Poplar cutting in fuelwood plantation. A three- month-old poplar (Polus sp.) cutting in a coppice tree fuelwood plantation. This plantation is being grown as part of a government-sponsored trial to investigate the potential of fuelwood as a renewable source of energy. Coppice trees are periodically harvested by cutting to near ground level, which stimulates regrowth of numerous woody stems. The harvested coppice stems are chipped and burnt in special furnaces to release energy in the form of heat. Unlike fossil fuel burning, this process does not contribute to global warming because there is no net release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Photographed in Avon, UK.