Biomass benefits for rural home owners

County residents are tapping into a natural energy resource from the UK in a bid to beat rising heating bills.

Biomass boilers are growing in popularity among people
in rural areas who are keen to avoid the volatility of fossil fuel
prices.

James McFetrich, who lives in a 100-year-old large
detached property near Morpeth, has switched from oil to biomass. He
chose a fully automatic 25kW Solarfocus Pellettop boiler from The Wood
Heating Company.

The cost of the project was £32,000 but,
depending on projected energy consumption, he is expected to earn in the
region of £6,800 a year through the Government’s RHI scheme. He is also
expected to make fuel cost saving of £523 per year.

Mr McFetrich
said: “The heat losses from a property like mine are too great for a
ground source heat pump to handle and so biomass was certainly my best
option.”