Glenlyon Woodfuel Initiative

Yes its hello again time

2010-11-05T09:05:00.000Z

Hello again,

Yes it has been a long time, far longer than I had thought it would be, but here we are, back on the blog as it were. Ever such a lot has been happening,and among other things we have managed to extend the scope and duration of the feasibility study. Our final report will now include a full costing of the price of woodchips andlogs literally from stump to radiator. Case studies on properties in Glenlyon will establish what it would actually cost a potential woodfuel user to install and use a log boiler or woodchip boiler Doing so will include obtaining full quotes for the costs of the systems and their installation alongside putting a cost on the supply of logs and chips from the forest to the user.

Many moons have passed since last I gibbered forth.

The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) appears to have come through the budget spending review largely intact and fears that the domestic aspect of the RHI would be scrapped in favour of a business only approach can perhaps be allayed by the following statement on DECC's website http://www.decc.gov.uk

"We remain committed to the ambition of moving from 1% to 12% of all heat generated from a renewable source by 2020. This will require all aspects of society to play their part – householders, communities, public, commercial and industrial sectors."

Although details of quite how the scheme will run have yet to be announced it seems to me that we are certainly somewhat closer to realistic woodfuel heating in Glenlyon than we were prior to the announcement, which is good.

Clouds of doubt over the RHI start to clear- could blue skies be ahead?

"Could" is incidentally, probably one of the most accurate ways of describing the glen weather during autumn, recently its mostly been "could stop raining one day", prior to that it had been "could be another lovely day tomorrow" Ahh the untold joys of living with a diverse weather system.

Another of our case studies involves the supply of softwood as firewood, a subject often shrouded in doubt and disinformation for many, particularly it seems in Highland Perthshire where an ample supply of hardwoods has meant that burning softwoods has often been a poor second choice rather than a need. Hardwood timber, particularly for home owners without access to their own wood is however becoming scarcer and local suppliers are having to travel further to maintain supply or having to offer a one third mix of softwood/ hardwood.
One of the main finding of our study so far has been that " The most effective way to reduce oil use in Glenlyon would be to maintain a constant supply of inexpensive fuelwood to the residents of the glen".
Now that might sound a bit obvious, but behind the above sentence are various ramifications and learnings including that just because the most efficient and most sustainable way to heat with woodfuel is in a gassifying system fed with either chips or (best of all) 0.5m logs, that doesn't mean that someone burning open fires to heat rooms in a house is not also reducing their oil use.

As a woodfuel supplier we must also supply firewood size fuel for use in fires and stoves, at the moment however that firewood is going to be softwood, not hardwood. Many people will tell you that softwood is rubbish compared to hardwood however as Duncan Ireland from the Forestry Commission Technical Development Branch puts it " Its all the same stuff- cellulose, its just packed more densely in hardwoods".

The upshot of which is that good slowish grown hardwoods such as beech, ash and oak will, when properly dry, burn with more energy (= heat) than more rapidly grown softwoods. That's not to say the softwoods don't produce heat, they do, you just need more of it over the burn period and it needs to be properly dry.
Many of the worlds great wood heating nations rely almost entirely on coniferous softwoods for their heat and so will we in Glenlyon in our greener future.

Anyway we took some wood (soft) to a B&B in Glenlyon that is heated entirely by wood (hard) for them to try burning various ratios and combinations of wood in the range that supplies their domestic hot water and monitor the results on behalf of GWI.

Larch and Sitka leave Storebase 1 heading for Burnpoint X by way of Stack Island . At GWI we plan our experiments with military precision.

Commendable enthusiasm was shown about the experiment...note foot resting on Stack Island.
Should they find the softwood usable either on its own or as a supplement, then we will be one step further towards our goal of fuel self sufficiency and so will the B&B owners. There is softwood timber lying a few miles from their door in both directions and a supply chain could probably be enabled relatively easily.

Ring barking and Sour felling- Let transpiration dry your wood.

2010-07-28T14:39:00.000+01:00

As part of the ongoing drive to reduce reliance on heating oil, we are looking at providing a locally sourced economical, reliable and dry supply of woodfuel, initially for consumption within the glen. It is the dry bit I want to talk about today, particularly in relation to the supply of wood chip for for fuelling

I have recently written a report for the Forestry Commission on Ring-barking as a drying method. This report was written to accompany a felling licence application to carry out a first thin in a stand of larch trees using ring-barking as the thinning method. Drying wood chips to a low moisture content (MC) sustainably is a big challenge and I believe that ring barking (removing a strip of bark from around the tree, followed (unfortunately) by a chemical injection) is a potentially very effective, low input method of naturally drying timber. Parts of the report follow below. Intrigued? Please carry on reading,.. feeling a bit bored already- that was probably the interesting bit above.

In Scotland's occasionally damp climate....

In Scotland’s occasionally damp climate, drying wood to a low MC within a set time period can be a difficult process, hence most wood chip suppliers supplement natural drying with a forced heat process, such as a grain dryer, forced air blower or kiln before storing the chips in a dry shed with a good air flow. Such processes inevitably involve expensive infrastructure and high energy costs, both in haulage/ double handling and in powering the drying machinery. Carrying out such processes reduce the overall sustainability of the end product as more carbon is added to it.

They also require the processor to have a substantial amount of space for housing the infrastructure and the sheds

Our situation as a community group with no property available to us does not currently let us contemplate a forced drying process, even if we wanted to.

We have therefore directed significant research towards natural drying methods and have come to the conclusion that, of the three methods assessed (drying in stacks and piles, ring-barking and sour felling), ring-barking or girdling the trees could offer most benefits, both in terms of low impact, low cost thinning and also in terms of a reduced MC product being produced.

Ring-barking

For a community group such as ours, which may need to build up a sustainable, low cost, low impact supply of dry or drying firewood for primarily local use, thinning by ring-barking may well be the optimum method to employ.

Using chainsaw, axe or scorp and chemical injection an individual or a small workforce could carry out an inexpensive very swift, selective thin, without it being apparent that they had done so until some inevitable browning appeared in the canopy. The canopy meanwhile remains intact (in a similar way to that of a self thinning mixture) until the tree is removed from it a year or two later by which time competition for light will have led neighbouring trees to begin to close the gaps left by the trees demise. The use of a thinning method that does not leave a network of holes in the canopy could be assumed to be an advantage in unthinned plantations at potential risk of windthrow.

It would also appear from our research that an optimum drying point can be reached where a stump attached sawlog still retains a high MC while the top third of the tree has reached an MC of 30% or below. In essence the top most easily processed third of the tree is ready for burning while the potentially economic bottom half or two thirds is still saleable or capable of being milled.

Ring-barking is an unconventional practice in the UK and while there appear to be many benefits from it, there may be drawbacks as well. Little research material is available on ring-barking, however another natural drying method called Sour Felling shares many of its characteristics.

Sour Felling.

Sour felling involves felling trees and leaving them intact (whole tree) on the forest floor or in stacks at roadside. Significant research has been carried out on sour felling as a drying method, principally in the UK, the Nordic countries and Canada.

Sour felling research experiments have reached the following conclusions:

1. Leaving limbs and foliage on felled trees significantly increases moisture loss through transpiration compared to removing the limbs.

2. This enhanced drying effect lasts for a limited period of time, typically between 6-18 months. Some Swedish studies report an optimum transpirational drying period of between 4 and 6 weeks.

3. During the drying period foliage (needles or leaves) will drop from the limbs. If whole tree chipping for woodfuel is being considered, the loss of this foliage increases the calorific content of the fuel and reduces the ash content. Leaving the foliage on the forest floor returns a proportionate amount of nutrients to the forest cycle.

4. The effectiveness of sour felling as a drying method is dependent both on the seasonal timing of the felling and the density of the remaining canopy.

5. Sour felled logs will be lighter to remove from the forest, but MC’s will be variable throughout the crop. The research carried out into sour felling proves that an enhanced drying effect will be experienced if foliage remains on the tree following its demise.

Ring Barking and Sour Felling in Glenlyon

The benefits of sour felling as concerns transpiration will not only also apply to ring-barked trees but could be expected to be somewhat enhanced given that conditions in the upper canopy are somewhat more exposed to the drying effects of the elements than on the more enclosed and humid forest floor. Conversely it is unlikely that the tree as a whole will benefit from the reduced weight of sour felled trees, as moisture (trapped by bark) will drain down the cambium layer. This is in accordance with general folk wisdom concerning standing deadwood that the tops will be very dry but at chest height the log will contain high levels of moisture.

Sour felling

Sour felling, as a drying method in Glenlyon appears to have numerous disadvantages compared to ring-barking.

