Living Energy were appointed by Manukau City Council's Energy Manager to undertake a detailed assessment of Council buildings and determine their suitability for conversion to woodfuel.  Funded by EECA's Wood Energy Grant Scheme, the feasibility work by Living Energy is seen as a vital first step in building the financial, technical and political case for a move away from fossil fuels in Manukau City's building portfolio.

Headline figures indicate that moving from piped natural gas to wood at the City's top four users would not only save in excess of $5 million over 15 years, but it would also reduce Council emissions by around 1,500 tonnes, or 13% of the total.

The study, which is available online at the Bioenergy Knowledge Centre website, ran to 104 pages of technical and financial analysis, effecively forming a blueprint from which to build a low-cost, low-carbon energy infrastructure in the most energy-hungry Council properties.  At the outset of the study, the energy-use ranking exercise highlighted leisure centres with pools as by far the largest heat energy consumers in the list.  Across the Council's 5 swimming pools, over $500,000 of piped gas is burnt each year to provide heating for the water and buildings.

    
Moana Nui a Kiwa Pool                                Lloyd Elsmore Park Pool

Living Energy provided full 15 year analysis of the business case for making a switch from gas to wood, as well as presenting concept layouts of the systems and a summary of the available fuel supplies in Manukau City.  It is likely that, if the Council progress with this cost saving measure, that the fuel will be sourced from within a very short distance of the pools - from the waste wood generated by businesses in and around Manukau City.  Such supply chains would not only deliver better value services for Manukau City residents, but would also keep money in the local economy and reduce the amount of woody waste heading to landfill each year.