Replacing coal in Britain with wood chips? From the USA as well.

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Wolferz

Coal vs Wood pellets... In BTU's per ton, coal wins hands down....
http://www.ehow.com/about_5597091_wo...-vs_-coal.html

I heat my home with Anthracite coal because it's cheaper than any other fuel and I just happen to live where Anthracite is king. The linked article quotes 2009 prices. That's changed about $100.00 per ton since then. But still, I can heat my home through the winter for an average of $300.00 to $600.00. Even if we have a long cold winter.

I would expect the price to rise if global demand increased. China buys a lot of it now. Probably the reason for the jump in price in a relatively short period of time.
If Britain and the EU start burning pellets then maybe my cheap fuel will remain cheap or get cheaper. Maybe China should start using pellets too. I'm sure they have plenty of timber resources.

We used to use Anthracite on the Rayburn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayburn_Range) IIRC, good stuff, doesn't burn quite as hot as other coal but it burns longer and at a consistent heat.
We don't use the Rayburn any more since it tried to kill us (CO, long story) so we use standard coal on the living room fire. It is not cheap though, not cheap at all, we buy in the summer before the winter prices come in but even then it's about £6.88 at the moment, and will probably clock up to £7 a bag by the end of the month when the winter prices start.