Software & Publications
Documents and publications about the wood energy sector produced by COFORD
Recommendations for storage of wood pellets, Irish edition. Download PDF (pdf 2,176Kb)
The original guideline was produced in German by the German Wood Fuel and Pellet Association (DEPV), and Pieter Kofman has now translated it into English. The guideline is aimed at the private builder who wishes to construct pellet storage facilities. The document is 30 pages long and is easy to read with good use of images and diagrams. The guideline includes the following sections:
- Safety
- Certified fuel
- Storage of wood pellets – This includes the location of the storage room, accessibility of the pellet storage silo and the filling operation.
- Purpose-built storage facilities – detailed information is provided on the requirements of purpose-built storage systems.
- Construction examples of purpose-built silo systems – This chapter covers aboveground mountings, silos for below-ground storage and examples of storage systems.
- Homemade storage systems – Detailed information is included that allows one to investigate alternative homemade storage methods.
- Construction examples of pellet silos – Four different construction examples are described.
- Measuring systems for silos – Two different methods are briefly explained.
- Fire protection measures at the silo – This is mostly explained through the use of diagrams that explain what actions need to be carried out.
Software
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has developed four software modules to aid the wood for energy community. The four modules have been collated into a single package for ease of use and distribution:
- Woodchip calculator
- Firewood calculator
- Fuel systems cost comparisons
- Wood fuel units converter
The software is freeware. The Wood Energy Toolkit is now available and may be downloaded by navigating to http://www.coford.ie/toolsservices/woodenergy/, clicking on WoodEnergyToolkit Setup and following the instructions therein.