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.

In any system for delivering wood residue as bio-fuels from forests or wood processing sites, transport is a key factor and contributes significant cost. Transport cost as a percentage of delivered cost can vary from ~12% (5 km haul) to ~60% (150 km haul) depending on the transport distance.
Optimising transport systems on medium (50 km) to long (100 km) haul transport is therefore critical to minimising costs.

Wood fuel is a renewable energy source that plays a big part in New Zealand's energy supply. This is set to increase in the future and, as with any energy source, the environment effects of need to be taken into consideration. One of those effects is the discharge of particulate emissions to air.