Tuesday 30 March 2010
Gasification- If you see Sid , tell him.
Sunday 28 March 2010
The Hazel Stigma (in focus)
Thank you for the excellent picture Colin.
Friday 26 March 2010
That groovy kachelofen Scene
One way to do this through fact-sheets on specific topics; brief introductions to concepts related to the project that hopefully provide a basic understanding of the subject. To date there have been 2 fact-sheets, one on the RHI and the other on modern wood burning technology (both will be available on the website). There are things about this topic that need particular mention and I will be focusing on this for a little while.
In the meantime however- lets step back to some really basic and very cool heating systems, the Kachelofen or Ceramic Stove.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB7-AdJWSj2HTSfO1h_HMFHn0_DSCGuW8SR2cG2J6BNsJMux8AQo5s26962kKhGuuAqta49Cpy0d1TfX6ra-CWb9sBqVejD7S5WcLptV0gUrc2nZOOro14YWGBJGVBwY1o337MpxcPQkxj/s400/dalek_Kachelofen.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKcNSeQVuGeOR4iK8_MjL93d-fRkJzjap09EGjLrB3NMwY_OJ03kKc7TpSh1Ocdaf1CTRS_kyt457lr-bEkEnKJwAqLyAKmTq1pfHAZGaWDOWRdTVWnctVtoNjeuRJE3SoFxLln7lHXsR3/s400/Kachelofen-green+edwardian.jpg)
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This Kachelofen also has a Pizza oven and can heat pans and that all important kettle.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9lblR4f62dP0xlKep0D2-RnmOJD2uPV-fb1zA-HbPhb8MnkKq7o1lpf2lRwPPOqmvo5Sje-z-ugRyidebcbUtGCm2J-4RvSHbVmOJCkbgZjr7AlLoUdPjhb9EZcezNVcWB5UujOrfKFeO/s400/pizza-kachelofen.jpg)
Thursday 25 March 2010
The hazel Catkin- Precursor of Spring
In the meantime we have a beautiful sylvan green precursor, the Hazel catkin, a important source of food for emerging butterflies and a tricky thing to photograph with a digital camera and a bit of a breeze.
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So, while we wait for the green of spring to eventually wind its way up the glen, take a look at these hazel catkins. If you look really closely at some point you will the tiny little female pollen receptors open. Their scarlet red colour is very special and vivid, the kind of colour you suspect Dulux will not be featuring on their-colour matching paint adverts anytime soon.
Tuesday 23 March 2010
A logo design from a local artist.
Some time later we worked through sample designs. We realised that it is difficult to have conifers and broadleaves in your logo without looking like the Forestry Commission or a similar forestry body. We observed how stylised trees, framed in a circle look like the RKO Radio mast on full broadcast mode. We also saw that the roofs of cottages made to look like mountains (representing the glen) did not really look like either.
Anyway Ashley worked on and has produced this encapsulation of the ideas of GWI. Like many of Ashley's designs, you can see more in it, the longer you look. The circle represents sustainability, and the unbroken cycle of fuelwood that thinnings and coppice can provide, while the tree, intrinsically links to nature and woodland, wood use, firewood and heat. The tree meanwhile, seems to bear the burden of the house (its environmental footprint perhaps) without strain. The chimney has no smoke emerging because with efficient modern woodburners, there pretty much is no smoke .
Well done Ashley!
Sunday 21 March 2010
The 300 hazels (with tubes and Stakes) are coming to us around the end of the month and will be planted in April. The planting should be a fun day as both Glenlyon Primary School and members of the local community work together to create a heat resource for the future, as well as a pleasant habitat corridor and potential source of food for insects, birds squirrels and humans.
Here be Cable
There is an interesting symbolism here also. Loch Archie, the planting site currently has space for more trees, due to an underground power cable having recently been buried along the top edge of the site. The cable is to take renewable energy from the new hydro schemes in Glenlyon to the outside world. We will therefore be creating (planting) one new renewable source of energy (heat from coppice wood) over another renewable source of energy (hydro).
Please note: To comply with current forestry guidelines concerning photography, this image features a dog.
Thursday 18 March 2010
Coppice Experiment Number One
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I am interested in reviving coppicing as a sustainable way of creating a source of firewood. Areas of coppice can also be very beneficial to wildlife. This experiment features a Sycamore (not a species we will be planting) which had last been coppiced or cut back about 20 years ago.
