Understanding Wood Pellet Systems And Carbon Neutrality
One of the major selling points to wood pellet systems is their carbon neutral label. Because these systems are considered to be carbon neutral, they are eligible for many different energy grants and rebates. But what is a wood pellet system, and how can any system that burns fuel be considered carbon neutral? Here is what you need to know.
Wood Pellet systems
There are two main types of wood pellet systems. Both use the same basic fuel source. Wood pellets are created from waste wood products such as sawdust. They are light, compact and cost effective. In terms of heating costs, wood pellet systems produce the most heat for the least amount of money as wood pellets are much less expensive than oil, propane or natural gas systems. Pellets can be fed into systems manually or automatically and the fuel is often locally produced, making it great for local economies.
The first type of wood pellet system is a stove that provides direct heat to a home. They act in much the same way as other types of central heating systems. They have the advantage of being compact and easy to install and can be quite affordable for many people.
The second type of wood pellet system is a boiler system. This heats water which is then used to heat a home. It can be used in a radiant in-floor heating system or pumped through radiators in order to heat a home evenly and reliably.
Why these systems are carbon neutral
It is true that burning wood pellets does release carbon into the air. Wood pellet systems are still considered to be carbon neutral since the trees that produced the wood absorbed carbon from the air while they were alive. The only carbon that is released from burning wood pellets is that which the trees absorbed initially. Since there is no net increase in the amount of environmental carbon, these systems are determined to be carbon neutral.
Governmental schemes and rebates
There are many rebates and schemes that you can take advantage of by installing a wood pellet system. One is the SEAI