Bioenergy

A 50kW wood pellet-fired boiler is proving considerably cheaper than electricity for heating the Bay of Plenty‘s 30 bed Titoki Healing Centre.

Fully automated and fed by a 3-tonne hopper topped up by the truckload, the system operates virtually hands-free.

Installation cost around $80,000. That compared more than favourably to the other main option, heat pumps, at around $90,000. Running costs are even more competitive at about $4,400 annually, almost a third of the costs estimated for running heat pumps.

With its future at stake, New Zealand Foam Latex needed an economically viable and environmentally friendly fuel to produce steam needed to manufacture their products - all made from foam.

Coal was cheap, from $6.10/GJ. But emissions and the costs of mitigating them ruled it out. Diesel and LPG would cost over $30/GJ.

Wood was cost-effective and clean-burning. A variety of sources helped assure reliable supply - forestry hoggings, timberyard residues, left-over pallets and demolition, even dunnage reclaimed from shipping.

Christchurch specialty meats producer Verkerks is paying for a lot less energy after taking a fresh look at how it generates heat and processes waste.

By converting the boiler to burn tallow, a meat processing byproduct, Verkerks will likely cut their energy costs by $150,000 a year.

The boiler at the company's processing plant produces steam for heating the smoke houses and fermenting rooms, and water heating.

Until recently the boiler operated only on diesel, consuming around 7,000 litres - and thousands of dollars - every week.

The Lazy Shag backpackers in Kaikoura has had a multi-oil clean burn boiler installed to supply the hostel's hot water, slashing the business's electricity bill.

The boiler is fired with used cooking oil purchased at low cost from other local businesses. The reduction of the backpacker's carbon footprint sits well with Kaikoura's, and the country's clean green image.