Topic: Germans are looking to firewood for energy as natural gas prices soar - page 12. (Read 4218 times)

Nobody will use that wood in Germany which if I remember correctly is where you live, or wherever you live. But I please don't deny what I can see with my own eyes.

Also, are you talking about using that wood for small metal stoves or the large stone fireplaces that are built in houses?

For the latter, oak and walnut wood are ideal:

Oak firewood is absolutely one of the best types of firewood you can burn. 

And how many people actually died from the Fukushima disaster? There are only a handful cases of cancer that is directly attributed to the disaster, and more than 10 years have passed since the incident. Even in Chernobyl, the number of deaths stayed in double digits. Around 100 individuals developed leukemia, which was later blamed on the radio-active release from the nuclear plant. Now compare that to the 400,000 deaths resulting from coal-fired powerplants in India alone. And in both Fukushima and Chernobyl, the root cause of the disaster was mismanagement by the authorities.

Some have recommended selectively burning bamboo to transform it into charcoal, which will last longer. I have seen people burn wood inside a 55 gallon drum to make charcoal. Its an interesting process. Here is a video clip on youtube of charcoal being made via primitive means:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzLvqCTvOQY

Adoption of bamboo as "european firewood reserve" could be a matter of scale. If its produced in high quantities, the price will decline and supply will become plentiful enough to perhaps offset fast burn time. The fast growth rate and ease of replenishment carries potential to offset observed negatives.

Paulownia is said to be one of the fastest growing trees in the world. That could be another option to target sustainable firewood markets. Which would not involve chopping down old growth forests. And would be easiest to develop and replenish with time being a factor.

What happens is that the Fukushima nuclear disaster that happened 11 years ago at Japan reduced if not eliminated completely the possibility of using nuclear energy as our main source of energy during the short term, those that have proposed the use of nuclear energy have dedicated a great deal of their time to try to erase from memory what happened at Chernobyl, and they were relatively successful, but once the disaster happened at Fukushima many people lost the faith they had in nuclear energy and thought events like those were basically inevitable.

Yes bamboo wood dry faster and can burn well but bamboo stick or wood can not give the heat needed in those countries. Bamboo wood burns like fuel. It does not last, and it not produce the needed heat. So the best wood to be used at that side is hard wood that can burn last longer. Even the bamboo in my locality, there are two types. One produces gin while the other does not produce gin. And they are not in the same nature but probably (probability) in the same class. One of them like suger-cane which is also known in my community as Indian bamboo, and that kind of bamboo is not too good in burning for heat. But it will s very good temporal burning.


While the other bamboo which produced wine is called in my community "Ijaw Bamboo". And it can burn and produced heat more than Indian bamboo.


These are the two bamboo we have in my country.

I hope this issue will not lead to another colonialism in Africa. I know why I am saying it. Because finally they would come back to Africa to export these woods to feed the industries in Europe again.

indeed they have made a mistake from the beginning to rely too much on energy from Russia.. we can only hope that this is only a temporary solution before they develop renewable energy for their energy..

Nobody uses oak or walnuts for heating, and msot have changed to pellet usage for their homes, and those are made out of willow and fake acacia trees, they grow damn fast, are easy to be cut and processed, and require the least energy, mix it wid leftovers from other wood industries and they are pretty effective.
We have such a pellet machine at our farm as the farm buildings have never been heated with gas ever, it's not the most effective in terms of caloric power per cubic meter, about 2/3 that of normal beech but still does its job. As for bamboo, no, it burns so quickly with such huge flames it's not a good idea, especially in closed spaces. Also, some species of willow grow pretty fast, not as fast as bamboo but with higher quality wood and caloric power.


Trees are not fossil energy, and to the surprise of many there is a thing called the carbon cycle:




Here you go again, we need another token...

Or they could just buy lots of red hot chilli peppers, store them to last up to spring. It warms the body without having to burn anything.  Just add 3 chilli peppers to a noddle soup and its good. Add peppers to every food thats to be eaten. Food is importanter than gas in the long run.

I have read about converting public libraries into a huge warm room where many of them stays there.

They do that already, it produces about 1% of the total electricity.

Much easier: windows facing the sun. It helps, but it's not enough.

It's really ironic after they've been telling anyone to mind their emissions. This whole issue of having to reduce fuel imports from Russia really highlighted that the EU haven't really been that green, at least not as much as they advertise.


Not sure if they can grow bamboo well there in Germany but maybe they can just, you know, burn their trash in incinerators for electricity and just use electric heaters at home? Certain waste products can be turned to fuel, like how coconut shells are sometimes turned into charcoal, maybe they can find something there to burn rather than throw away.

In the end it'll also boil down to proper design. I've seen illustrations of houses that uses water heated by the sun to warm to home, maybe they do that there. I mean, the sun still shines during winter, except if there's a blizzard.

Nuclear energy is one of the greenest forms of energy available. I don't know why the Green Party always oppose nuclear power plants. Obviously disposal of nuclear waste is a serious concern. But now technology has advanced and safe disposal methods are available. And this is the reason why energy prices in France has remained stable so far this year, while those in other European countries have gone up by anywhere from 500% to 1,000%. Germans are the most stupid ones. Rather than building new nuclear powerplants, they closed down the existing ones.

