Ligna had just about everything you'd ever want to know about wood, including the latest technology for wood energy.

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From the latest in log splitters for firewood - Posch is one company that offers a full range - to full scale biomass power plant suppliers (Wyncke is one), wood is flexing its heat and energy muscles. 

Chippers of every size and scale dominated the outdoor wood energy displays. CBI, Bruks, Doppstadt and others demoed their production scale chippers and drew crowds several times a day. A chipper truck from Jenz offers mobile chipping and Junkkari showed a complete small scale chipping and heating system. 

New technology included the Riela mobile biomass drying and heating system that dries chips, conveys them to a boiler and produces heat, all in one large trailer configuration. 

The Egedal Energy Planter is specifically designed for planting willow cuttings for energy wood plantations. The unit is pulled behind a tractor. In a European setting, the willow is ready for harvesting in about three years. That's when the Krone HTM energy wood harvester comes, a machine that fells and chips the small trees.

Delivering energy wood for heating is sometimes a logistical challenge and Holz Kalmann has a solution. A tanker truck containing the chips or pellets has a blower system that delivers the feedstock to the storage bin neatly and quickly through a hose. It's a new service that's taking off in urban areas in Germany where houses have tight storage constraints and need delivery more frequently.

A full range of heating systems were also on display - everything from  traditional wood stoves to units that can use firewood, chips or pellets, to a system that burns whole logs stacked inside the firebox. They're from companies like Herlt, Ferro, Atmos, Linder Sommerauer and may more.

Clearly, Europe knows its wood energy and the world was there to learn about it at Ligna.