Wood is increasingly becoming the renewable energy source of choice for people in the UK, and around the world.

If we could all follow a few basic rules, then wood would truly be the most efficient renewable energy source available worldwide. Those rules are that wood should come from a sustained wood or forest, that it should be burned in a clean and efficient appliance and that the wood should be sourced as locally as possible to avoid transportation costs and pollution.

When wood is burned it produces carbon dioxide, which is one of the main greenhouse gases that is responsible for climate change. However, the amount of carbon dioxide that is released through burning is no greater than the amount that is absorbed by trees while they are growing. This makes the process almost carbon neutral, making wood burning a suitably sustainable alternative to fossil fuels, if the above rules are also followed.

It is also important that the source of the wood is sustainable in order for the carbon cycle to stay intact and the process to be as carbon neutral as possible.

Sustainable sources of wood are either:

• Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) certified
• From woodland managed by the Woodland Grant Scheme
• Felled after the issue of a Felling Licence

A Felling Licence is issued by the Forestry Commission, and only if the felling is approved under Government policy for the sound management of a renewable resource.

Other sources of sustainable wood include trees managed through coppicing, which involves trees being cut back to near ground level, before being left to regenerate again from the stump. Another source is the waste from tree surgeons as their work sees them removing wood in order to ensure the growth of new trees or the survival of existing ones.