Gasification- If you see Sid , tell him.

There are a number of features which set modern wood burning (MWB) boilers apart from their more traditional stove or furnace counterparts.

One key aspect of all MWB boilers is gasification, a clever way of burning waste gasses from wood making it about 70% more efficient and a cracking word to remember for Scrabble.

Gasification is, in its simplest form a means of converting the heat energy stored in wood into a gas which can then be burnt. The technology is not new. During World War II, Million’s of vehicles (over 1million in Europe alone) ran on wood. I knew nothing about this before I started today’s blog and I hope you will forgive me if I diverge from boilers to cars for a moment

Wood gasification is a pretty efficient way to power vehicles. Modern research is showing figures of around one pound of wood (say an average sized bit of firewood) per mile. Limiting factors are wood tank size and the need to reload the boiler. Efficiency levels with modern wood fuelled cars are easily comparable to electric cars and in some cases, petrol ones.

It seems crazy, given the sustainability of forest cycles and wood (and the fact that we cannot eat it), that in Brazil vital rainforests are being cleared to plant a food crop (sugar cane) for conversion to Ethanol when wood could do the same thing so very simply.

Land that functions as the planets lungs is cleared to grow food that is then turned into fuel. The soil is nutrient poor in cleared rainforest land so will only grow the crop for a short time, hence more rainforest destruction etc- (a cycle of destruction).

This Ethanol business is, by the way being seen as an example of sustainable fuel production.(cue – silent scream and deep breath)

You can go around the world with a saw and an axe (John Dutch)

(John has presumably not passed through a UK airport recently)

This diagram shows how gasification works in MWB’s

To quote from GWI fact-sheet 2

"When wood is burnt with a natural (upwards) flame, the wood burns quite fast and waste gases from it go up the chimney, as is the case with an open fire. An open fire is about 30 % efficient so about 70 % of potential heat is wasted".

Wood gasification uses a downward burning flame and a tightly controlled air flow to smoulder the wood. The waste gases produced, (about 70% of the total heat values of the fuel) are then burnt. This has numerous advantages in terms of fuel efficiency (often 90%+) less emissions and ash, a long life for the firebox and longer re-fuelling periods”. Creosote build up on flues and sooting  of glass panels is also much reduced.

In short if you want to burn wood- gasify it. If you do anything else, you are just blowing hot gas out of your chimney!

The Hazel Stigma (in focus)

Talented Glenlyon photographer Colin Wilson has sent us a picture showing the colours of the stigma or flower of the Hazel bud . As can be seen Colin has no problem focusing in on hazels and we can therefore see the flower in all its glory.
Looking at it we can perhaps ponder both the earlier question of the Dulux colour-match and indeed, assuming they could match it we can also wonder at the possible joys that may await one who has the rooms of their house painted hazel vermilion.
Thank you for the excellent picture Colin.

That groovy kachelofen Scene

I have a lot to do during this feasibility study. One key to success will be to keep it simple. Each area of research broken down and looked at in small manageable components all leading to a greater sum of knowledge. Alongside research into the practicalities of the scheme, I must also communicate the idea to the glen community in a realistic way, providing enough information to people that they can really understand what they are looking at.
One way to do this through fact-sheets on specific topics; brief introductions to concepts related to the project that hopefully provide a basic understanding of the subject. To date there have been 2 fact-sheets, one on the RHI and the other on modern wood burning technology (both will be available on the website). There are things about this topic that need particular mention and I will be focusing on this for a little while.
In the meantime however- lets step back to some really basic and very cool heating systems, the Kachelofen or Ceramic Stove.
That's one there with the knobbly bits on. They are obviously a way in which one can express one's own style and taste.
As you can see for fans of the 70's European tile scene, there could be a lot of pleasure in typing Kachelofen into Google images. This next image however resembles a more typical Kachelofen as a warmed communal seating area.
Kachelofen's are large thermal masses that warm rooms and houses in an efficient and gentle way. A slow burning fire is lit in the kachelofen, and a clever use of flue pipes allows the kachelofen to warm up (never to hot too touch) and be a general heat source, radiating heat out. I suppose an equivalent comparison is an AGA or Rayburn and the way they heat the kitchen. kachelofen, however can be situated centrally, or for a specific purpose.
They burn very little wood, staying warm for a long time. Larger systems can have ducting that distributes warm air around the house. Modern adaptations include integrated heat exchangers for underfloor heating, radiators or hot water.
They really are quite fascinating for the range of designs www.fauser-ofenbau.de and www.prometheus-kachelofen.eu are good sites for contemporary styles.
This Kachelofen also has a Pizza oven and can heat pans and that all important kettle.

