Wooden this be a good idea?

Let's face it, we're all looking for ways to save money while staying warm this winter. With fuel prices at record highs, LPG costing more than ever and electricity prices continually rising, we could all do with a cheaper alternative, writes The Marlborough Express in an editorial.

An independent energy analyst says Blenheim's electricity costs are among the highest in the country. In June this year Blenheim was paying an average of 40 cents per kilowatt hour (c/kWh) compared to Auckland prices of 28 to 29c/kWh.

The highest prices occur during peak hours, when most families are at home heating their houses and cooking meals.

A seminar in Marlborough last week focused on wood energy as an alternative to these fuels.

Proponents of the wood-for-fuel school of thought say this can be achieved without the need for more purpose-built firewood forests. Apparently there are an extra 70,000 to 100,000 tonnes of wood, suitable for burning, generated every year when trees are cut down.

Irregular demand for these offcuts and the high cost of transporting them means that most of this useable fuel is left to rot on the ground.

Another source of wood energy that's going to the worms is grape vine prunings. A Renwick man told people at the seminar that he believes the debris from pruning grape vines could be used as fuel.

David Bryce visited the United Kingdom two years ago and saw a water heating system powered by dried, renewable plant materials. Back home he decided to see if he could achieve something similar using vine prunings.

From his 13ha vineyard block, Mr Bryce collected 400kg of prunings from this season's crop. With vineyards currently stretching across 20,000ha of land in Marlborough, the potential fuel that could be produced from plant waste normally mulched into the soil is enormous.

Mr Bryce says finding a new use for prunings might also reduce disease and minimise the need for nitrogen fertilisers.

The use of wood burners in New Zealand homes has decreased in recent years as people are persuaded to install electric-powered heat pumps, which, although convenient, put pressure on the supply of power during dry winter months.

Wood fuel is the favoured renewable energy source in Europe and the low-emission wood burners now available make it an environmentally-friendly choice, too.

Advancements in technology mean that modern clean-burning wood burners are available that meet standards required to keep emissions at legal, healthy levels.

The wood offcuts and vine prunings ideas probably need a bit more thought and fine-tuning before they have any chance of gaining widespread acceptance, but there is certainly food for thought there. Any way of saving money on heating should be investigated.

And if we can help to save the environment at the same time then that's a bonus.

- The Marlborough Express