A negative visual appearance is very much a disadvantage of sour felling. Looking somewhat similar to partially tidied windblow, sour felling would be an unlikely choice for a roadside thin in an area known for its sylvan beauty.

A potential knock on expense

From the point of view of the estates who own these forests having their forest edges slowly turned into something that both looks like, and presents, similar access problems to windblow could well be an unattractive option, both from a visual perspective and also from a “What happens if GWI folds and the estate needs to tidy up” point of view.

Sour felled Pine thinning in Glenlyon. The edges were thinned less heavily than the middle but are still pretty impenetrable as concerns access. Sour felling was only appropriate as the site was remote.

An increased fire risk could be an unwanted result of sour felling. Felled and delimbed normally much more of this visible (very dry) branching would be damply decaying in the grasses and bracken, that by now would be present as an under storey but are currently being shaded out by the brash. Having such “tinder” line the glen road may not be wise in terms of fire prevention.

The expense of, and need for, multiple operations makes Sour felling an expensive and complicated way to obtain a low value product ; Much of the unthinned woodland in Glenlyon is Sitka spruce, planted at a 2 metre spacing. The crowns of these trees are often locked together or entwined with those of their neighbours which can result in great difficulty in actually getting the tree down during selective thinning operations. Put simply – you fell them and nothing happens, they do not fall down or even necessarily move in the canopy. To economically bring down these trees for sour felling would involve both chainsaw work and a winch assisted takedown. To have such infrastructure in the forest and to then “half do the job” i.e. to then exit the wood, without brashing or extracting to roadside, only to return a year or so later to reintroduce the equipment and finish the job (brash- extract to roadside) has obvious disadvantages for a small roadside operation such as ours.

Inconsistency in the drying effect makes forward planning awkward. I have been involved in various sour felling operations in Glenlyon. Revisiting these and measuring moisture contents revealed inconstancies in drying rates both in and across species. The pine in the photos, felled around 2005 was still reading, on average a fairly high 35% along its length. Some nearby Sitka sour felled at the same time was down to around 20% and one wind snapped Sitka spruce, down less than 2 years was 11-13% along its top third and around 19% in the middle and lower end.

The majority of the sour felled trees assessed by the author for this report showed heavy signs of predation by deer, with extensive defoliation presumably having happened early in the drying stages quite possibly during the first winter that the tops were on the ground. Such predation will obviously reduce the transpiratory benefits of leaving the canopy on. Deer are present in much of the woodland in Glenlyon and appear capable of moving through sour felled areas with relative ease.

Natural Drying Methods, Conclusion;

Of all the natural drying methods assessed it would appear that the transpiratory drying processes (sour –felling and ringbarking) were of most value in reducing moisture content without incurring particular expense. Of these two methods, ringbarking potentially requires least handling and labour input, making it probably the most economical method.

Although much of the information on ringbarking is based on conjecture and folklore, there is no reason for it to be inaccurate and although there is a small possibility of deadwood related hazard, this would be little different to that of a self thinning mixture, in which dead crowns are enveloped by their light hungry neighbours.

The conservation benefits of ringbarking as a thinning method could be very high. Not only would it increase the percentage of standing dead wood, but an interesting light mosaic would appear on the forest floor, mimicking a natural cycle where a tree dies, but the dead canopy persists, then over time the tree falls and what little area of the canopy persisted is open to light, before the canopy eventually closes again.

Sour Felling as a drying technique is not visually attractive and creates a hazardous walking surface. Its benefits in dedicated forest production areas, rich in machinery and labour and low in visitor interest could be very high should the end market require a moisture reduced (probably sap stain free) product.

The main practical disadvantage with sour felling is the need for machine assisted double handling, particularly when the stems are bunched together to dry. The main overall disadvantage with Sour Felling as a drying method for use in Glenlyon along roadsides and other amenity areas would be its negative physical appearance.

Drying logs in stacks is space efficient, but gives inconclusive results depending on stack location and the amount of effort expended in building it. Drying split firewood in stacks is a very good way to further reduce moisture content, particularly if the stacks are covered.

Weather conditions can greatly influence natural drying methods. It seems likely that ringbarked trees, exposed to winds running through the forest and standing away from the potentially humid forest floor will gain most from the drying effects of the elements. The transpirational benefits of seasonal ringbarking which involve the tree “flushing” in the spring are likely to advance drying further, also winter is increasingly a drier period overall than summer which, if humid, will slow down transpiration.

My conclusion is that ringbarking could offer a space efficient, low input and low cost, relatively sustainable method of naturally drying timber. For our community needs and situation it appears a potentially very useful tool for providing an economical source of low moisture content fuelwood.

Open Day

2010-07-25T19:14:00.001+01:00

It has long been my belief that in Scotland we have as many types of rain as the Inuit do snow. I have been compiling a compendium of these rain types for some time. The type of rain that fell occasionally during the open day is called Niar Llams, and it can fall for a while without actually making anything wet, although quite substantial in appearance in lacks in water delivery- it is the wet look of rain types and that was fine with me for the open day. It meant that the consultants could meet people and discuss the specifics of their situation in depth in the simply beautiful interior of Glenlyon Kirk, which we had kindly been allowed to use for the open day.

I had the night before discovered just how many people who would perhaps have been attending were away on holiday with their children. A reminder of how out of touch with holiday timing you get when you are self employed and also of how the demographics of the glen have changed of late. That there are so many families with children bodes well for the future of the school and the glen as a whole- Shame they were all on holiday when the open day was on though. That said I genuinely believe that a good time was had by all who did attend and I was pleased that most of the people who came stayed for the whole day.

Lots of people stayed for quite a while, having delicious refreshments helped.

Woodfuel Experts chat away, Bernd and Steve in the middle talk (presumably) woodfuel with fellow experts from St Andrews based Stoveco. The table top is made from locally grown larch 225 years old, milled with a chainsaw and an Alaskan Mill.

Part of the plan for the day was about networking. Communities across Scotland are working together to improve their lives and environment, and the work being done at Tombreck with the Big Shed and Loch Tay Food Chain is really valid and inspiring. The Big Shed, built with timber from Bolfracks Estate and milled on site at Tombreck is really taking shape and is going to be of real benefit to the area as a nexus for creativity, shared learning and capacity building. The open day as a whole was a great opportunity for people to meet and chat (network).

Dennis Anderson of Scottish Sawmilling Services who did the milling for The Big Shed dropped in at the open day which was very nice.

Georgia's baskets and the Rowan poles looked the part.The wood slab is from a 300 year old oak

One of the highlights of the day was the Iron Horse demonstration, from Artcom Tradebridge, suppliers of interesting forest machinery. The demo was a bit later than planned and as such made a nice end to the day.

Hooray - It's time for the Iron Horse Demo'.

Although a small machine it can pull logs with ease.

Incidentally I was recently introduced to this rather good palindrome, from a 20 year entrant to a writing competition called U@50, needless to say it stunned the judges. I thought I was clever realising Glenelg was a palindrome, but this is something else altogether....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRG4ySdi_aE&feature=related

The day before Tommorow (special deja vu blog)

2010-07-20T09:26:00.000+01:00

So as the big day approaches, is everything ready? "Probably" is the only answer I can give. In the last blog I welcomed back my old friend Rain, who is welcome to go now, any time he wants to... Taxi for Rain please.... or at least be elsewhere on Saturday. This uncertainty with the weather is part of what makes it hard to know how ready you are.

Oh Mighty God of Rain- Will you be blessing us with your watery gifts tomorrow?
If the weather is nice and sunny (no offence Rain) I plan to have some of the event outside in front of the church and have the consultants inside, answering questions and generally consulting on multiple aspects of wood heating. Outside will be the Loch Tay Food Chain and Big Shed representatives and also the various products for sale including some amazing woven creels, baskets an platters from local weaver Georgia Crook who has a studio and work on sale at Tombreck.

Just a few glimpses of Georgia's work reveal both her talent and the incredible beauty and texture of the natural materials she works with - no plastics here.

As to the day being a success, if just one person visiting tomorrow fits a wood heating system as a result of the information they have learnt then the day will have been a success in my opinion. Once that person, (very happy at having such cheap and good heating) starts telling their neighbours, " I wish I'd done it years ago" and people can see that these systems actually work and are not difficult to use, then more people will fit them.As woodfuelled heating systems become increasingly common, so oil heating with its ever rising cost and pollution will seem, even more than now, a poor solution to the problem of heating.

