All Clear Ahead: A Green Alternative to Land Clearing

The good, the bad, and the ugly.

There are many reasons to clear land, including commercial, agricultural, residential, and highway development. There are also positive environmental reasons, such as wildfire mitigation, forest restoration, and improving water quality.

But there’s a negative stigma attached to land clearing. And for good reason. Getting rid of trees can create soil erosion, which can damage local ecosystems, lead to water pollution, and leave an ugly barren stain on the landscape. Clearing land also requires a great deal of energy, such as burning fossil fuels, and contributes to climate change by releasing carbon stored in vegetation. It needs to be managed correctly.

Land clearing isn’t going away. As humanity grows, we need more space to live, work, and play. But thanks to Air Burners, the way we clear land is improving. Our eco-friendly machines do the job without doing a job on the environment.

Clear land. Clean air.

Our pollution-control air curtain technology burns biomass waste 40x faster than open burning. Not only do air curtain burners eliminate wood waste quickly, but they also have the lowest environmental impact of any other method. Very little hydrocarbon based fuel is used, and harmful smoke particulates are reduced by 98%. After burning, approximately 2% of biochar and ash remain and can return to the soil to add nutrients and improve water retention.

The FireBox comes fully assembled and all our machines include air curtain technology. The air curtain creates a “secondary burn chamber,” trapping and significantly reducing the smoke particulates. The result is a clean burn with opacities under 10% per EPA Method 9 Testing. Open burning typically operates at 80% to 100% opacity. And speaking of numbers, our air curtain burner pollution-control system is #1 in the world.

All types of Air Burners’ machines for all kinds of land-clearing operations. The answer to clearing land to build and preserve our forests is clear: Air Burners. Our FireBox is the world’s most proven wood waste burner on the planet. There’s no grinding, no chipping, no hauling. The U.S. EPA tests the performance and environmental benefits of the FireBox that’s relied on by the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Armed Forces.

Air Burners deliver a clear-cut advantage over traditional land clearing methods. The FireBox uses fewer than 3 gallons of diesel per hour to create the air curtain (compared to grinders using 30 to 100 gallons per hour of diesel) and eliminate unwanted wood waste, including whole trees and root balls. No valuable time or money gets wasted on grinding, chipping, and hauling to landfills.

We go where you need us most.

The FireBox is portable and requires no permanent facility, and no disassembly is required. You are ready to transport wherever you need to clear land: forests, orchards, and vineyards. The FireBox Series—S100, S200, and S300, come in all shapes and sizes. No matter what you need to do, there’s a FireBox for you.

Work on. Work off.

The PGFireBox is our new portable power generating system that provides the perfect solution to work on-grid. It requires no permanent facility, so you can disconnect and relocate it quickly. The revolutionary PGFireBox generates biomass energy in what we call ‘Closed Circle Recycling.’ There’s no preprocessing and no need for secondary fuel. And just like all of our systems, the PGFireBox eliminates unwanted wood waste and leaves carbon ash and biochar to recycle.

Our most powerful new machinery is the BioCharger—a cost-effective, renewable energy solution to help fight climate change. It is the result of our successful collaboration with Volvo and Rolls Royce. The BioCharger is designed for working off-grid to clear land in almost any space, including remote forests, and generate electricity from your biomass waste. The energy is stored in the BioCharger and is available through standard electrical outlets to charge your machinery and vehicles onsite. The burn rate is fast—up to 20 tons of whole trees, branches, logs, and root balls per hour. The BioCharger is the most advanced biomass energy system available today.

Who’s the boss?

Well, that depends on where you’re going and the type of land you’re clearing. Meet the Boss series. The BurnBoss, CharBoss, and TrackBoss are self-contained, above-ground air curtain burners. Mobile-friendly and climate-friendly, too, they turn piles of unwanted wood waste into biochar onsite. The soil amendment, rich in nutrients, can improve crop yields. Each boss comes equipped with Air Burners’ advanced technology, so clearing land is much easier on your budget and better for the environment.

Get in and out fast.

Clearing land can take you to remote places or tight spots. No matter where you go, you’ll have to avoid nature’s obstacles like rocks or trees or man-made obstacles like telephone polls or fences. The Boss series has a well-earned reputation for helping land managers, farmers, and disaster relief responders maneuver around obstructions to avoid worker injuries and potential damage to machines.

Hello, world.

The CharBoss is the world’s first mobile biochar production system. Easy to handle and control in small spaces like between fencing or select trees. Air Burners developed this machine in a CRADA partnership with the US Forest Service.

Is there an echo out here?

The trailerable BurnBoss is known for blazing new trails deep in the forests. It’s fast becoming the go-to machine to maneuver rugged terrain and get rid of whole trees and slash piles especially on wildfire mitigation projects.

Ready. Set. Let’s Make Tracks!

The mobile TrackBoss is ideal for ducking power lines, dodging infrastructure, and avoiding run-ins with obstacles. Take it anywhere and everywhere to burn slash piles, whole trees, stumps, logs, and wood pallets. The track-driven machine is controlled with a wireless radio interface.

Save money and protect the environment. Learn more about the environmental and economic advantages of using Air Burners equipment to clear land instead of traditional land-clearing methods.