Case studies

In May 2008 Cashmere High School switched from coal to renewable wood energy to heat its site.

The new boilers produce around five times less particulate emissions than a typical school coal boiler. Carbon emissions have reduced by 216 tonnes per year. The wood-fired system is also 14% more efficient.

"There used to be soot and ash in the gutters. Now we just have clean, clean emissions," says Cashmere High support services manager Roger O'Regan.

Glazebrook Lodge provides its guests with an opportunity to visit an unspoilt part of backcountry New Zealand, but stay in luxury surroundings. Rather than running a cable to connect to the electricity network, which was going to cost in excess of $900,000, the lodge owners invested in a much more cost-effective and environmentally-friendly form of distributed generation on their own property.

Switching from trawling to anchor seining has cut Motueka skipper Ken Franks' fuel bill by more than half.

Since converting his 15m boat the FV Vanguard from a trawler to an anchor seiner in 2008 his catches sizes have increased too, and the quality of the fish is better. That means higher profit margins for Mr Franks at a time when rising fuel prices are forcing others in the industry to think about tying their boats up.

Mr Franks is now encouraging other trawler skippers to do the same.

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.