Rowan poles from Coppice Experiment 2, available for sale on the big day. An ideal gift for the Rowan pole collectors we all know and love.
These systems are so common in areas just like the glen all over the Nordic Countries, Austria, Poland, Germany, Canada, U.S.A.... In Finland there are numerous examples of wood fuel supply chains, often community owned cooperatives in which people take control of their own local heat needs. Local timber heats local houses, haulage costs are very low, so the fuel is more economical to produce and thus cheaper for the end user. Employment in forestry is guaranteed into the future, which ensures good sustainable forestry practice and as these chains are often community owned, any profit goes back into the community, rather than into the pockets of distant oil barons whose increasingly desperate ransacking of the worlds stored carbon (or oil) is paid for by our need for heat.
I certainly know where I would like the profits from heating my house to go and it isn't to Shell, supplier of oil to Glenlyon and environmental vandals par excellence. If Ogoniland was in America, not Africa then one day we might have seen Shell getting hauled over the coals alongside BP. The behaviour of Shell in Ogoniland is truly shocking, and deliberately so which makes it much much worse.

Ogoniland in Nigeria, undoubtedly a lot nicer before Shell came along.

Gas flaring is a major contributor to global warming, a waste of energy and a serious health hazard.

Rain Old Friend- welcome back, where have you been?

2010-07-03T14:26:00.000+01:00

There has been excitement for the weather forecasters lately, bad weather on the way. Good. This has apparently been the most dry (or perhaps the most hot?) year since 1918.
I know its probably not a particularly popular opinion for most people, but I'm really happy to see Mr Rain coming to visit for a few days. We've had just about all sun (hot type) for a long time now and I have been missing Mr Rain as has the land. He generally hangs about round here quite a lot, I remember one February (99 I think it was), when Mr Rain came and stayed for a whole month.

Rain- so much more than just a way of making Rainbows.
We were working is smallish Sitka at the time and got soaked every day- everything, everywhere was wet , all the time, but when you work outdoors in Scotland, its not uncommon to have "precipitation anticipation" or be expecting some rain in other words. You soon get to know it of course and I've sometimes thought that I could match the Innuit's 80 whatever words for snow* with easily as many types of rain. If you were then to describe the accompanying weather pattern you would be into the hundreds. For example in Autumn in Scotlands most East- West aligned glen, we often have this pattern of really hot sunshine followed immediately by hard wet rain, they come in bands, one after another and can last for seconds a few minutes or ages, a bit like when you are out in the Islands and can see Mr Rain's little helpers scurrying about on the horizon with their little black sacks full of water to dump on wherever takes their fancy.

These Autumnal bands are nuts to work in, Its cold when it rains and the waters pouring off you, Then Lugh the Sun God jumps in and suddenly you are Roasty McToasty and steam is pouring off you. It is for me, weather like that that always puts me off the idea off moving to a hot country, You know (perhaps you don't, maybe its just me?) how it is, you go somewhere abroad. Really hot, "nice" Mediterranean type weather, your'e on holiday, everything's lovely, food, people, culture etc. At some point you idly wonder about moving there, wouldn't it be nice, ooh yes wouldn't it. Then by week 2 reverse cabin fever starts a little chant in your head " The weathers a bit boring isn't it?" "A bit of rain would sort out all this dust" "Its too hot to....do anything", " The weathers a bit boring isn't it?" and the answer is yes their continental weather patterns are pretty boring compared to our maritime climate.

So after having only had about 6 weeks in which it has rained since February, and having had almost unbroken and let me say, very beautiful blue skies right through from the winter snow to now, I'm glad for a few wet days, and from a view point other than the anthropocentric, all the flora and fauna are needing it too. Its strange though because although it must have been especially harsh for the Salmon Parr this year, trying to get upstream with so little flow, the wildlife especially insects and amphibians is really abundant this year. Frogs and toads being the most obvious example of that following the first drops of rain.

I think this is an "Andrewlloydus webberus", but my toad ID is not very good.

One of many amphibians I encountered while doing some moisture measurements the other day.

Almost invisible in this photo; Camouflage and too small a photo size combine to hide a frog. I'll give you a clue, its not on the moisture meter.

Prior to that Insects were coming in vibrant bursts, during one particularly pleasant and colourful week there were Dragon and Damsel flies emerging everywhere, very sparkly in that ongoing, vaguely relentless sunshine. A few weeks before that it had been hover flies, truly remarkable close up like so many insects, and somewhere imbetween had begun the relentless march of the Beetles, as some but not loads of butterflies flitter overhead. I have seen a few lizards and slowworms have also been about (mostly victims of cars or cats), with the reptiles it constantly seems like some (usually unusually hot) years you see quite a few, some years you see none. What has been lacking of late in their usual abundance is Bee's, I keep hoping they are just a bit late gathering their numbers after the late frosts (the Midgies certainly are - Hooray), but I remain kind of concened.

There were blue and red dragon/ damsel flies all over the place, far too busy to stop for a photo. This picture in no way does justice to their colour.

Nearby here is a bank of Comfrey, which is grown for many reasons, as it has many uses. One is that the bees adore it, last year there were so many bees of so many varieties on it that it was almost anthill like in its hypnotic effect, you would see a few bees at first, then ten, twenty, a hundred, more, till there just seemed to be bees everywhere. This year it is more like 5, 10, 14, 20, 21 or is that the same one again, there is just not the abundance that there should be. Hopefully it is still just a bit early in the season for them and everything else is a bit ahead.

There should be umpteen bees in here- lets hope there will be soon.
I met a nice and very interesting chap here the other day, while he was fixing a dyke (damaged by a bull) that he had built some time ago. He told me that the latest research on bees suggests that it is microwaves that are decimating bee populations, such as those used and emitted from Mobile phones. This is very worrying when you think how many people have them now, not just here but across the world.

Norman Haddow, a master craftsman at work.
They don't work in the glen, but the signals do leak through here and there for patient teenagers on holiday who will wait half an hour by a particular rock for a text to come through (it probably said "I'm on the train").
There is also a phone mast (for military use only) and also if you want to receive a TV signal you will need a satellite signal - Microwaves again.
Anyway I have become diverted, I was going to talk about the rain and the sun and how everything as always needs to be in balance. Too much of either is not good and while we used to pray to Lugh and countless other sun gods for a good harvest, I bet we rarely did it with the concentrated fervour and immediate need that native American plains Indians would have carried out a rain dance. The rain dance as I understand it (a much misused term now) started as drought set in and continued until it rained. Participants danced and chanted until they dropped from exhaustion, when they recovered they got up and carried on, a trance like state was seemingly entered which perhaps helped to deal with the ongoing effect of dehydration. If it did not rain, drought, followed by famine and eventual death was a certainty. In rainy countries, somethings always growing so there is always something to eat, (read any John Muir book for proof- nice plate of Lichen anyone, this moss is very juicy?).

My little place in the country- I have been building this summerhouse for years, nearly finished now.

*Peter Hoeg's "Miss Smillas feelings for Snow" discusses and explains these Inuit words very well.

An Informative Afternoon- Glenlyon Kirk 17th July 2010 12.00-5.00

2010-06-25T09:38:00.000+01:00

Remember the excitement of phase one of the Home Heating Assessments ( I'm only joking- how could you forget)? Well, set your thrill receptors to max because there is more to come.

A glen resident waves goodbye following a survey in Phase One

Not only is Heat survey Phase 2 happening soon (please contact GWI if you live in the glen and would like your house surveyed), but now that most people have got their Phase 1 results, we are holding a woodfuel informative afternoon /open day type thing to answer any queries about the survey results, any questions about woodfuel heating in general and to provide up to date, glen focused information on the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).
Woodfuel expert Bernd Pinamonti and RHI consultant Steve Luker will actually be here, in Glenlyon to discuss, one on one, your personal woodfuel heating requirements and options, Potential payback times should RHI become policy, and, how much wood you might need a year- cost of, etc.This is an excellent opportunity to really learn about woodfuel heating options, from people working in the field.

People are looking forward to it already. One resident contemplates the upcoming event.

Sorry I just remembered how exciting this must be for you - the reader, I probably should have said sit down first. Now would you like some water?
Feeling a bit calmer, I 'll carry on. In addition, people from The Big Shed project (Shedi's) and the Loch Tay Food Chain will be giving a talk and discussing the really interesting and positive actions and opportunities that are happening "over the hill", and what benefits they could bring for people in the glen.

Bracing themselves for a long wait- The Informative Afternoon is not until the 17th of July.

Locally grown Small Round Wood (SRW) products will be on display and available for sale, plenty of long whippy poles are a certainty so if you are struggling for Teepee poles for runner beans or that sort of thing, you will be in luck. This SRW comes from some further coppice experimentation (Coppice Experiment 2)

Coppice Experiment 2. This bit of woodland looks better now its been thinned.

