Using Wood pellets, a very low carbon source of heat

A joint research project by The Alliance for Green Heat and VU University Amsterdam shows that heating with wood pellets can emit about one tenth the carbon as heating with oil and one sixth the carbon if heating with natural gas.

A life cycle analysis of wood pellets showed that pellets emit as little as 6.04 grams of carbon per mega joule of energy (6.04 g CO2/MJ, or 14.4 lbs/million BTU). Heating oil and natural gas emit 100.1 grams of carbon per measure (232.8 lbs/million BTU) for oil and 62.8 g CO2/MJ (146.1 lbs/million BTU) for gas. As a result, switching from fossil fuel heating to a wood pellet stove or furnace could lead to a 60 to 90% reduction of carbon emissions.

The most compelling conclusions are that wood pellets can be a very low carbon source of heat, if certain conditions are satisfied. These conditions concern rigorous sustainable harvesting, distance of shipping, and mode of production. Transatlantic journeys will increase the carbon footprint of pellets substantially and to maintain a balance between carbon absorbed by forests and emitted by pellets appliances, rigorous sustainable harvesting practices should be practiced.

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