Energy bills

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Hoonercat
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Re: Energy bills

Post by Hoonercat »

the_priest wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 1:37 pm £50 for a ton of wood for the wood burner sounds like a good deal. So my house in Manchester will be easier to keep warm using that and probably a lot cheaper as well. My nieces husband is ordering some for next weekend.
Did they offer to tarmac yer drive and take an interest in yer dags while they were there? :D
Ask what species of wood they are supplying, that sounds ridicously cheap for the UK (and as already mentioned, should be sold by cubic metre, not weight). And when a load of old tables turn up from the local primary school, don't say you weren't warned :D
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Re: Energy bills

Post by Mr. Dazzle »

I paid £90 for a tonne of kiln dried last time I bought...that was in 2018 though, I don't get through it very fast with my Pizza oven :lol:

I'm just about to buy another tonne actually, also for £90. This lot isn't kiln dried, but it does come from MK Council. Is seasoned wood that is the output of all the forest management they do around the city. There're >20 million trees in MK doncha know.

Can't get much more carbon neutral than that...the only way I think I could improve would be to walk out and collect it myself.
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Re: Energy bills

Post by Pirahna »

Mr. Dazzle wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 5:27 pm
Can't get much more carbon neutral than that
Just wondering how you get to be carbon neutral by burning wood?
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Re: Energy bills

Post by demographic »

Le_Fromage_Grande wrote: Sat Mar 12, 2022 5:11 pm £1.53 all over Suffolk today, but £3.80 for a litre of Fanta Lemon
Digger driver at work last week reckoned he had the inside line on there being a 10p a litre price rise coming tomorrow.

I guess I'll see if he was right but as it's been shooting up for the last few weeks I doubt it makes much difference.
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Re: Energy bills

Post by Mr. Dazzle »

Pirahna wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 7:05 pm
Mr. Dazzle wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 5:27 pm
Can't get much more carbon neutral than that
Just wondering how you get to be carbon neutral by burning wood?
The carbon in the CO2 emitted by burning wood was originally sunk out of the atmosphere by the tree growing.

The same is true of fossil fuels TBF, but the difference with those is that you're talking about carbon that was sunk over millenia being released in decades.

The only new positive emissions from burning wood cone from the logging/transport etc. Since the wood I'm buying is all coming from within 3 or 4 miles of my house thats about as good as I can get.
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Re: Energy bills

Post by MingtheMerciless »

Wood will rot and be eaten by detritivores, decay etc so releasing C02. Burning wood achieves pretty much the same thing. It stays in the carbon cycle and so long as the kiln drying and transport is from green sources then its reasonably carbon neutral. CO2 from fossils fuels comes from carbon sequestered deep under ground that has been removed from the carbon cycle.
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Re: Energy bills

Post by Felix »

Light nights soon. You will be saving on the central heating bills :thumbup:
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Re: Energy bills

Post by JackyJoll »

MingtheMerciless wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 8:46 pm Wood will rot and be eaten by detritivores, decay etc so releasing C02. Burning wood achieves pretty much the same thing. It stays in the carbon cycle and so long as the kiln drying and transport is from green sources then its reasonably carbon neutral. CO2 from fossils fuels comes from carbon sequestered deep under ground that has been removed from the carbon cycle.
Anyone who thinks that load of airy-fairy hippy shit will reduce atmospheric concentration of CO2 is farting against thunder!
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Re: Energy bills

Post by MingtheMerciless »

JackyJoll wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 10:29 pm
MingtheMerciless wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 8:46 pm Wood will rot and be eaten by detritivores, decay etc so releasing C02. Burning wood achieves pretty much the same thing. It stays in the carbon cycle and so long as the kiln drying and transport is from green sources then its reasonably carbon neutral. CO2 from fossils fuels comes from carbon sequestered deep under ground that has been removed from the carbon cycle.
Anyone who thinks that load of airy-fairy hippy shit will reduce atmospheric concentration of CO2 is farting against thunder!
I didn’t say it would reduce atmospheric CO2. But do go and look up the carbon cycle and you’ll see that wood decay or burning is part of it and not adding carbon that has effectively been removed from it which burning fossil fuels does.
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Re: Energy bills

Post by irie »