We have lots of poles from the thinning, they make much better pea supports than imported bamboo does
All of the above topics really need a blog of their own; Bernd has done a great job on the heat surveys. His survey forms are really comprehensive breaking down easily into payback with and without RHI (on ave... respectively). Steve Lukers input on RHI has, right from the start given the project an added economic impetus and awareness of how this innovative initiative makes the payback times for conversion to woodfuel compared to staying on oil "A No Brainer Mate" according to my Australian friend Jason.

Shepherds, Farmers, Mole trappers, Dykers and assorted forestry types are all welcome.

During the afternoon I will no doubt gibber on about forestry and wood fuel supply chains and some other things. Oh yes, we will very probably have an extraction demo from an Iron Horse - possibly the most low impact, economical extraction device available and undoubtedly the bit of the day you will chat to your nippers about. Incidentally no Jason an Iron Horse is not what Ned Kelly rode about on.

These Iron horses really are quite astonishing, as you will see if you follow this link
http://www.artcom-tradebridge.com/ironhorse.html

After watching this link an appropriate thing to say may be..."Golly Gosh those Iron Horses really are a spiffing looking bit of kit, well done Swedish chaps.
If this short film has left you suddenly realising what a gap there is in your life as concerns viewing small tracked vehicles in action, you may find this next link heartening. This one is also recommended watching for fans of ultra dramatic music and implausible emergency situations, something one will rarely see in mainstream films methinks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCdvIzMxpt8&NR=1&feature=fvwp

The way the music picks you up, exciting, exciting, rescue, rescue, and then changes for the interior cab shots is just thrilling... you will see what I mean (I hope).

By the way- Children are welcome at the Informative Afternoon, I think they will find it interesting too.

How would Sam Steele have dealt with BP?

2010-06-11T13:26:00.002+01:00

Despite being unusually busy I have read and enjoyed numerous books lately (as always), and sometimes while perusing "The Silvicture and Management of Coppice Woodlands" or the rather excellent Woodland Way by Ben Law, I have paused and thought " Oh I must mention that in a blog". Sometimes I mention these interesting things to my partner and sometimes she answers.
Anyway I was feeling a bit stuck for a blog- so much is happening Springwise and everything else that I just could not find something to focus in on- as I say so much is happening at the moment- then from the pages of a book the woodfuel message leapt out, relevant to modern society and potentially accompanied by astonishing photos. I think we all know that they can be an important component for a good blog.

News on the radio this morning that the amount of oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico is potentially double the amount previously estimated was accompanied by BP's share price rising 7%, as investors hope the American President is going to stop shouting at BP.

Yesterday I was reading of how BP's emergency plan for containment of a leak in the gulf were so detailed they not only included plans for cleaning Walruses, inhabitants of sub Artic regions rather than the Florida coastline, but also listed a Japanese home shopping website as one of its "Primary equipment providers .....for rapid deployment in spill response resources on a 24 hour, seven days a week basis". The author of the article I was reading suggested that perhaps the whole document had been cut and pasted from a plan for Alaska.
Anything else - Oh Yes I remember - Number Crunching Private Eye No 1262-

£6 - Hourly payment by BP to volunteers clearing up after oil spill.
£1.500- Hourly pay of BP Boss Tony " Its not our accident" Hayward
£1,500,000- Hourly profits of BP in last quarter
I would like to say that all the above made me really angry about the way massive oil companies and large corporations in general behave as regards their environmental responsibilities, but I can no longer remember a time when I wasn't really angry about that, so no joy there then.

What has been quite interesting is seeing Barack Obama become annoyed at BP and enter to some degree uncharted territory, the thought of Dubya criticising BP and wishing to punish it is not one that comes easily.
I think I may have a suggestion for him......One of the books I was recently reading was about a really extraordinary period in the mid 1890's when an estimated 100,000 worldwide people gave up their jobs and lives to head for an extremely uncertain but potentially highly lucrative future in the Klondike.

These would be miners face a 33 mile over this pass and beyond to Dawson. The Mounties in a bid to avert starvation had a check point at the top and each person passing through had to have a ton of food and supplies with them. Carrying this up took a number of journeys or involved paying "packers".

Very few of them managed the (properly arduous) journey to the emerging town of Dawson in the Yukon in the short time frame when gold was still to be found, however that did not stop a lot of people from getting rich in some way or another during the glory years of Dawson and the Klondike. The whole thing is a real macrocosm of human society with all its attendant facets and I could go on for hours about it all, however I will allow myself to relate just one small nugget of woodfuel thought on the subject.
That this huge influx of people into an area of barren, generally frozen wilderness did not just end in disaster or utter lawlessness was due very much to the fledgling Royal Canadian Mounted Police and in particular one man Sergeant Sam Steele who did indeed have a steely gaze when it came to came to controlling hordes of unruly (mostly American) miners.

Sam Steele had negotiated with Sitting Bull before the Gold Rush took him to the Yukon.

Steele used two main punishments to keep law and order in Dawson, one (a blue ticket) meant you were leaving town and the other meant you would be working on the government woodpile. This woodpile was incredible. It kept more than 50 prisoners busy morning to night, the police and Govt offices alone used enough wood to make a pile 2 miles long and 4 foot square, all of which had to be sawn into lengths by the prisoners who could be serving backbreaking 3 or 6 month sentences on the woodpile.
There is a story from the time of an American gambler who, on coming up before Steele was contemptuous when fined fifty dollars.
"Fifty dollars - is that all? I've got that in my vest pocket," he said.
Whereupon Sam Steele added "...and sixty days on the woodpile. Have you got that in your vest pocket?"

An older Sam Steele- what a crazy hat!

Now it occurs to me, in relation to punishing BP or wishing it and its ilk took more care with our environment that perhaps this approach would be better than fining them what will always be a small (oil) drop in the Ocean.
If corporate responsibility involved those responsible for these disasters personally and actively cleaning them up alongside all the people whose livelihoods have gone because of this slick, and alongside all those volunteers - there because they care, then perhaps some small glimmer of understanding and an actual feeling of responsibility and concern at the results of their negligence may eventually start to permeate these peoples lives. Who knows they may actually begin to care about the damage they do, rather than just the money they make- Either way it would worth finding out, just a month cleaning oil on the beach would probably do it for most of those BP fat cat's and they would always be truly welcome to work on my woodpile should they discover a previously unkown love for the outdoors.

Good reading - Klondike - Pierre Berton,
Practical Forestry for the Agent and Surveyor- Cyril Hart

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Getting the Hazels in

2010-06-01T13:04:00.000+01:00

On Friday we planted the hazels. Our planting site at Loch Archie runs above a recently buried power cable and this certainly made for some interesting planting. The site is currently planted with (tubed) native broad-leafs (BL's) with the exception of the strip we were planting. Prior to the BL's being planted it had been a small commercial block of Sitka Spruce which was felled about 4 years ago. A number of rootplates from these spruce alongside woody debris from the harvesting operation had been incorporated into the soil of the strip we were planting. For those who have not had the experience of trying to plant trees in wood instead of soil, it basically involves a spade bouncing of buried wood and a new spot being found for the trees. It was only an infrequent problem, but it meant some bits were hard to plant and that some of our lines and spacings were a bit wonky.

Our planting site, looking to the West, then to the East.

We had a really enjoyable visit from some of the pupils and teachers at Glenlyon Primary School. The school is making great progress towards an Eco-Schools award and recently held a well attended and very pleasant event aimed at creating vegetable growing areas in the schools grounds.The kids from the School are mostly well adapted to the glen weather which is just as well because not long after they started planting trees, we were blessed with some water to help them get established. I really think in this case the pictures mostly do the talking.

The intro bit- "This is a Hazel tree and we are planting them because......." Luckily no-one fell asleep.

Getting started with Screefs and T-notches for planting. Note various waterproofs hanging on the gate.

Headteachers and pupils get busy and the trees start going in.

Sometimes tree planting can be exciting.

Rain is good because it helps things to grow.

Mixed emotions as time to return to school comes.

Eventually we got all the trees in and Loch Archie now has a new hazel corridor along its north end.

All Done!
My thanks in particular to John and Jason who were so very helpful on the day and also to Victor Clements of Scottish Native Woods for organising the trees and to E-Forests for donating them.

Getting Medieval with the Hazel.

2010-05-27T18:17:00.000+01:00

I'm quite excited about tomorrow's hazel planting. Establishing a new native species coppice woodland is not commonly done today. People plant broadleaved woodlands for sure, but the criteria is often a generally assumed benefit to nature and while the planting of any tree is commendable, I have sometimes felt that opportunities for sustainable future timber production have been missed. In my first years working in the glen we did quite a lot of planting under the very popular native pinewoods scheme that the Forestry Commission ran.

