On March, 30 the Biomass Thermal Energy Council held a webinar to unveil and demonstrate the updated Wood Energy Financial Calculator. Dr. Dennis Becker of the University of Idaho presented how the calculator project was implemented and Bede Wellford of Viessmann Manufacturing, and BTEC Board Director and TRAC Chair, demonstrated the new calculator, including the additional new construction feature.
The Wood Energy Financial Calculator is intended to help you to decide if a wood energy system is right for you, and what would be the financial costs and benefits of investing in a wood energy heating system for your building. Whether you are considering using wood chips, pellets or cord wood, the Calculator can give you a good first-cut estimate of how much investment would be required for a wood energy system, the wood fuel costs, the fossil fuel saving and payback period.
The Calculator can be used by those who intend to retrofit their facility to either use wood for 100 percent of their heating needs or just a percentage. For those who intend to use wood for less than 100 percent of their heat needs, the Calculator assumes you will be using your current fossil fuel system to supply the balance of your heating requirements, and does not account for any additional costs.
One of the new features of the Calculator includes the ability to estimate costs for new construction. If you know the square footage for the newly planned facility and its location by zip code, the financial costs of a wood energy system can be calculated. However, just like with a retrofitted building, when the calculator estimates of costs for a wood heating system in new construction, it does not account for the costs that may be necessary for a fossil fueled back up system, if you are not heating 100 percent with wood.