Biomass, Renewable Heat and Nuffield 2026

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Today I speak with Kenny McCauley from McCauley Wood Fuels Ltd who are based near Mohill in Co Leitrim. The business processes around 500 tonnes of wood biomass weekly to create high quality, moisture controlled wood chip. In this conversation Kenny explains how his business works, how biomass forms a vital cog in the Irish forestry supply chain, how wood chip is replacing fossil fuels across Ireland and how Leitrim can be a centre of excellence for balanced forestry. He also details the processing system he uses including the machinery and technology involved. Finally Kenny has recently started on his journey as a Nuffield Scholar for 2026. So we discuss what Nuffield involves and his study topic itself which is: “Mobilising rural biomass: unlocking renewable heat, carbon storage and bioeconomy value from farm forest resources.” Key Points: * Firewood to biomass - transitioning his business and partnership with Arigna Fuels * Partnerships with suppliers and early customers proved critical in enabling the business to grow. * Quality control of both inward raw materials and finished product remains key. * Biomass is a cost effective source of heating for large users such as poultry, pig, and mushroom farms, as well as hotels. * Leitrim's potential as an economic driver through a balanced forestry model. * The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland offer the Support Scheme for Renewable Heat which aids large users transition away from fossil fuels. * Kenny's journey with Nuffield will give him an opportunity to understand best practice worldwide and emerging opportunities. Quotes: Click here for the ForestryNow podcast newsletter signup [https://forestry-now.kit.com/5b61c41771] Follow the Guest on: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennymccauley/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennymccauley/] McCauley Wood Fuels Ltd: https://www.facebook.com/McCauleyWoodFuels/ [https://www.facebook.com/McCauleyWoodFuels/] Nuffield Ireland: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nuffield-ireland/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/nuffield-ireland/] Kennys profile on Nuffield: https://nuffield.ie/scholar/kenny-mccauley/ [https://nuffield.ie/scholar/kenny-mccauley/] Wood Fuel Quality Assurance: https://www.wfqa.org/ [https://www.wfqa.org/] Irish BioEnergy Association: https://irbea.org/ [https://irbea.org/] Support Scheme for Renewable Heat (SEAI): https://www.seai.ie/grants/business-grants/support-scheme-renewable-heat [https://www.seai.ie/grants/business-grants/support-scheme-renewable-heat] Arigna Fuels: https://arignafuels.ie/ [https://arignafuels.ie/] Follow the Forestry Now Podcast on: Website: https://forestrynow.eu/ [https://forestrynow.eu/] Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-forestry-now-podcast/ [https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-forestry-now-podcast/] YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ForestryNow [https://www.youtube.com/@ForestryNow] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/forestry_now_podcast/ [https://www.instagram.com/forestry_now_podcast/] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ForestryNowPodcast/ [https://www.facebook.com/ForestryNowPodcast/] Contact Dermot: forestrynowpodcast@gmail.com Or at Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dermot-mcnally-90b06421/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/dermot-mcnally-90b06421/] Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:01:07 - Transitioning from the firewood business to biomass wood chip production. 00:04:02 - Target markets including the agri-sector, poultry, and hotels. 00:07:04 - Managing target moisture content and the shift to mechanical drying. 00:10:09 - The Support Scheme for Renewable Heat (SSRH) and comparing fuel costs. 00:12:45 - Wood Fuel Quality Assurance Scheme (WFQA) certification and sustainability audits. 00:16:53 - Raw material sourcing and mixing different timber species like Sitka spruce. 00:19:44 - Load contamination and the air-drying performance of straight versus crooked wood. 00:23:43 - Yard storage constraints, logistics, and processing material on forest sites. 00:29:18 - Timing the mechanical drying process to match boiler fuel demand. 00:32:35 - Using an internal biomass boiler to reduce mechanical drying energy costs. 00:34:53 - Transport logistics and the delivery radius for dry wood chip versus fresh pulp. 00:36:46 - Capacity bottlenecks, processing speeds, and future business growth. 00:40:02 - Kenny's Nuffield Scholarship on mobilizing forest biomass and the rural economy.

