biomass stove or boiler, ask about emissions (sales brochures usually mention how much dust, carbon monoxide, and oxides of nitrogen appliances produce); and be sure to find out whether there are pollution or other planning restrictions in your area before you commit yourself to an expensive purchase. And as with any form of home heating that involves burning fuel, be absolutely sure to install a carbon monoxide detector for your own safety and health: badly ventilated heating appliances can kill, whether they're environmentally friendly or not!

Photo: Biomass boilers scale up very well: this is a 50megawatt power plant in Burlington, Vermont that produces electricity for local people using wood fuel. Photo by Dave Parsons courtesy of US Department of Energy/NREL.