Yes, we will. Ultimately, the government that decided to launch a full scale war in the middle of Europe in the 21st century will be defeated and overthrown, and the world will be able to trade with Russia without sponsoring state terrorism at the same time. And burning firewood for making your home warm will be history, just like hearing air alerts several times per day for months, living in the capital of a European state.

They did that, see this image on Wikipedia (hotlinking the image from Wiki doesn't work).
Then, after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, they decided to get rid of them quicker. And coal too, because of the climate. Natural gas consumption on the other hand went up, because of the lower emissions and higher flexibility (needed to deal with the increasing share of wind and solar). And that's in a nutshell how we ended up where we are.

But even if they'd do use nuclear power for heating, using electricity for resistor heating is quite wasteful. You'd need a lot more power plants.

If only Germans start to take the nuclear energy pill sooner. Look at France, it took them the 1973 oil crisis where oil has risen nearly 300% to shallow the nuclear energy pill. Today, France derives about 70% of its electricity from nuclear energy. The amount of CO2 emission from fossil fuels for energy is another reason to consider nuclear energy.

Yes, the disposal of nuclear wastes, as well as other byproducts (contaminated water from the cooling nuclear reactor,...) is risky but heavily regulated. Compared to the dramatic climate change from CO2 emissions and the indebted to the oil cartel/fossil fuel control, I rather take my chance at nuclear energy. If more countries start to switch to nuclear energy, more money into the industry to push for more innovations, technologies and such. Really, this is our wake-up call now.

The disadvantages of coal are far more than any advantage it may have, apart from disadvantages you mentioned another one for a lot of countries is that they also have to import coal like they import gas. One of the big sources for coal is also Russia!

This winter is going to be very difficult in Germany. Even though the gas tanks are almost full again, things are looking very bad for the average household this year. Just this morning I read that the energy suppliers expect 15-20% of the household not be able to pay their energy bills this year. Buying firewood seems like one solution for some families, because many houses have a fireplace inside. In modern houses a fireplace is not so common anymore and usually is only built in for design and optics and not really to be used to heat homes. In older houses, especially from the 1950-80s it was very common to have a fireplace even in the smallest flats. Many of them have not been used for years, but they are fully functional as they need to be checked yearly in Germany. I know this from my friends that most of them never once used their fireplace and usually don't even have wood at home, rather put a candle inside or some fake fire lights. Firewood got very expensive now if you buy it in the store, an alternative is to buy it locally from a forrest when they cut down trees. The problem is that the wood will be wet and it needs to be stored and dried for a few months before being able to use it. But if you have space to store it then now is a good time to stock up for the winter. The only good thing this year could be if it will be a warm winter without snow. 

I don't see the point of looking for firewood unless they mean going to look for firewood themselves, not buying it, because firewood is expensive. Very expensive. And the ideal firewood for fireplaces, such as oak or walnut, is the most expensive.

Is it allowed in Germany to go to the forest and cut firewood? With so many environmental regulations, I wouldn't be surprised if it was forbidden or you had to ask for permission and pay a fee.


That's what I thought. I hadn't heard of bamboo as firewood, but being a thin shrub that grows fast, it's not likely to last long.

I hope they are not cutting down indigenous wood for this? In my country we use firewood, but the wood we are using are from invasive trees. These invasive trees are taking large amounts of water from the ground and they also kill other indigenous trees, because they take their water. 

I guess the wood briquettes industry are making a killing in Europe now.. and also briquettes that are being imported from other countries. (What is cheaper.... Gas or briquettes that are being imported?)

It's mainly politicians feeling good about themselves when they make unrealistic climate deals. Tax payers already know we'll just be paying for it.
The good thing about coal is that you can actually have your own storage. It's not really possible to store gas for the winter at home, but a few tonnes coal fits in any basement. I wouldn't want it though: it's heavy, it's dirty and it creates thick smoke. Car emissions are strictly regulated, but fireplaces are still free for all.

In my country which is still developing, using firewood is still a common thing for residents here. possible for people living in urban areas far from forests and plantations. It will be very difficult to find firewood. they have to buy from villagers who are still looking for firewood. and this can be a business opportunity for people who live in rural areas. to collect firewood and sell it to urban areas far from the forest.

for developed countries who are accustomed to using gas and oil. Of course, it will be very difficult to adapt to find other alternative energy. but for developing countries and people living in rural areas. then we are used to the situation without gas and oil.

city ​​people who have never used firewood will surely think that the firewood that is burned is entirely from large wood trees that are cut down and axed into small pieces. it's not wrong. but actually rural people who are accustomed to using firewood are not looking for firewood by cutting down large wood trees. but in the forest we will find many small trees that grow around large trees that can be used as firewood. kind of bush. one example of wild trees that are commonly used as firewood is called Kaliandra. If this tree is cut down, within a month it will grow as before. even the branches will be more and more. so that this tree is used by many people around me to be used as firewood.
so I hope people stop cutting down big trees just to get firewood. because the big trees will not grow back in a short time. but they will grow back in a long time even up to years or decades. and it can damage the environment.