Meggernie pines

This scheme was aimed at enlarging the overall area of Caledonian Pinewood in Scotland and involved either the natural regeneration of relic fragments of these ancient woods or new planting in suitable areas. This new planting was what provided the employment and in short involved planting pines (grown from Meggernie seed) on the drier sandier knolls and mixed broadleaves elsewhere. We planted Rowan, Birch, Hazel, Ash, Cherry, Willow, Holly, Juniper and Alder amongst other things and I recall having an interesting chat with the forest manager about planting them out in same species groups closer together than the recommended 3 metre spacing with a view to future timber production. The conversation ended with a realisation that we were (in the strange way that you can) planting a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and that both this and a lack of any access to the plantations could hinder future timber production.
Future timber production from these plantings simply did not appear to be on the agenda as indeed it still is not in the majority of broadleaf planting perhaps the equation is Conifer = timber, broadleaf = nature, but I beg to disagree and with what we are doing tomorrow hope to put my money where my mouth is by planting with a purpose. That purpose being the provision of timber and small round wood on a continual cycle, a cycle that will link our actions with those of our Celtic ancestors and even their Neolithic forebears.

People since time immemorial have used wood - whatever they had to hand usually to make the things they needed, fire, boats, shelter, weapons, fire, a bit more fire. We know this because we have seen badly drawn pictures of these people using these things in museums and books.

Anglo Saxons using small round wood - note the wattle and daub wall, loom etc. Note also the strange absence of criss-cross sandals so common in these pictures -perhaps in the wash on the day this scene was painted?

Coppice would have been a common, pretty essential practice for these people, after all if it was good enough for the Romans.... One needs only to look at the tools of today's Coppicer to see a link with the past, indeed you would probably have to go quite far to find something as obviously medieval in origin and still in use today as the Billhook with its multiple regional forms.

There is a thriving market in these good quality old tools as interest in coppice is rekindled. I recently bought myself a left bevelled billhook which I have been using in Coppice Experiment 2. I managed to get a properly fearsome (almost cutting the hairs on the back of your hand)edge on it and find it excellent for cleaning poles and cutting to size. It is also a pleasant tool to use, no engine noise or fumes disturb you in the woodland as you work away, in the footsteps of your ancestors.
Whether these people planted trees or just coppiced natural forest is uncertain. What is certain is that tomorrow we are planting with a purpose and you are welcome to join us.

Hazel Planting - 28th May - All welcome

2010-05-22T09:54:00.001+01:00

In March we were successful in our application for 300 hazel trees to plant at Loch Archie as a future fuel supply. Those trees are now here and a date has been set for planting them, Friday the 28th of May. The full moon the evening before will hopefully make for an energetic start as we quite literally plant a form of energy. One that with proper management will long outlast many generation of us.

Coppicing is believed to be the oldest management activity undertaken by humanity, pre-dating agriculture and the more I read of it, it seems to be just about the most sustainable one we do as well so no surprise it's so out of fashion now. Perthshire has a long documented history of managed coppice, primarily oak,ash and hazel for industries that either no longer exist or that now use oil based chemicals. Plastic becoming widely available in the 1950's did for a lot of traditional pole producers and saw a big decline in people coppicing for a living.

We will get a variety of benefits from the hazel's and so will the associated flora and fauna, but this wood is primarily for burning to replace oil. It can be hard to realise how productive hazel can be in a coppice cycle, so I have here some photos of Hazel from an inspirational website-
http://www.hazelwoodlandproducts.co.uk/coppice-management.htm

After 1 years growth.

2 Year Old Hazel Coppice

3 Year Old Hazel Coppice

5 Year Old Hazel Coppice, producing lots of hazel nuts.

10 Year Old Hazel Coppice

As you can see, this chap has some amount of potential firewood. If you look at the trees there and imagine 30 such trees, converted to logs and in your woodpile a smile will probably spread over your face. When you think on a little and realise that you will be (if you wish) cutting the same amount next year and the year after and the year after that and that this small planting at Loch Archie, a relatively small strip of land into which we will plant just 300 trees, could yield this indefinitely. If you cut a tenth (30) of the Loch Archie hazels every year, by the time you finished cutting your last "Coup", the first cutting would be ready to go again- ad infinitum as it were.
What a truly magical low impact fuelwood system. I have been told that coppice can outperform Sitka spruce in many ways and this renewable aspect certainly makes it so to my mind. If you cut a tree for firewood, the tree is gone and you must plant and grow a new one before you can do get firewood again. With coppice, the firewood grows while your back is turned. You don't even have to say Abracadra it just does it- providing you can control your herbivores of course.

Before our hazel can begin the cycle in the pictures it will need to become established which takes a few years. As little as 3 on good lowland sites, perhaps a little longer on ours. Once in the coppice cycle however the hazel stools can live for an extremely long time and be consistently productive.
So why not join GWI and the smiling happy children and teachers of Glenlyon Primary School for a mornings treeplanting on the 28th and be part of this wonderful cycle. Bring a spade if you can.

My thanks to Hugh Ross at Rawhaw woods for letting me use his photos for this blog and well done to them for what they are doing and creating.
http://www.hazelwoodlandproducts.co.uk/coppice-management.htm

I hope to see you there.

A consideration of Skyline Extraction

2010-05-13T11:10:00.005+01:00

The feasibility study has numerous tentacles concerning the supply of woodfuel. Being surrounded by timber does not necessarily mean that it will be a doddle getting it to people. A primary consideration for me at the start of the project was how to obtain enough timber to maintain a constant and hopefully growing supply of fuel for people changing from oil to wood as their primary heatsource. It was obviously important that this would be done in a sustainable fashion and there are various forest harvesting or production techniques that lend themselves to this.
But how to do it? The big how to here is called extraction by the way, and it has been challenging foresters for a long time. In the case of GWI it is all intrinsically linked to the type of boilers being used, (wood)chip or log boilers being the options available.The fuel for both of these can come from the same tree which is good, but how do you get the tree out of the woods? How much of it can you get out?What infrastructure needs to be in place for that to happen?, How much will it cost per ton and because we are short of space for drying; how dry could it be when it came out?
A further complication in Glenlyon is obviously terrain, in particular steep sided slopes. I am sure that some boffin somewhere will have worked out a table calculating economic loss in forestry plantations per degree of slope and I don't think its hard to see how that could be the case. Cost and conservation are the watchwords in this case.
For example: lots of forest harvesting and extraction these days is done very efficiently by machines such as harvesters and forwarders.

A Forest Harvester can cut up to 60,000 tons of timber per year.
However these machines can only work on a certain degree of steepness, beyond that, more roading must be put in at more cost and that of course, can only happen following approval from various bodies, which creates a time delay, which costs more money. Remember all this timber you are harvesting has very probably not been thinned and due to elevation, exposure, and thin mountain soils is consequentially likely to be of low quality and thus low value.
I have been quoted between £350 and £500 per day for the hire of a forwarder and Operator in Glenlyon, so you can see from that how quickly costs could add up. Particularly because depending on the type of harvesting you are doing, you may not have the option of stopping an uneconomic operation without rendering the half felled site liable to potentially disastrous and even more uneconomically viable windblow.
Given that there is very likely to be a demand for chips, lets look at one option we considered earlier on in the project for supplying them from the steep slopes no one else wants. Whole tree extraction by Skyline.

A skyline or cable Crane is best thought of in terms of being like a cable car or gondola that people going skiing might use.

The same principles of cables going up and down a slope carrying a weight can be used to extract timber from slopes with a spar tree being used as a top anchor point for the cables. Around 1910 in the early days of forestry in British Columbia, a skyline system called "High lead" was developed which kept the logs off the ground, by suspending them in the air for their whole journey down the slope. Back then it saved power and was swift, today it makes Skylines a good option for reduced ground pressure from extraction. The high lead system involves a high spar tree for the cable to run to and from. The felling of these makes for some of the most incredible photos of Canadian logging.

Yes, the picture on the right really does show a man (Big Bill Moraski) standing on top of a spar tree with his arms out. These pictures are from a time before Photoshop.

You can the feller hanging on as the tree top is felled. This could apparently "set the spar tree lashing back and forth in a 20-foot arc".
So was this our plan, to stand on top of big trees with our arms out, then axe blades whirling produce enough timber to meet the needs of the glen?
Err not quite, the plan was to buy a 2nd hand converted excavator cablecrane for a bargain price locally, use it to produce a large stockpile of fuelwood timber over a few months , process and start drying the timber, repeat as needed . The option was particularly tempting given that the machine could still perform large excavator duties, such as making forest roads or loading bays. It could also potentially be fitted with a log grapple or processor head making it a multi-purpose machine that would be useful not just to us, but could probably be hired to others in the glen for digger jobs.

