The heating concentrates in Spain the 47% of the energy consumption of a home. The power Since the 70 years, gas has favored the construction of a distribution network that has led to the massification of individual boilers in cities, which makes an ecological transition to renewable energies very difficult, as it is happening in Europe more quickly and simple.
Despite this, the traditional use of biomass has remained largely in rural society and the agri-food and forestry industry. Around 14% of heating in Spain is generated with biomass And of that percentage, more than 30% corresponds to modern chimneys, stoves and boilers, a figure that barely reached 8% ten years ago.
This change is largely due to the fact that biomass has gained a presence in the Spanish energy mix year after year. There are more consumers who choose biomass as a heating fuel instead of fossil fuels, such as diesel or gas, which, in addition to affecting climate change, due to their harmful emissions, also negatively affects the economy, both of families as at the national level.
In the last decade 9.600 has moved from 2008 to 244.197 from 2017, although the highest growth has been recorded in the last three years, in which the number of teams has doubled.
In Spain as a whole, most of these installations are pellet stoves (217.790), compared to 15.755 biomass boilers for domestic use with power below 50 kW; and 11.336 for industrial or collective use with powers greater than or equal to 50kW.
The advantages offered by modern biomass heating equipment has accelerated the replacement of traditional installations by the new technologically advanced options offered by biomass. And not only the change of traditional systems, but those fueled by fossil fuels.
The most important change is taking place in the residential sector, especially in independent houses, single-family type or chalet. But also in the industry, where the technified equipment is gaining ground to the conventional facilities: the dryers of wood and other lumber industries, on the one hand; and the farms and food industries, on the other, are modernizing their facilities in order to improve their energy efficiency and reduce their operating costs.
This trend has had an impact on the traditional use of firewood, although it is also becoming professional and stable, while private uses, such as pruning of fruit trees, olive groves and other forest species, are those that are gradually reduced. especially rural neglect and aging.