"Clean Air Strategy" today we find out.

[sime42]

As a farmer I have never liked the subsidies we receive as they are just bribes to keep us under their thumb. They make us unpopular with the public and do not reflect the real cost of food production.
 
An alien looking down at this country and many others would be appalled at the obesity epidemic which is followed by a massive bill from the NHS for diabetes, new hips , new knees, stress and much else.  Food is so cheap that nobody values it in the way they should..  A chicken should not cost £2.25
 
http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/lidl-price-comparison/Fresh_Poultry/Sainsburys_British_Whole_Chicken_135Kg.html
 
 so just the breast meat is cut off and the rest thrown away.  Bread should not be 35 pence a loaf as seen in our local Sainsbury, in fact they bake bread just to give the aroma to make people feel hungry so they buy more and then throw it away at the end of the day.  Best before dates need to be stopped.
All food needs the decimal point shifting one to the right, farmers would not need a subsidy, people would be more healthy and there would be less pressure on the NHS and food would be valued,  Win win situation
 
Except for the politicians who would be sacked if they dared increase the emotive issue of food price.

I can't agree more with everything you've said here.

[ash_smith123]

"Cheap"?! Last time I noticed they were ridiculously expensive......£5 - £10 for sometimes a handful of wet logs!
I was forced into buying a couple of bags from B&Q once. They were shocking;- almost dripping with water and so damp that they were covered in mould. I was outraged, more so because it clearly stated SEASONED LOGS on the bag.
I'm not defending this new legislation BTW. Seems pretty stupid to bugger up the majority of decent firewood producers/suppliers just to catch a few offenders. B&Q, other DIY outlets and most garage chains are big businesses. Is this another example of big business getting away with too much again?

CPL supply most of the main retailer (bnq, supermarkets ect) and all this ready to burn scheme seems to be set up to target those sorts of outlets so instead of trying to regulate the complete industry why don't they just sort out CPL.

[Stubby]

10 minutes ago, Chessa said:

No indeed. But, they are related.

So is my cousin ?

[neiln]

Err, not really.

yes I know that a sustainable source only has a capacity, and pushed beyond that it isn't sustainable, but a sustainable source of energy is sustainable when used right...a fossil fuel is always unsustainable.

Mass power from sustainable forms means a mix of sources....wind doesn't always blow and we can only have so many turbines in windy spots, the sun doesn't always shine, there are only so many spots for tidal generation and so on.  

 

My point is wood can be sustainable, but only if managed, and operated within capacity.

[Mark2]

chessa 

lovely info there !

to add- - - 

we need to bare in mind that when a tree is growing, it takes carbon out of the atmosphere ! That’s good (carbon sink) but we need to remember that when it dies- 

in the woods it then releases the carbon some into the soil, some into the atmosphere. 

So if we burn logs or let them rot, it’s a neutral balence !

i say again these proposed restrictions are just a ploy. Burdening our green sustainable cottage industry in order to maximise profits for the very pulluting mineral oil industry and there share holders. At the expense of planet earth. The carbon they realise is not recycled as ours is. The pulluter should pay not us !

[Rob_the_Sparky]

TBH from the limited amount said so far logs aren't going to be affected very much.  New wood burners will have to meet stricter standards, coal may be banned, logs have to dry.  The pain may come in the finer details of how logs are ensured to be dry enough and what "dry enough" means but otherwise I don't see too much to worry about.

 

As this is politics they conveniently have picked the stats on local air quality and ignored the bigger picture of global warming as a full and balanced discussion does not make headlines...

[Woodworks]

1 hour ago, Rob_the_Sparky said:

 The pain may come in the finer details of how logs are ensured to be dry enough and what "dry enough" means but otherwise I don't see too much to worry about.

 

Having talked to a local stove supplier and having emailed a few stove manufacturers the ideal standard is 20% or lower but no talk of a lower maximum threshold from the stoves makers. Esse were the only ones happy with 25% for the max.

 

At least 20% is just achievable air dried. All ours that were super dry in the summer have gone back up to 19% now but stopped there.

[richardwale]

Mine are the same Beau, maybe a tad less but around that mark. Still excellent burning wood.

[Gardenscape]

I can't help but think these figures are faked and it's simply the government being in the pockets of the energy suppliers. More and more people are heating their homes with wood burners, less need for us to rely on the money grabbing energy suppliers. Just imaging the whole country was to move off grid next week, the energy companies would no way allow it to happen, even if it was the best move environmentally. Pollution from woodburners is a drop in the ocean in comparison to cars, trains, buses, aviation, and what about the planned 3rd runway at heathrow! What about the huge carbon footprint of running the kilns 24hrs a day and extra shipping from imports. Whilst I welcome the decision for tighter control of better quality wood, I think they should spend more time educating owners of wood burners about wood standards and what to buy.

[Mark2]

I ‘m sure we’re on the right track suspecting dirty tricks here ! 

Not least becouse of the timing ! On the very day we were all focused on the Brixit vote ! What they call burying bad/suspect news !

my fear is they will ratchet up the negative false perception within the public against our enviromently benifical firewood industry !

we should counter this by spreading the truth (as discussed here)