WHY WOOD?
 "What happens next is up to us"
When the Stern report on climate change was released at the end of October 2007 the Prime Minister said "action cannot wait....we simply do not have the luxury of time".
Increasingly governments around the world are recognising a substantial reduction in CO2 emissions is essential and "what happens next is up to us". The new Obama government have joined the bandwagon and our goverment have announced that they intend to set new statutory targets for cutting CO2 emissions in this country by 60% by 2050.
More recently they have commited considerable funding to this area and agreed to the EU target that 20% of all europes energy should come from renewable sources by 2020.
Wood fuel is virtually carbon neutral. It is unique amongst renewable energy sources because it is based on harnessing stored solar energy in the form of a fuel.
Whereas wind and other renewables can generally be used to generate electricity only; wood fuel or biomass can replace fossil fuels in all areas of the energy market i.e. heating, electricity generation and transport fuels.
Further more renewable energy technology, In the form of wood burning boilers, is (oven ready). It is fully tried and tested and widley available for immediate installation.
With product from sustainably managed woodlands, on balance, the carbon dioxide (greenhouse gas) released on burning is equal to that taken up by new growth. Wood biomass fuel neutralises greenhouse gas emissions because it is derived from trees which are replanted and absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (photosynthesis).
 Biomass energy can be used on demand, if necessary year round and is not dependent on external factors such as the weather. This allows it to be used in a wide range of applications. Modern wood fuel heating boilers are reliable, cheaper to run, highly automated and fuel efficient,, produce very little ash and are significantly more environmentally sound then coal, oil or gas fuel alternatives. Furthermore, such boilers can now be reversed to provide air conditioning in the summer. Wood heating is well established in Europe and, for example, Sweden plans to replace all fossil fuels with renewable's by 2020, most of which will come from wood.
In many European countries there are already a variety of small, wood fuelled CHP power plants, providing heat and power for the local town, village, hospital or factory. CHP is a very efficient way (about 80% +)of generating electricity and heat which can be produced together in a single process. Conventional electricity generation is quite inefficient (about 25% for a coal fired power station), More than half the energy which goes into Britain's power plants never reaches our sockets. Heat is lost on power stations and electricity is lost in transmission down the power lines in the form of heat.
The latest reports from the Renewable Energy Foundation (REF) using official OFGEM figures, confirm that not a single onshore wind turbine in mainland Britain would be commercially viable without massive hidden subsidies. Furthermore wind is so unreliable that turbines only generate, on average, 28% of their capacity. REF reports that we will have to build up to 12 new back-up conventional power stations to support all the intended onshore turbines when the wind is not blowing.
Wood fuel will offer an important diversification opportunity for forestry and timber processing businesses and should help to improve woodland and forestry management in the UK. As demonstrated, it is carbon neutral and as such will lead to reductions in emissions of CO2 by offsetting the use of fossil fuels. Further more, energy from woodchip is low carbon, locally sourced and is one of the lowest cost of all renewable energy resources.
 Pathfinder Renewable Energy sources all its product in Wales. The woodchip is processed largely from local, virgin, waste and wasted wood in the form of brashings, tops, thinning's, local authority pruning's, saw mill off-cuts and clean (raw) timber. Wales has a large under utilised natural timber resource from which much of the off-cuts are being wasted.
By converting this into a usable biomass energy source, value is added and at the same time the economics of the forestry industry will be very slightly changed for the better. The company's objectives are to be the first to market in South East Wales and to convert waste timber and other "clean" wood into a viable and ecologically friendly biofuel to provide heat, energy and CHP.
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