Guidelines

Wood fuel is a clean and renewable energy source. Burning wood fuel has a low net greenhouse effect as the CO2 given off is absorbed by the growth of the next crop. Wood fuel is playing an increasingly important role in
generating energy.

Wood fuel includes any woody biomass suitable for energy production, such as branches, bark and stem wood. The focus of these guidelines is on residues from landings - currently the largest unused source of woody biomass.

The Wood Fuel Classification Guidelines have been developed by EECA in partnership with the Bioenergy Association of NZ (BANZ). They are voluntary standards developed for New Zealand conditions based on existing quality standards for wood energy in Europe, New Zealand and Australia. The guidelines provide a means for wood fuel suppliers to classify their fuel and additionally provide quality assurance to fuel users. A copy of the Guidelines can be found on the EECA Business website.

Forestry and wood processing residues are a potentially significant source of bio-energy fuels. For a variety of reasons storage of these materials prior to utilisation is often necessary. The storage of comminuted (chipped, hogged, shredded or reduced to small particle size by other means (sawing or sanding)) biomass, particularly fresh (green) material such as logging residues can lead to degradation of the fuel due to biological and thermo-chemical processes.