However, although wood has approximately the same carbon intensity as coal (0.027 vs. 0.025 tC GJ −1 of primary energy; see supplementary material), combustion efficiency of wood and wood pellets is lower (Netherlands Enterprise Agency; IEA 2016). The use of wood pellets instead of coal and natural gas would help in reducing carbon emissions of the electricity sector in the United States. Hands down, using a pellet stove is far less ashy and easier to operate than coal or wood stoves. Interestingly, it would appear that i f a conventional low efficiency biomass power plant were to use what is In terms of ecological sustainability, the emissions of greenhouse gas and ash are 15-20 times lower than those of hardcoal and browncoal. While wood coal and brown coal can have from 10 up to 30 per cent of ash content, wood pellets are almost free of ash with 2,5 per cent of their weight percentage. Estimates also suggest higher processing losses in the wood supply chain (Röder et al 2015). Manufacturing wood pellets and shipping them creates carbon pollution; burning them for electricity creates vastly more. Ginther says that the U.S.’s wood pellet industry can expect even more robust growth if the Asian commercial market or European residential market embraces the combustion of wood biomass. COAL HEATING Vs WOOD HEATING. Similarly processed smaller pellets can be used in automated machines, creating a long-lasting constant fire as they are released over time. dried wood at MC’s below 20% have the same or less CO. 2. emission per MMBTU as most coal. For example, England’s largest power plant has converted two of its six 650-MW boilers to use wood pellet fuel instead of coal. I used both coal and wood before switching to pellets. Less dust, less bugs (wood) and none of that fine ash (coal) that no matter how careful you are gets on everything. While pellet life-cycle emissions are regulated, smokestack emissions, effectively, are not: they’re supposed to be tracked in the land use sector, but that sector is only loosely regulated in the Kyoto Protocol, and the United States and Canada aren’t parties to it. Burning wood pellets releases as much or even more carbon dioxide per unit than burning coal. Grinding pellets into dust and using them in essentially the same hardware has been proven to be technically feasible. Wood pellets at under 10% MC result in less CO. 2. emission than any coal under otherwise equal circumstances . Comparisons of lifecycle emissions aside, if used as fuel for power generation wood pellets act to reduce the demand for coal, making coal less profitable, accelerating coal’s demise. The coal dust combusts very rapidly; almost like a liquid fuel. These applications are particularly useful in commercial settings or for homeowners wishing to avoid the hassle of throwing another log on the fire.