What a beauty eh'

A lovely cab for the operator, note the all important winches at the back and skyline boom extension at the front.

There could have been great advantages for GWI from doing whole tree harvesting for chip production. An approximate third more produce comes from harvesting the foliage and you also leave a tidy forest floor for replanting or for safe future operations. Unfortunately someone else spotted what a bargain the machine was and unlike us could just buy it on the spot, whereas we would probably still be applying for grant funding for it as I write.
It was good though, having the experience of considering using such a machine, thinking it through and consulting with a very experienced skyline operator on it. He gave me lots of interesting thoughts and advice and said of the project " With all the timber here, how could you fail" which was really encouraging.
I am now looking at a totally different machine which is a little dearer, but new. I shall write of this at another time.
Note; The Canada photos come from the excellent book " The Lumberjacks" by Donald Mackay.

Forest Mensuration in Upper Mirkwood

2010-05-06T09:41:00.000+01:00

Last week I carried out the first of GWI's Forest assessments. These assessments are intended to provide GWI with research based data concerning the suitability of a forest for inclusion in or use by the project.
A key component of the feasibility study concerns the provision of a reliable and sustainable supply of fuelwood for use in the glen. The wood currently standing in coniferous plantations up and down the glen could probably meet our needs for a very long time, if it were to be managed with firewood resource as a key management objective.
It is however one thing looking at a forest and saying; "There lots of timber in them woods, you mark my words"(a finger may be also pointed skywards at this point). It is another matter altogether to measure how much timber there may actually be.

Lots of timber
This involves having knowledge of the mystic science of Forest Mensuration. Gaining such knowledge was perhaps the most boring bit of all the boring bits of forestry school. However once learnt and equipped (Clinometer, girth tape,distance measures, hard hat with visor etc) one can potentially survey, and then estimate the volume of any given forest. There are various ways of doing this according to the age, value and previous management of the forest.
In the case of Upper Mirkwood with it being a single species (Sitka spruce), fairly homogeneous looking planting and me just looking for a rough idea of volume, I decided to put in 10 sample plots, randomly scattered through the woods. Each plot will have a radius of 5.64m (0.01ha)and within that radius all trees over 7cm will have their DBH (diameter at breast height) recorded and the top height of the tree with the largest DBH will also be recorded. Sounds fairly easy eh' - One question. Have you ever been in unthinned Sitka Spruce?. I would guess that most people have not and that the few who have, have either left soon going "This stuffs horrible and spiky and jaggy and its really dark in here and oww I've just been jagged in the eye" or they have gone "Oh well, better get the mensuration done, oww, just been jagged in the eye- this Sitka must be the extra spiky kind etc"

The grim reality behind the green front line of a Sitka wood.
Each tree (in a sample plot) over 7cm mid diameter is measured with a girth tape "hug" that involves embracing the tree. Often the Sitka hugs you back, leaving affectionate little scratches on your hands and arms. In this wood the tress are not growing particularly fast and there are some areas where there has obviously been a problem with deer, as a result the canopy is just closing. In other areas the canopy has closed successfully and the competition for light has begun in earnest. Both for the trees who will fight for it all their lives and for me trying to read the girth tape in the dark.

I really cannot understand why more people do not enjoy walking in these woods?

For the purposes of the project I am particularly seeking areas adjacent to roadside or on flattish accessible ground. This is mainly because it will be a lot easier to extract timber from these areas. You have to start somewhere and a thinning going back from the roadside is a good place, not just for access reasons but also because the wind corridor that can be your forest road gains a more windfirm edge to protect the interior with. Mirkwood is an upland plantation and eventually I emerge, blinking in the light like a coalminer.

Quite often in these plantations you will find the remains of old Sheilings or come across old roads or tracks. I have found little of that in here, but when I come out onto the top of the woods I find a few Sheilings, as always they are near to water.There are Stags on the open hill behind me and the weather looks a little changeable.

Ben MC'kneehurty beckons, but I am working and must decline.

Looking to the West.

Its downhill from here, with a few more plots along the way.

La lune et le logo (I failed French by the way).

2010-04-29T20:42:00.000+01:00

It was a full moon last night. With Beltane / May Day just around the corner and following a positive blog comment about the GWI logo, I thought I would share with you the logo as perhaps never seen before. This happened by chance on the computer. One click this image, click again normal image. I do not pretend to understand what happened, but I do quite like the image and the way the usual logo morphs into this one.

A Hookeroon? By Jove Sir, I think I will.

2010-04-27T15:19:00.003+01:00

There is a very substantial amount of timber lying on the forest floor within a few miles of Bridge of Balgie, Glenlyon. This timber was "felled to waste" or "felled to recycle" in Commissionese from about 1995 to 2005, as part of a special management grant to (amongst other things) improve the woodlands. There not being a lot of local interest in it as a firewood and it not being all that easy to extract, most of it is still lying there. I have carried out some moisture content (MC) measurements and at mostly between 30 to 40 % MC its well on its way to being dry enough for burning.

This timber could perhaps provide enough fuelwood for the first years needs if people in the glen were to begin converting to wood-fuelled boilers. This could be a major advantage in getting the scheme off the ground, certainly in comparison to saying to potential woodfuel users " Ok you'll need 10 tons of chips for your boiler this year", we'll go and fell (or ringbark) the trees and get them drying, should have something for you this time next year".
To be able to use this timber, I need to work out the best way to extract it. I also need to work out approximately how much timber there is. One way to extract it is by using a forwarder, however a forwarders grab can only reach so far into the woods and as various forest sages have observed to me, the way the woods have been thinned does not lend itself to forwarder extraction.

A forwarder in action

Forwarders are expensive to hire and I do not want to waste time and money while the operator grubs about for logs. If however I could move the logs to within reach of the grab, we could probably extract them to the roadside pretty efficiently. The thing is moving logs by hand is not a good thing to do, its' slow, it can be dangerous and it hurts your back. I was discussing the matter with Bernd and he mentioned that in the Alps people, fairly effortlessly drag big logs about the place using a purpose made tool.

Intrigued I did some research and can now present to you - The Hookeroon.

This is a light hookeroon in the Tyrolean style and has an incredibly sharp point on it. You swing the point into the log you want to move and just start walking with it. I have been very surprised at how effective it is during my limited trials of it.

In this picture it is being used by my helper Iain Visiblemann.

At Forestry School we were taught to move timber with Log Tongs and Pulphooks. The hookeroon leaves them standing, although to be fair they do have slightly different uses, being as much for lifting as for dragging

The newest looking log tongs I have ever seen.
I will be looking for someone to assist me in carrying out some trials with the Hookeroon and tongs if anyone is interested (payment will be provided).
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RHI and a stable energy supply

2010-04-23T12:40:00.005+01:00

Doing the heat surveys was a great way to meet people and hear their thoughts on a range of subjects. When these thoughts turned to woodfuel heating systems, it was interesting to note a recurrence of various themes around the topic. One such theme for example was the local provision of basic hardwood firewood and that people would like to buy it from GWI.
Another was the proposed Renewable Heat Incentive or RHI. This acronym dominated conversations being, as it is, concerned with a government proposition that seems to offer real benefits to people, and that will genuinely support a real renewable technology in peoples homes. Speaking for myself such green and beneficial proposals from the Government are about as common as the dog digging up a diamond and it was understandable if some residents were hearing me describe such a thing as "Money for burning wood" and smiling politely, while thinking to themselves " He's quite big for someone born yesterday". I am still a bit sceptical myself , it just seems too good........ and after all, what kind of a fool believes the government or politicians.
So I thought I would dedicate today's blog to the RHI, some notes from the meeting I attended on the subject in Perth the other day and having a secure energy supply.

How the meeting may have looked in Victorian times.

The meeting began with an explanation of the rationale behind the RHI which basically revolves around emission reduction targets and increased use of renewable's between now and 2020. Scotland's 2020 target for renewables use is that 50% of electricity, 11% of heat (currently 1.4%) and 10 % of transportation needs be met from renewables. 24% of all energy currently used is in home heating (UK) rising to 50% in Scotland (don't quote that by the way, my notes are confusing, but I think this is what I meant).
Another very worthwhile, perhaps very ambitious, aim of the Scottish Govt is that no one in Scotland be living in fuel poverty by 2016.

