History in the making? New museum takes first delivery of carbon neutral fuel

By The Editor
Dec 1, 2009

Bristol’s new city history museum is preparing to take its first delivery of wood pellets – fuel for the newly installed biomass boiler which the council hopes will reduce the museum’s carbon dioxide emissions.

The green boiler is part of a number of measures designed to improve the museum’s energy efficiency, including solar water panels on the roof of the museum.

Fuel of the future? Wood chips release same amount of CO2 as absorbed when growing

The wood fuelled boiler will provide “carbon neutral” heat to the museum instead of traditional gas or oil boilers. The wood fuel – while still releasing CO2 when burned – only emits the same amount of CO2 as was absorbed when the sourced trees were growing.

And the amount of CO2 released is roughly equal to the amount that would have been released by the natural decay of the wood.

Biomass boilers have already been installed at Blaise Castle Nurseries, Netham Sports Pavillion and Florence Brown School as part of the 10:10 campaign: which targets a 10% drop in CO2 emissions by the end of 2010.

Paul Isbell, Energy Manager at Bristol City Council, said: “The installation of a biomass boiler at the new museum will not only help reduce Bristol and the city council’s CO2 emissions, it will also help to educate visitors to the museum on how these technologies can help to combat climate change and inspire Bristol residents to see what they can do to reduce their own carbon footprint.”