Following a small felling operation we had 2 tons of good firewood to dry out for next year. If we let this sycamore grow back we could probably harvest more firewood from it in about 10 years.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw40MAUc26bkSn5FrPN-SGanqXw_tpz9T-11GbPxFOnYahY2-YbFaEkilJY8A1thVJNbMmfQZzloMrAFqRw73WJefxLZguNNFwSwlg3YOU2oIMSMgY8aK2m8t2V6rpSsT3Axn2aeOEFzP3/s400/Coppice+Experiment+1+004+%28Small%29.jpg)
Wednesday 17 March 2010
Those Hayrick like wood drying stacks
Saturday 13 March 2010
Public Meeting Thursday 11th march
This meeting was initially to be held on the 25th of February, but the snow came hard that day across Perthshire and as the glen road remained unploughed, it seemed prudent to reschedule .
Around twenty people have come and we have received a further fifteen apologies. Its a good turnout, when your total population (probably) does not exceed 100. Everyone seems in a good mood, and pleasingly for me representatives of many of the various glen social strata are present.
Bernd Pinamonti of Thermotec is going to work with GWI throughout the project as a wood fuelled heating systems advisor. He has prepared 2 powerpoint presentations. The first one is about cultural and practical aspects of using wood as a fuel . Bernd talked about wood burning culture in the Upper Tyrol region of Austria, and showed pictures of a landscape that looked just like the glen, but with different houses and much less access for fuel deliveries in the winter months. In the Upper Tyrol wood burning is way of life and we saw some examples of this and of how people dry and prepare wood. Bernd's presentation described the wood fuel preparation process from forest to fire, with some great pictures of log (hay rick shaped) piles of wood drying
I spoke briefly on the proposed renewable Heating initiative (RHI) which will pay people about £270 for every ton of wood they burn ( average house, dry wood, burnt in an MCIS accredited boiler, etc). I also mentioned the overlap period that we are currently in whereby one can benefit from both the current 30% installation cost grant (old scheme) and the RHI one (new scheme).
Bernd then gave his second presentation which was about modern Woodburning technology, Logboilers and (wood) chip boilers were described in detail. The wood boilers that have been developed over recent years really are very impressive, with numerous self cleaning or self firing features.
Costs and site implications were also considered alongside some very illuminating tables on comparative fuel use and value. These presentations will be detailed by GWI at a future point.
There was a questions and answers session at the end and people asked some good questions, ones that showed understanding of the topic which was really good.
When the meeting is over we come out into a velvety black night full of stars, shining very brightly.
Monday 8 March 2010
There will be a Public meeting on Thursday the 11th of March in Innerwick Church, Glen Lyon at 7pm. This is the first real chance for the community to get together and discuss the study and plans for the future. We will also be handing out surveys in order to gather information on how residents are currently heating their homes and to assess the potential for people to take up locally sourced wood fuel.
I’m really excited about the evening, and in-particular our guest speaker Bernd Pilamonti of Thermotech Ecosystems Ltd. Bernd grew up in the Alps and has vast experience of wood burning, from a culture where heating with wood is the norm. He will be talking about wood burning cultures around the world and will introduce us to some of the state of the art wood burning stoves that are currently on the market.
I’ll also be talking about the renewable heating incentive - a government proposal to pay people to burn wood that could transform how we all heat our homes. Hope to see you at the meeting on Thursday but if you can’t make it I’ll keep you updated on this blog.
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I’m Tom Beels, the newly appointed facilitator for the Glen Lyon Woodfuel Initiative, which was awarded a grant earlier this year by the Climate Challenge Fund (CCF). My role is to see whether it is feasible for the community in Glen Lyon to reduce its dependence on oil as a main heating source, by burning some of the low value timber that surrounds us. It is a subject that is close to my heart, having been lucky enough to work in forestry in Glen Lyon for the past fifteen years.
Glen Lyon, in Highland Perthshire, is a remote community of around 90 residents, strung along 22 miles of single-track road. As well as being one of the most beautiful areas in Scotland it is also heavily wooded. The recent spike in oil prices saw many of the people living here having to pay crippling bills to heat their houses. It is hoped that by reducing reliance on fossil fuels this initiative will help make life in this area more affordable.
The initiative is also aimed at reducing the community’s carbon footprint and encouraging native woodlands in the area. Glen Lyon has recently been found to have some of the most intact woodland habitats in Scotland. By re-introducing traditional management techniques, such as coppicing, we hope to enhance and complement the wildlife around us.
As you can probably imagine this means that I’ll be very busy over the next few months. We have got to work out:
- What is the demand for wood fuel in the Glen
- How big the woodland resource is here and how much can be extracted sustainably
- The variety of wood fuel heating systems available and which would suit people best
- How to harvest, extract, process and transport the wood from forest to fireplace, using as little carbon as possible throughout
- How to create as much local employment as possible from the initiative
I’m writing this blog because I think that similar initiatives could well be started throughout Scotland. There are a lot of remote communities out there, struggling to pay expensive fossil fuels bills with low value forestry all around them. We want to share our experience of using our local resources with others along the way.