Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made a comparative assessment of the heat produced by kiln dried wood and house coal on a domestic fire in his consultation on cleaner domestic burning of solid fuels and wood; and if he will make statement.

Information provided from Forest Research indicates that wood that has been ‘oven dried’ has a calorific value of 5.3 kWh per kg (this does not vary significantly between tree species). In comparison, house coal has a calorific value of around 8 kWh per kg.

The type of appliance used also affects the amount of heat that can be recovered from a fuel. An efficient, modern, environmentally accredited stove is far more efficient at recovering heat than an open fire.