How Forestry Lost the PR Battle with Peter Hasulyó

In this episode, I speak with forestry engineer and analyst Peter Hasulyó about one of the sector’s biggest blind spots: communication. Despite decades of progress in sustainable forest management, the forestry industry has struggled to win public trust. Peter explains how a lack of proactive storytelling allowed others to shape the narrative—often inaccurately—leading to confusion between sustainable forestry and deforestation. The discussion explores why perception matters as much as practice, how NGOs filled the communication gap, and why forestry must rethink how it engages with the public. We also examine real-world consequences of this PR failure, including regulatory pressure, declining trust, and misunderstandings about timber production, clear-felling, and plantations. Key Topics Covered * Why forestry lost the public perception battle. * The communication gap and its consequences. * Clear-felling vs deforestation: why the public confuses them. * Forestry as an “open factory” * The role of NGOs and how emotional storytelling beats data. * Why timber production is misunderstood—but essential. * Plantation forestry vs nature conservation. * Historical mistakes and their lasting reputational impact. * Regulation (EUDR) as a consequence of lost trust. * How the industry can rebuild credibility. Quotes: "NGOs filled the storytelling gap about forestry." "We gave them FSC labels. They (NGO's) gave them baby orangutans. We lost." "An open factory approach can help educate the public.." "If you don't cut wood locally and source it sustainably, it's going to be sourced from somewhere else in the world, which doesn't have as strict regulation..." The ForestryNow newsletter signup [https://forestry-now.kit.com/5b61c41771] forestrynowpodcast@gmail.com [forestrynowpodcast@gmail.com] Links: Peter on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterhasulyo/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterhasulyo/] The Forestry Brief https://forestrybrief.com/ [https://forestrybrief.com/] The PR Battle Forestry Never Fought https://www.fordaq.com/news/The_PR_battle_forestry_never_111884.html [https://www.fordaq.com/news/The_PR_battle_forestry_never_111884.html] WWF Hungary https://wwf.hu/ [https://wwf.hu/] Chapters [0:00:00] – Introduction to Forestry Now and Peter Hoshu Dermot McNally opens the Forestry Now podcast, introducing the show’s focus on profitable, sustainable forest management and his guest, Peter Hoshu, a licensed forest engineer and founder of Forestry Brief, a European forestry intelligence and newsletter service. [0:01:14] – What Is Forestry Brief and the European Forestry Pulse? Peter outlines Forestry Brief as an evolving intelligence service built around his twice‑weekly newsletter, the European Forestry Pulse, which tracks developments in European forestry alongside key trends in North America. [0:01:48] – The PR Battle Forestry Never Fought Dermot introduces Peter’s article, “The PR Battle Forestry Never Fought,” and asks why a renewable, carbon‑storing sector lost the perception battle in the 1990s, with Peter arguing that forestry failed to explain its work and impact to the public. [0:02:29] – Communication Vacuum and Storytelling Power Peter explains how foresters assumed “sustainability would speak for itself,” leaving a communication vacuum that was filled by others; he stresses that in a media‑driven world it’s not enough to be sustainable, you must also be perceived as such through clear value‑driven communication. [0:04:16] – How NGOs Won Hearts with Emotion, Not Data Peter describes how nature NGOs, often founded or staffed by journalists, excel at emotional storytelling rather than technical explanations, using simple, visceral narratives that resonate far more than yield tables, certifications, or Excel‑driven arguments from the forestry side. [0:06:22] – Greenpeace, Baby Orangutans, and Media Optics Using Greenpeace as an example, Peter contrasts powerful visuals—such as activists confronting whalers or orphaned orangutans losing habitat—with forestry’s dry imagery of labels and tables, noting how these emotionally charged images shape public perception even when contexts differ between places like Borneo and Europe. [0:07:23] – Clearfelling vs. Deforestation: Same Image, Different Reality Peter explains how the public often conflates clear‑cut harvesting with deforestation because the initial image—a “scarred” landscape—is identical, and argues that foresters failed to communicate what happens next: replanting, regrowth, and the emergence of a new forest over subsequent decades. [0:09:24] – The Open Factory and the “Dead Forest” Concept Building on Dermot’s point about shocking clear‑fell images, Peter introduces forests as an “open factory” that the public can walk into, and explains his “dead forest” idea: harvested timber as the indispensable, often invisible counterpart to the “living forest” that provides everyday products like furniture, houses, and packaging. [0:11:23] – Long Rotations, EV Analogies, and Global Leakage Peter highlights how long rotation cycles (30–100+ years) are hard for the public to grasp, and warns that if societies refuse local harvesting while still consuming wood, demand will simply shift abroad to regions with weaker regulations—similar to electric vehicles outsourcing environmental impacts to poorly regulated mining regions. [0:14:53] – Historical Legacies and Mis‑Planted Forests in Hungary Prompted by Irish and UK planting mistakes on deep peat, Peter outlines Hungary’s history: massive forest loss after World War I, socialist‑era expansion of low‑quality and sometimes unsuitable stands (including conifers), and today’s twin pressures of climate change and desertification on these legacy plantations. [0:22:36] – Rewetting the Great Plain and Cross‑Sector Cooperation Peter describes Hungary’s mixed response of species change, mandatory reforestation, and efforts to re‑wet former wetlands on the Great Plain, noting the need for cooperation between forestry, agriculture, and nature conservation to reverse decades of drainage and prevent large‑scale forest dieback. [0:24:58] – Why Forestry Under‑Invested in Professional PR Dermot asks why the sector didn’t hire communicators sooner, and Peter says many in forestry believed a “good product sells itself,” overestimating the persuasive power of data and underestimating how crucial story, context, and perception are in maintaining public trust. [0:26:06] – Avoiding Greenwashing by Owning Imperfection On fears of being accused of greenwashing, Peter suggests starting with honesty—admitting mistakes and limits—then working with conservationists and professional communicators to tell balanced stories about both timber production and nature conservation, rather than treating critics solely as adversaries. [0:27:56] – Collaboration Within Forestry and with NGOs Peter notes positive joint projects with WWF and others in Hungary and Bulgaria, but emphasizes that the bigger challenge is fragmentation within forestry itself; he argues every forester is effectively a PR person and calls for shared narratives, training, and coordinated messaging across small owners and companies. [0:29:47] – EU Deforestation Regulation as the Price of Lost Trust Turning to the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), Peter frames it as a tangible consequence of lost public trust: when voters and policymakers don’t understand sustainable forestry, they default to hig...

30. mars 202639 min

Biomass, Renewable Heat and Nuffield 2026

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