Coal, for use on steam hauled heritage railways - merged posts

[whole diary]

[broadgage]

The earlier discussed "coal ban" came into force a few days ago on May 1st 2021.

Retail sales of house coal are now prohibited, retail being defined as pre packed in bags or sacks, or small volumes tipped loose.
Patent smokeless fuels derived from coal are still allowed.
Anthracite is still allowed.

House coal may still be sold in bulk for industrial and trade use, it is only retail sale that is banned. Heritage railways are included under trade users.

From the same date, the sale of wet fire wood was also prohibited in small quantities. The wood must be dried to less than 20% moisture before it may lawfully be sold in bags, nets, or tipped loose in deliveries  of less than two cubic meters.

Larger volumes of wet fire wood may still be sold, for the customer to dry, it must be accompanied by instructions on drying.

[TonyK]

The earlier discussed "coal ban" came into force a few days ago on May 1st 2021.

Retail sales of house coal are now prohibited, retail being defined as pre packed in bags or sacks, or small volumes tipped loose.
Patent smokeless fuels derived from coal are still allowed.
Anthracite is still allowed.

House coal may still be sold in bulk for industrial and trade use, it is only retail sale that is banned. Heritage railways are included under trade users.

From the same date, the sale of wet fire wood was also prohibited in small quantities. The wood must be dried to less than 20% moisture before it may lawfully be sold in bags, nets, or tipped loose in less in deliveries  of less than two cubic meters.

Larger volumes of wet fire wood may still be sold, for the customer to dry, it must be accompanied by instructions on drying.

We have just sold our cottage with the open fire. I wonder if my local coal merchant had a sale ("fire sale") to get rid of the stocks? They sell anthracite too, as well as logs, so the locals will still be able to light fires. Not sure they are dried to 20% though. Still - I am sure the villages will survive on bulk supplies. The favoured unit for home delivery is a "dumpy bag", which is about a cubic metre. Two of those would have more than filled my log store, but I am sure neighbours will co-operate, as happened before to take advantage of a price. There has always been a semi-official network of wood suppliers too - I would imagine that might flourish in rural parts.

[broadgage]

Around here, retail sales of house coal from supermarkets and petrol stations ceased around Christmas. Presumably stocks were reduced in good time to avoid being left with any after the ban.

Patent fuels are a suitable alternative for open fires, and anthracite for closed appliances.

I have recently tried some "eco coal" a patent fuel largely derived from olive stones, an unavoidable by-product of olive oil production. Seems fine.

In general I prefer locally produced wood over any coal based fuel.
At present I am burning small oak logs of which a large supply was available cheaply a couple of years ago.

Two large oaks on a local farm were taken down for building timber, and the small bits sold as fire wood.
I was impressed with speed of the operation.
It took only hours to reduce a large tree to building timber, fire wood, and shredded stuff for composting.

[TonyK]

Two large oaks on a local farm were taken down for building timber, and the small bits sold as fire wood.
I was impressed with speed of the operation.
It took only hours to reduce a large tree to building timber, fire wood, and shredded stuff for composting.

Both a good thing and a bad thing at the same time! A few years ago, we were on holiday in Scotland, far from the madding crowd. We went for a walk in some woods. I watched a machine grabbing trees, cutting them off at the base, trimming them and cutting them into uniform logs, in the space of a minute. Not mighty oaks, which would have taken longer, but still deforestation at an impressive speed. I rather hoped that new trees would be quickly planted, but the purpose was revealed to me later that day, and the area is now under concrete. My ambivalence towards wind farms began that day, reinforced by research since.

[broadgage]

I am in favour of wind power, we need electricity and if we are to meet our climate change promises, we need to generate a greater proportion of this electricity from renewables.

We need to plant more trees, in between the wind turbines, and in many other places. We need both building timber and firewood.

We need to plant both fast growing trees for inexpensive wood, and also oak and other slow growing trees. There is a demand for oak, primarily for repair and restoration of historic buildings.

