Work started this week on testing timbers from New England for their suitability for pellet production. With funding from HiCUB and RIRDC, researchers are looking at the possibility of using pellet heaters as a sustainable alternative to wood fires for home heating. Shane Andrews, a local farm forester, has been collecting samples of native species as well as woody weeds like willow and poplar, and pine from plantations. The material has been chipped by Armidale Dumaresq Council and will be analysed at Southern Cross University for energy, ash content and other chemicals which affect its suitability for pellet manufacture.
Meanwhile researchers from UNE have begun to look at how pellet heaters work, and what might encourage people to use them rather than installing new wood heaters. Pellet heaters have much lower woodsmoke and greenhouse gas emissions than wood heaters, are cleaner to operate and are self-feeding. The aim of the project is to reduce the impact on air quality from woodsmoke and to reduce the impact on biodiversity from dead-wood harvesting.
Shane Andrews felling a plantation tree for pellet trials
