Home owners
If you are one of the many New Zealanders who use wood to heat their homes, you are already using bioenergy.
In New Zealand 45% of households use wood for heating. A potential issue with wood burners is incomplete combustion, which is one of the main causes of smog in New Zealand cities. The very fine particles that cause smog can cause respiratory problems. Emissions can be minimised by using efficient burners. More...
Home heating systems can take many different forms:
The most common type of heating in a New Zealand home is a wood burner. Modern wood burners are efficient and clean burning. Good quality firewood is the key to the efficient operation, clean burning and safety of a modern wood burner. More...
Wood pellets are a recent development in biomass fuel for the home. Wood pellets are made by compressing sawdust and shavings into small pellets. The uniform size and low moisture content of wood pellets makes them a very effective fuel. To utilise the benefits of wood pellets they need to be burnt in a dedicated wood pellet fire or boiler. More...
There are definite advantages to heating hot water using a wood burner with a wet-back or a boiler in comparison to an electric water heater.
Central heating, rather than heating only on part of a house through a point source, distributes heat from a central heat source throughout a house. It is often regarded as achieving higher levels of comfort than more traditional wood burners. Several wood pellet boiler distributors now sell wood pellet boilers in New Zealand. These boilers can be used in conjunction with underfloor and radiator central heating systems. More...