The RHI is the first scheme like this in the world and will be funded by a direct levy on fossil fuels.It really does appear to be a good thing and its hard to see how it can fail to encourage increased use of woodfuel, not only in domestic, but business markets as well. Imagine for example; a hospital's fuel needs. Heating all that water must use a lot of fuel and be pretty expensive. Changing to a woodfired system would heat the same water and work the same way. Under RHI it would pay for itself and then probably produce an income stream. Fuel costs would be relatively stable, being unreliant on a global supply chain compared to oil.

How the meeting may have looked in Roman times
There are numerous benefits to the UK from a wider use of our biomass resources and less reliance on imported fuels. As one speaker put it "We need a much wider mix of fuels in the UK to avoid fluctuations in markets". With the price of oil about to rise steeply again due to various factors (mostly related to profiteering politics and greed) I could not agree more.
Before the election became news, we were whizzing battleships to the Falklands to defend a potential oil supply there. Following some potential "Argy Bargy" (sorry) and the expense of drilling and extracting what oil might be there, we would then ship it an incredible 7000 miles (11265 km), so that some of it could then burn inefficiently to heat our homes.

It must be an intellectually challenging job advising the Govt on future energy strategy " Yes Minister we will go almost halfway around the world to get this oil and bring it back, 14,000 mile round trip minister? Very good for the shipping industry minister".

How the meeting may have looked in Neolithic times (I'm on the left of the picture)
The underlying note to this ridiculous idea is that a future supply of oil and gas supplies is increasingly difficult to guarantee and finance, and having ones own source (whatever the environmental cost), makes one immune to this Using local wood to heat homes in Glenlyon would involve a maximum mileage for the wood of 10 miles. Using wood to heat hospitals and businesses would hardly clock up the miles either.
Result - decreased need for oil for heating and import/ transport. A sustainable, renewable fuel being used, more tree planting to maintain supply, thriving forest industry etc.

Incidentally, on a history repeating itself note, a few hundred years ago whalers from the UK did regularly make that journey. They did so in search of the whale oil that lubricated and lit industry. They would often be away for years and would drop the distilled oil off around the Falklands for dispatch to the UK. They travelled with what we now call wind power. Working on these boats was a very good way to have a very bad time..

The excitement of a home heating assessment.

2010-04-19T11:23:00.000+01:00

There's a little fresh snow on the hills this morning, but the hot weather I described in the last blog continued for pretty much all of last week. The heat from the sun only added to the excitement of Phase One of the Home Heating Assessment Surveys we were carrying out.
For 3 days a biomass heating systems expert was in the glen and the tension was almost palpable as glen residents gathered past fuel bills and awaited the knock at the door. A knock that could change their life for the better (especially over the winter months).
I accompanied Mr Heat, generally known as Bernd Pinamonti during the majority of the surveys, and for me it has been a very interesting experience on a variety of fronts. The intention of the survey was to gather baseline data concerning housing and heating demographics in the glen. There are various noticeable types, sizes and clusters of housing in the glen and part of my hope with this survey was to be able, through Bernd to build up an overall picture of what might be involved in both heating these houses individually and also as possible components of a small district heating system.
GWI have been distributing our own heating survey form (and getting a great response in terms of completed forms - thanks everyone) but following some horror stories about data protection and minefields, Bernd produced his own more heat specific form. The questions concerned things like current insulation levels, fuel types used, consumption and cost of (pretty much everyone knew straight-away) and size of house in metres (one couple knew). We also discussed peoples aspirations for heating their homes. Bernd and I would then measure the house and record some layout details.

Surveyees look at their fuel bills with dismay.
As a result of these surveys Bernd will be able to calculate the thermal needs of each house alongside their potential for using woodfuel.
A report will then be produced for each property or property type in areas of identical housing (like Pubil). Boiler options (chips or logs) size and and fuel consumption will be detailed as will a basic cost estimate and payback time and possible future payments under RHI.
Most of the households we surveyed appeared, on the face of it, very likely to see positive economic benefits from a woodfuel conversion.

Faces brighten as woodfuel conversion is discussed.

Back in the real world after Mega City One

2010-04-11T09:25:00.000+01:00

This time of year in Glenlyon is just fantastic. The days become so much longer and is is often the case in March and April, we are having real sunshine- T shirt weather. I have grown vegetables in the glen for quite a while now and it really keeps you in tune with the seasons. The growing season is very short here and an early start is essential. Luckily we seem increasingly to get our summer weather in this early spring period, long days full of sunshine. Hot enough to frazzle your tomato seedlings (to a crisp), but unfortunately still with a frost on a night. The proverbial summer months here, by contrast often feature sticky humid weather with little direct sunshine to ripen veg.
That's not to say we haven't had any rain. On Monday and Tuesday it bucketed down- proper professional rain, not only going about its work, but doing a double shift as well.. I was in Perth on Tuesday at a Forestry Commission sponsored meeting concerning woodfuel and The Renewable Heat Incentive. On Monday however I went to look at some woodland. On the way I saw some Squirrels, Ma, Pa and at least one nipper.

They were having a lovely time of it in the old beech. The reds are so nimble and in control of their habitat, they cross from tree to tree effortlessly.

Happy to have seen the squirrels, I walked on. About ten minutes later I crossed a deer-fence and heard a toad croaking. Just ahead in what ecologist call an "Incidental Pool" and most folk call a bit of a puddle was a toad laying her spawn. Toads are not Charismatic Megafauna like red squirrels and do not come up well on wet muddy day photos. However here is a pic of the Narnia like world I entered a few minutes later.

An almost pure birch wood, even aged and probably not that old. In fact you could even hazard a guess that this wood started around the early to mid 70's.

Like so much in the glen, this is only a few uphill minutes from a road.

Next blog: Perhaps more of this walk, perhaps the meetings I have been having all week or perhaps something else altogether. It has been a very interesting week.

Some viewers may find the following image disturbing.

2010-04-07T08:19:00.004+01:00

This photo depicts the merging of Hong Kong and the Shenzhen-Guangzhou area of China to become the worlds first Mega City - Home to an incredible 120 million people, an absolutely staggering number. This photo came to me as a clipping from The Guardian (23/03/10). Ever since I have been haunted by it.
Scotland's population is currently just over 5 million with the UK as a whole at around 60m. In 1801 the population of the UK was 8.3m in 1901 following the effects of the industrial revolution it had risen to 31.5m.
I still find it quite incredible that the infrastructure exists to reliably service both the needs and the greeds of the UK. I also find it quite worrying that in the event of a collapse in the supply chain like, for example a lorry drivers protest over fuel prices, that we are apparently 7 days from starvation (local resilience is obviously the key here)

Considering the needs of a city of 120 million people is properly mindboggling. The flow of services, food and water must be staggering- just imagine providing 240 million shoes for a starter! The energy demands of air conditioners,cars, heating systems and all those myriad other things must be just phenomenal.

This picture also bothers me because I grew up reading the comic 2000AD one of whose most famous characters was Judge Dredd. He brought a "tough love" form of justice to a futuristic city where everyone lived in tower-blocks. It was called Mega City One and it looked just like the place in the photo really. I have often enjoyed good Sci- Fi Films as well, kinda suspecting that in the future humans will live in a "Bladerunner" type world. The all encompassing diversely populated, sleazy, dirty city where it always rains and everyone talks pidgin dialects dominates the film and appears to be what the future has become, the last few minutes show countryside as the city is left behind (my apologies for spoiling the ending for anyone who hasn't seen it by the way).

I believe that humans have always lived in times of change. Talking about the latest development, be it the wheel, metal, windows, money, coffee, travel etc has probably been as constant a topic as the weather. I kind of suspect however that the age of change we are living through now is moving not just at a pace that is unparalleled, but is whirling in so many directions. 200 years ago it was (arguably) really just Europe that was developing, now everywhere something seems to be going on or wrong depending on your perspective.
Its always a bit weird to find the fantastic futuristic visions of the future appearing in your time.

Incidentally - I have noticed that the pics on the blog sometimes get chopped or squashed by the formatting. If you put your mouse over the pic and right click, choosing view image you will see the pics in full.

Birdfeeding, what a nice and easy way to do your bit for wildlife.

2010-04-02T12:30:00.002+01:00

I had been planning to write more about modern wood burners today, but with the sun's rays bouncing off the snow outside, it seems an inappropriate subject. Besides for now, the passive solar heating streaming through the south facing windows is providing all the heat we need.

As a constituted community group GWI has stated Aims and Objects, these are,
Aims:
 To reduce reliance on heating oil in Glenlyon by replacing it with a more sustainable fuel sourced entirely from within the Glen.
 To extend and maintain the biodiverse habitats of plant, animal and human communities currently present within the glen.
 To have carbon reduction and environmental sustainability at the forefront of all decision making.

