Wood as a green energy source
Did you know that 75% of our energy use comes from renewable energy we generate ourselves? That’s because to us, wood is more than just a raw material for our products: it also powers our own green energy plants.
Every wood chip counts
After several processing stages, wood residue can become too small or too contaminated to be turned into new panels but that doesn’t mean we discard it. Instead, these chips are given one final life as a source of green energy for our sites. Even the finest wood dust from our production – resulting from sanding or sawing panels, for instance – is used as fuel. This way nothing is wasted and our reliance on fossil fuels is significantly reduced.
Two on-site energy plants
Together with renewable energy specialists Aspiravi, we operate two biomass plants at our sites:
- In Oostrozebeke, A&S has been converting almost 500 tonnes of wood waste into green electricity on a daily basis since 2010. Since this is more than we need, the surplus is fed back into the grid for local businesses and households.
- A&U, operational in Wielsbeke since 2020, not only supplies green power and heat for our own factories, but also delivers heat via a 2.5-kilometre pipeline to nearby potato processing company Agristo. Any remaining energy is also fed into the public grid.
And what about ‘good’ residual wood?
Only when wood can no longer be used to make new panels do we use it as an energy source. Until then, we give it as many new lives as possible in our chipboards and MDF. This keeps wood in the cycle for as long as possible.