[broadgage]

It looks as though a loophole has been found and that housecoal may still be sold retail.
At least one major coal merchant has stated that only "prepacked" house coal is banned and that sales may continue in "open bags" What a farce !

Sales from supermarkets and petrol stations have probably ceased as such such places cant cope with open bags.

[TonyK]

I am in favour of wind power, we need electricity and if we are to meet our climate change promises, we need to generate a greater proportion of this electricity from renewables.

We need to plant more trees, in between the wind turbines, and in many other places. We need both building timber and firewood.

We need to plant both fast growing trees for inexpensive wood, and also oak and other slow growing trees. There is a demand for oak, primarily for repair and restoration of historic buildings.

So far, almost 14 million trees have been cut down in Scotland to make way for wind farms. That is for both the turbines, and to clear a way for the wind to reach them uninterrupted by anything that would dampen the power. Planting trees between them risks attracting birds and bats.

The best time to plant oak for timber was about 100 years ago. Now would be another good time.

[Bmblbzzz]

It looks as though a loophole has been found and that housecoal may still be sold retail.
At least one major coal merchant has stated that only "prepacked" house coal is banned and that sales may continue in "open bags" What a farce !

Sales from supermarkets and petrol stations have probably ceased as such such places cant cope with open bags.

That would appear to be correct for the next couple of years.

Sales of all bagged traditional house coal will be phased out by February 2021, and the sale of loose coal direct to customers via approved coal merchants by February 2023. This will give industry, suppliers and households the time to adapt to the new rules.

Similarly, sales of wet wood in units of under 2m3 will be restricted from sale from February 2021, allowing for existing stocks to be used up. Wet wood sold in volumes greater than 2m3 will need to be sold with advice on how to dry it before burning from this date.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-takes-action-to-cut-pollution-from-household-burning

[TonyK]

It wouldn't be a British regulation if it didn't have a loophole, or a "classed as" exemption to allow a flight of fancy.

[Lee]

It wouldn't be a British regulation if it didn't have a loophole, or a "classed as" exemption to allow a flight of fancy.

You aint seen nothing yet - Just wait until I open my "Museum of Network Rail.Business Plans".

[johnneyw]

There's interesting results from an eCoal experiment on the Bure Valley railway in Norfolk.

https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2021/06/norfolks-bure-valley-railway-tests-new-bio-coal-for-steam-locomotives.html

[broadgage]

There's interesting results from an eCoal experiment on the Bure Valley railway in Norfolk.

https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2021/06/norfolks-bure-valley-railway-tests-new-bio-coal-for-steam-locomotives.html

This sounds rather like the "eco coal" that I tried in a domestic multifuel stove, see post #55.
It worked fine and but is only light green as it still contains about 50% coal.

[TonyK]

This sounds rather like the "eco coal" that I tried in a domestic multifuel stove, see post #55.
It worked fine and but is only light green as it still contains about 50% coal.

That's still an awful lot "greener" than Greenpeace in Germany, selling natural gas with under 1% "green" hydrogen made by wind energy. The loss of green energy to the grid isn't a problem, as it can be made up by burning lignite.

[johnneyw]

What also caught my attention in the article was that if left to landfill, the olive waste could have contributed to methane leaking into the atmosphere anyway.

[broadgage]

This sounds rather like the "eco coal" that I tried in a domestic multifuel stove, see post #55.
It worked fine and but is only light green as it still contains about 50% coal.

That's still an awful lot "greener" than Greenpeace in Germany, selling natural gas with under 1% "green" hydrogen made by wind energy. The loss of green energy to the grid isn't a problem, as it can be made up by burning lignite.

I am shocked that that natural gas with about 1% hydrogen is called green. Not that keen on the ecocoal, but as you point out 50% is a very considerable improvement on 1%.

A few years ago it was proposed that newly built houses could not be gas heated, and I have heard the suggestion that a loophole has been found. Gas boilers might be allowed if marked "hydrogen ready" the percentage of hydrogen not being stated. 1% perhaps ?