| Energy
Crops |
| From the earliest
of neolithic settlements, coppiced woodland has supplied regularly sized
wood for fuel. Small poles of coppiced trees are easy to split into sections
suitable for kindling and firewood. Coppicing to produce kindling material
like this would typically occur on a 7 - 10 year cycle. |
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| Larger sizes, in
this case from coppiced ash grown on a 20-30 year cycle. |
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| Traditional steel
charcoal burners in operation. For most of the last 4,000 year the timber
required by charcoal burners has been supplied from coppiced woodland. |
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| Charcoal in the
kiln after manufacture. Charcoal was for centuries, the industrial
fuel. When burnt in a furnace charcoal can burn at over 1100°c providing
sufficient heat for the manufacture of iron tools. |
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| Nowadays energy
production is undergoing a renaissance with the use of short rotation coppice.
Vigorous crops of poplar and willow are grown and mechanically harvested
on a three year rotation. The timber is chipped and used as a fuel for wood
burning power stations. |
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| Modern varieties
of poplar and willow exhibit vigorous growth (4 metres per annum). Poplar
is illustrated. |
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| Short rotation
coppice - a willow crop. |
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