Irish forestry fuel can replace oil

THE review of the National Climate Change Strategy made alarming reading — our production of carbon dioxide is at 23% above the target agreed under the Kyoto Protocol.

One area which has enormous potential to reduce emissions from the burning of fossil fuels — the use of sustainable biomass fuel from Irish forests and wood-industry by products — seems to have been completely ignored in the review and by Minister Roche in his comments as reported in the media.

With the price of heating oil soaring and some analysts predicting that oil could reach the $100 a barrel benchmark this year, the Government should commit to the use of wood-chip, wood-pellet and other biomass fuels to meet a significant portion of the country’s energy needs.