MingtheMerciless wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 11:15 pm
JackyJoll wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 10:29 pm
MingtheMerciless wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 8:46 pm Wood will rot and be eaten by detritivores, decay etc so releasing C02. Burning wood achieves pretty much the same thing. It stays in the carbon cycle and so long as the kiln drying and transport is from green sources then its reasonably carbon neutral. CO2 from fossils fuels comes from carbon sequestered deep under ground that has been removed from the carbon cycle.
Anyone who thinks that load of airy-fairy hippy shit will reduce atmospheric concentration of CO2 is farting against thunder!
I didn’t say it would reduce atmospheric CO2. But do go and look up the carbon cycle and you’ll see that wood decay or burning is part of it and not adding carbon that has effectively been removed from it which burning fossil fuels does.
Where does the CO2 in fossil fuels originate from?
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Re: Energy bills

Post by Mussels »

The eco-unfriendly bit about wood fires is air quality rather than carbon, arguments that it's releasing carbon locked up in trees seem a bit desperate.
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Re: Energy bills

Post by Count Steer »

Rather misses the point that cutting down healthy trees and burning them (often burning more wood to dry the wood) removes trees that could have continued to capture carbon. Also the rate of release is much higher than through decay. The absolute quantity released is probably higher too as decay is part of other processes that capture carbon.

It's better, in carbon terms, than burning coal or gas and better in pollution terms than coal. It's not good at all if it's burned for a cosy ambience, which many wood burners seem designed for, rather than heating. Lots of them are incredibly inefficient.
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Re: Energy bills

Post by Hoonercat »

the_priest wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 2:26 pm
Mussels wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 1:58 pm
the_priest wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 1:37 pm £50 for a ton of wood for the wood burner sounds like a good deal. So my house in Manchester will be easier to keep warm using that and probably a lot cheaper as well. My nieces husband is ordering some for next weekend.
Wood is usually sold by volume, wet wood is lower quality and heavier so buying by weight encourages a bad supply.
Wood burners are much more efficient than open fires but still a lot more expensive than central heating. With the recent law changes making buying firewood more expensive it probably only works out well if you have access to your own supply.
His intention is to buy it for next winter. There are two wood stores for it to dry out over the summer period. So he will get what he needs and stack it. May get two lots depending on the space.
Not sure if you're being literal when you say wood stores, but wood dries best in the open (sunny spot away from walls/fences to allow the air to circulate). And no need to wait for summer, get it out there in the spring and leave it seasoning until winter (I don't take mine indoors until December, the extra wind through Autumn helps drying). Have a tarp handy in case of heavy rain but leave the wood uncovered as much as possible, stack it off the ground to allow circulation underneath (pallettes) and don't stack too tightly.
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Re: Energy bills

Post by Mr. Dazzle »

irie wrote: Mon Mar 14, 2022 5:36 am
Where does the CO2 in fossil fuels originate from?
It came from the atmosphere a long time ago and is being released at a rate orders of magnitudes faster than it was originally captured. As has already been mentioned.

ISTR that burning wood is better (from a climate change POV) than letting it decay because the former releases mostly CO2 whereas the latter releases loads of methane, which is a more powerful greenhouse gas.
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Re: Energy bills

Post by irie »

Mr. Dazzle wrote: Mon Mar 14, 2022 5:59 pm
irie wrote: Mon Mar 14, 2022 5:36 am
Where does the CO2 in fossil fuels originate from?
It came from the atmosphere a long time ago and is being released at a rate orders of magnitudes faster than it was originally captured. As has already been mentioned.

ISTR that burning wood is better (from a climate change POV) than letting it decay because the former releases mostly CO2 whereas the latter releases loads of methane, which is a more powerful greenhouse gas.
It was a rhetorical question. :)
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Re: Energy bills

Post by Felix »

Free financial advice. The forum keeps in giving :thumbup:
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Re: Energy bills

Post by Ant »

So with the price of a barrel of oil dropping, why are diesel and petrol prices still on the rise?
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Re: Energy bills

Post by Pirahna »

Ant wrote: Wed Mar 16, 2022 10:11 am So with the price of a barrel of oil dropping, why are diesel and petrol prices still on the rise?
Because existing stock was bought at a higher price. As soon as the lower price stock is processed and available at the pumps then the price decrease will immediately be passed on to the consumer. 😂
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Re: Energy bills

Post by Ant »

Pirahna wrote: Wed Mar 16, 2022 10:23 am
Ant wrote: Wed Mar 16, 2022 10:11 am So with the price of a barrel of oil dropping, why are diesel and petrol prices still on the rise?
Because existing stock was bought at a higher price. As soon as the lower price stock is processed and available at the pumps then the price decrease will immediately be passed on to the consumer. 😂
Existing stock was bought at a lower price, that's a part of the outrage at the price at the pump going up.
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Re: Energy bills

Post by Dodgy69 »

What is the standing charge part of our bills supposed to justify. 🤷‍♂️
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