Objects:
• To utilise the wide ranging skills and expertise of the Glenlyon population within a community group capable of realising the full potential and spirit of this project.
• To provide a sustainable source of fuelwood in Glenlyon.
• To provide employment and to strengthen links within the wider glen population in the process.
• To investigate and develop secondary markets related to wood use.

Today I would like to talk about one small aspect of the second aim. In particular a contribution to maintaining biodiversity that we all, glen dweller, townie or other can make pretty easily. Furthermore it is something that will (ornithophobiac's excepted) probably bring you a lot of pleasure. I am talking about feeding the birds and especially about feeding the birds on a regular basis, because that is when it gets really good for you and really, really good for them, indeed it can be positively lifesaving at times.

I took this picture yesterday, I could have taken hundreds more and could do so most days. The variety, behaviour and general soap opera that is the "birdscene" in our garden can be both fascinating and mesmerising in equal proportion. It is also an excellent ways of observing wildlife. As you can see from the picture we have a Woodpecker and about 20 Chaffinches. Later that day my favourite family group turned up, the Yellowhammers. We also have other regular visitors like Blackbirds, Thrushes, Robins, Siskins and various Finches. I have no doubt that the more consistently we feed the birds, the more visual and diverse the return to both us and the wider environment is. The Yellowhammers have five young with them, a pleasing sight and perhaps one that,had they not had feed available we would not be seeing.
We also get a Red Squirrel on a fairly regular basis- He or possibly She eats all the peanuts and darts off again, I like seeing the squirrel, the birds are less keen, particularly the more peanut addicted ones.

Anyway- everyone can feed the birds and create their own oasis of wildlife in their garden. As you can probably tell it brings me great pleasure and reward to help these amazing little avians get through life, perhaps it would for you too. Just one feeder, filled as regularly as practicable - go on- try it.

Gasification- If you see Sid , tell him.

2010-03-30T10:54:00.001+01:00

There are a number of features which set modern wood burning (MWB) boilers apart from their more traditional stove or furnace counterparts.

One key aspect of all MWB boilers is gasification, a clever way of burning waste gasses from wood making it about 70% more efficient and a cracking word to remember for Scrabble.

Gasification is, in its simplest form a means of converting the heat energy stored in wood into a gas which can then be burnt. The technology is not new. During World War II, Million’s of vehicles (over 1million in Europe alone) ran on wood. I knew nothing about this before I started today’s blog and I hope you will forgive me if I diverge from boilers to cars for a moment

Wood gasification is a pretty efficient way to power vehicles. Modern research is showing figures of around one pound of wood (say an average sized bit of firewood) per mile. Limiting factors are wood tank size and the need to reload the boiler. Efficiency levels with modern wood fuelled cars are easily comparable to electric cars and in some cases, petrol ones.

It seems crazy, given the sustainability of forest cycles and wood (and the fact that we cannot eat it), that in Brazil vital rainforests are being cleared to plant a food crop (sugar cane) for conversion to Ethanol when wood could do the same thing so very simply.

Land that functions as the planets lungs is cleared to grow food that is then turned into fuel. The soil is nutrient poor in cleared rainforest land so will only grow the crop for a short time, hence more rainforest destruction etc- (a cycle of destruction).

This Ethanol business is, by the way being seen as an example of sustainable fuel production.(cue – silent scream and deep breath)

You can go around the world with a saw and an axe (John Dutch)

(John has presumably not passed through a UK airport recently)

This diagram shows how gasification works in MWB’s

To quote from GWI fact-sheet 2

"When wood is burnt with a natural (upwards) flame, the wood burns quite fast and waste gases from it go up the chimney, as is the case with an open fire. An open fire is about 30 % efficient so about 70 % of potential heat is wasted".

Wood gasification uses a downward burning flame and a tightly controlled air flow to smoulder the wood. The waste gases produced, (about 70% of the total heat values of the fuel) are then burnt. This has numerous advantages in terms of fuel efficiency (often 90%+) less emissions and ash, a long life for the firebox and longer re-fuelling periods”. Creosote build up on flues and sooting of glass panels is also much reduced.

In short if you want to burn wood- gasify it. If you do anything else, you are just blowing hot gas out of your chimney!

The Hazel Stigma (in focus)

2010-03-28T12:33:00.005+01:00

Talented Glenlyon photographer Colin Wilson has sent us a picture showing the colours of the stigma or flower of the Hazel bud . As can be seen Colin has no problem focusing in on hazels and we can therefore see the flower in all its glory.
Looking at it we can perhaps ponder both the earlier question of the Dulux colour-match and indeed, assuming they could match it we can also wonder at the possible joys that may await one who has the rooms of their house painted hazel vermilion.
Thank you for the excellent picture Colin.

That groovy kachelofen Scene

2010-03-26T08:29:00.000Z

I have a lot to do during this feasibility study. One key to success will be to keep it simple. Each area of research broken down and looked at in small manageable components all leading to a greater sum of knowledge. Alongside research into the practicalities of the scheme, I must also communicate the idea to the glen community in a realistic way, providing enough information to people that they can really understand what they are looking at.
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.
That's one there with the knobbly bits on. They are obviously a way in which one can express one's own style and taste.
As you can see for fans of the 70's European tile scene, there could be a lot of pleasure in typing Kachelofen into Google images. This next image however resembles a more typical Kachelofen as a warmed communal seating area.
Kachelofen's are large thermal masses that warm rooms and houses in an efficient and gentle way. A slow burning fire is lit in the kachelofen, and a clever use of flue pipes allows the kachelofen to warm up (never to hot too touch) and be a general heat source, radiating heat out. I suppose an equivalent comparison is an AGA or Rayburn and the way they heat the kitchen. kachelofen, however can be situated centrally, or for a specific purpose.
They burn very little wood, staying warm for a long time. Larger systems can have ducting that distributes warm air around the house. Modern adaptations include integrated heat exchangers for underfloor heating, radiators or hot water.
They really are quite fascinating for the range of designs www.fauser-ofenbau.de and www.prometheus-kachelofen.eu are good sites for contemporary styles.
This Kachelofen also has a Pizza oven and can heat pans and that all important kettle.

The hazel Catkin- Precursor of Spring

2010-03-25T14:05:00.000Z

A common topic at this time of year is the advent of Spring. Birds, squirrels, field mice, frogs and insects can not only be seen again, but can be seen to be busy. The grass is slowly starting to grow, bulbs are sprouting and for the birches the sap is rising. Its tempting to believe that spring is here, and that soon the leaves will be out. That may be the case in some parts of the UK, but 15 years in Glenlyon have taught me that we will be waiting a while yet.
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.
The catkins hang like silk worms or similar, slightly ethereal and very fresh looking against the wintered vegetation. Close up they appear random. From further they are a shifting cloud of green.
These catkins are sometimes eaten by birds as well as insects and combined with the nuts that will be produced later in the year make hazel one of our most important food trees for wildlife. Deer also love to ravage hazel bushes, eating bark, shoots and buds and it can often be this that causes so many hazel to coppice naturally.
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.

A logo design from a local artist.

2010-03-23T09:13:00.000Z

This is the logo design for GWI from talented local artist. Ashley Dudley Smith. Ashley and I have worked together on this design for some time, taking it from a fledgling idea of a symbol to represent the aspirations and sustainable ethos of GWI. When I say worked together, I mean that I said to Ashley " We want something that represents the glen, warm houses, wood, simplicity and renewable sustainable cycles, also employment, community and....... Ashley looked at me and took a deep breath.

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!

2010-03-21T09:37:00.000Z

Great News. We have been successful in our application for some hazel trees to plant as a coppice resource in Glenlyon. Victor Clements who works for Scottish Native Woods in Aberfeldy helped us to get the trees, tubes and stakes from E- Forests- Good stuff Victor. Thank You.
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.

Coppice Experiment Number One

2010-03-18T17:43:00.000Z

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.

Those Hayrick like wood drying stacks

2010-03-17T09:05:00.000Z

This is one of the ways in which people in the Austrian Upper Tyrol dry their firewood. I find these shapes pleasing to the eye.

Public Meeting Thursday 11th march

2010-03-13T08:08:00.000Z

The Church at Innerwick in Glenlyon was the location for our public meeting. Its a really nice building, very simple with clean lines, but not plain at all. A large stained glass window provides a colourful backdrop as Fiona opens the meeting.
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.

2010-03-08T22:46:00.000Z

There will be a Public meeting on Thursday the 11^th 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.

2010-03-08T22:24:00.000Z

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.