Angus Smith writes on wood fuels

The Scottish Government renewables target of 11% of home heating in Scotland by 2020 is to be assisted by the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). For those who are not familiar with this Government-backed financial assistance scheme, it is a funding base which will offer guaranteed annual cash payments to householders who embrace renewable heating systems in their homes. In effect, the annual payments will fund the wood fuel required to run the system, providing the installation is carried out by an approved installer, such as Arran Energy Ltd.
The recent announcement of the proposed tariffs should be regarded as a positive step, though there will be many who would like to see more detail. The DECC’s latest energy statistics highlight a 5.5% rise in electricity prices on last year’s costs. For gas the figure is a shocking 13%. There can be no doubt that conventional forms of energy are bleeding the consumer dry. Oil is set to increase even more drastically, and current advice to heating oil users is to stock up on oil now before the harsh prices really start to kick in. It is obvious that there is room for an alternative.
I admit to a personal interest here, since I am associated with Arran Woodfuels & Arran Energy, which has an advertisement in this October edition of the Voice. But in terms of common sense, the fact is that for householders on Arran in particular, there are advantages to be gained by using locally grown wood as your heating fuel – particularly as signing-up for RHI cash back payments will almost completely fund the cost of the fuel over the years to come.
With many Arran households feeling the financial pinch as they switch their central heating on, energy and money-saving measures have never been so important. Now is the time to look into the advantages of heating your home with local Arran wood, at less cost than any other fuel, whilst also doing your bit to achieve the Governments targets.
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