CO2 heating fuel emissions

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Other ecological pages:
Building regs document L - energy conservation
Coal is a fossil fuel.

Wood fuel CO2 carbon cycle
Comparative costs of firewood, wood pellets and other fuels

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CO2 emissions of fuels

Below you can see the CO2 emissions of various types of fuel used for heating. As you can see wood logs, wood pellets and wood chips come out way ahead of the other fuels because of their low CO2 emissions.

Fuel type	Emissions kg CO2/kWh
Wood logs	Less than 0.00612 (1)
Wood pellets	0.016 (2)
Wood chips	0.00432 - 0.00612 (3)
Dual fuel (coal and wood)	0.187 (4)
Mains gas	0.216 (3)
LPG	0.234 (4)
Oil	0.265 (4)
House coal	0.291 (4)
Anthracite	0.317 (4)
Manufactured smokeless fuel	0.392 (4)
Electricity	0.460 (3)

Sources of information

1 Assumed to be less than the figure for wood chips as there is less energy expended in themanufacture of logs. Source - communication with Ian Tubby of the Biomass Energy Centre.
2 Based on 130 kWh / tonne manufacture (15 kg CO2/MWh) plus 1 kgCO2/MWh for transport. Source - communication with Dr Geoff Hogan of the Biomass Energy Centre.
3 Communication with Dr Geoff Hogan of the Biomass Energy Centre.
4 The government's SAP 2005 (Standard Assessment Procedure) for the energy rating of buildings 2005.

Typical CO2 savings on converting to wood fuel

Below are the CO2 emissions saved by powering a house using various fuel types.

Information source: Forestry Commission: A WoodFuel Strategy for England