Carbon Neutral Advantage will bring business and community together throughout Southland to equip our economy for a low emission future. This initiative will help businesses respond to the challenge of climate change and carbon trading by accelerating the uptake of new technology and offsetting opportunities. 

Dry cleaning services and reducing carbon footprint go hand in hand for Invercargill’s McCallums Group. The McCallums Group recently installed a low emission bio mass boiler at their Dee street property for central heating and domestic hot water.

McCallums Group manager Wayne McCallum said a main motivation in installing the boiler was the environmental benefits. “The installation will reduce our carbon footprint by about 18 tonnes of CO2 emissions every year,” McCallum said.

The success of wood energy systems around the region is convincing more businesses and schools to choose environmentally-friendly biomass heating options.

One of the latest schools to be reaping the benefits in a switch to Biomass is Ruru Specialist School, which had a wood energy boiler installed mid last year and has not looked back since.

Ruru Specialist School principal Erin Cairns said there were many factors that influenced their decision to change to the biomass system.

“It was the cleanest and greenest option, and eased any health and safety concerns we had for our students, community and the environment,” Cairns said.

Experts say Southland's approach to dealing with air quality issues could be a model for the rest of New Zealand, as well as save lives and move the region towards a lower-carbon future.

One Invercargill based company’s decision to convert to wood energy is proving sustainable both financially and environmentally and leads to a healthy environment for his co-workers and the community.

Businesses considering switching from fossil to wood fuels can be confident that there is sufficient supply through to 2050. The Wood Energy South project identified this concern from the offset and commissioned a study to quantify the volume of waste wood in the South Otago and Southland Region.

The next 25 years heating at a Southland School in the heart of coal country will be provided by wood energy.

Southland School Property Advisor Gavin McKenzie says the irony of a school in the heart of coal country switching to clean burning wood energy was not lost on him.
“We can expect to see two or three Southland schools converting annually as they individually reassess heat options and follow Ministry of Education guidelines.”

Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges visited Southland last week and praised the project’s work.
 
“Southland is home to some exciting energy efficiency projects, it’s great to see local industry is adopting a progressive approach to developing sustainable and economic energy options,” he said.
 
 “Wood energy is a renewable fuel that in many situations can be used instead of coal or gas. Every Southland business that makes the switch is supporting the local economy as well as making a more environmentally friendly choice, which can only have a positive impact on the region.”

Despite its coal mining roots, Takitimu Primary is embracing a sustainable energy heating source.
The school is installing a wood chip boiler to heat the school.
 Principal Lindsay King said the boiler came at the recommendation of the Ministry of Education, which had been investigating the most sustainable and inexpensive heating sources for schools.

Wood burner benefits dissuade fossil fuel use
By Mary Witsey

One Southland school is leading the way in using wood energy to heat its classrooms, benefiting students and the environment. 

Donovan Primary invested about $340,000 in its new computerised Austrian wood burner 18 months ago, and principal Peter Hopwood said they had never looked back.