The hazel Catkin- Precursor of Spring

A common topic at this time of year is the advent of Spring. Birds, squirrels, field mice, frogs and insects can not only be seen again, but can be seen to be busy. The grass is slowly starting to grow, bulbs are sprouting and for the birches the sap is rising. Its tempting to believe that spring is here, and that soon the leaves will be out. That may be the case in some parts of the UK, but 15 years in Glenlyon have taught me that we will be waiting a while yet.
In the meantime we have a beautiful sylvan green precursor, the Hazel catkin, a important source of food for emerging butterflies and a tricky thing to photograph with a digital camera and a bit of a breeze.
The catkins hang like silk worms or similar, slightly ethereal and very fresh looking against the wintered vegetation. Close up they appear random. From further they are a shifting cloud of green.
These catkins are sometimes eaten by birds as well as insects and combined with the nuts that will be produced later in the year make hazel one of our most important food trees for wildlife. Deer also love to ravage hazel bushes, eating bark, shoots and buds and it can often be this that causes so many hazel to coppice naturally.
So, while we wait for the green of spring to eventually wind its way up the glen, take a look at these hazel catkins. If you look really closely at some point you will the tiny little female pollen receptors open. Their scarlet red colour is very special and vivid, the kind of colour you suspect Dulux will not be featuring on their-colour matching paint adverts anytime soon.

A logo design from a local artist.

This is the logo design for GWI from talented local artist. Ashley Dudley Smith. Ashley and I have worked together on this design for some time, taking it from a fledgling idea of a symbol to represent the aspirations and sustainable ethos of GWI. When I say worked together, I mean that I said to Ashley " We want something that represents the glen, warm houses, wood, simplicity and renewable sustainable cycles, also employment, community and....... Ashley looked at me and took a deep breath.

Some time later we worked through sample designs. We realised that it is difficult to have conifers and broadleaves in your logo without looking like the Forestry Commission or a similar forestry body. We observed how stylised trees, framed in a circle look like the RKO Radio mast on full broadcast mode. We also saw that the roofs of cottages made to look like mountains (representing the glen) did not really look like either.

Anyway Ashley worked on and has produced this encapsulation of the ideas of GWI. Like many of Ashley's designs, you can see more in it, the longer you look. The circle represents sustainability, and the unbroken cycle of fuelwood that thinnings and coppice can provide, while the tree, intrinsically links to nature and woodland, wood use, firewood and heat. The tree meanwhile, seems to bear the burden of the house (its environmental footprint perhaps) without strain. The chimney has no smoke emerging because with efficient modern woodburners, there pretty much is no smoke .
Well done Ashley!

Great News. We have been successful in our application for some hazel trees to plant as a coppice resource in Glenlyon. Victor Clements who works for Scottish Native Woods in Aberfeldy helped us to get the trees, tubes and stakes from E- Forests- Good stuff Victor. Thank You.
The 300 hazels (with tubes and Stakes) are coming to us around the end of the month and will be planted in April. The planting should be a fun day as both Glenlyon Primary School and members of the local community work together to create a heat resource for the future, as well as a pleasant habitat corridor and potential source of food for insects, birds squirrels and humans.

Here be Cable

There is an interesting symbolism here also. Loch Archie, the planting site currently has space for more trees, due to an underground power cable having recently been buried along the top edge of the site. The cable is to take renewable energy from the new hydro schemes in Glenlyon to the outside world. We will therefore be creating (planting) one new renewable source of energy (heat from coppice wood) over another renewable source of energy (hydro).

Please note: To comply with current forestry guidelines concerning photography, this image features a dog.