The Log Pile Website > Sustainability > Environmental Benefits

Why Promote Wood Fuel?

Using wood as a fuel has a number of benefits. Firstly, contrary to what many people think burning wood can be environmentally beneficial. Much of the woodland in the UK is semi-natural woodland and benefits from being managed. Secondly, providing the wood comes from a sustainable source, wood is a source of renewable energy. Using wood as a fuel also benefits the rural economy by providing local employment and an opportunity for diversification for farmers and other landowners.

The Environmental Benefits

The woodland that exists today in the UK does so because it had a use, and thus a value to their owners. They were managed, mostly using coppice systems, to provide fuels and other materials, mainly for local use. The eco-systems that exist in those woods today depend on continuing management for their continued survival.

Many of these woodlands, especially the smaller ones, are no longer managed because they no longer provide any economic benefit to their owners. Continued neglect is not an option for these woodlands. They are managed systems, which require continuing management, if they are to be sustainable. Extracting firewood and other wood from them is one way to ensure that they are managed (because there are economic benefits in doing so).

Log Pile is a project from the National Energy Foundation which was supported by DEFRA.