Heating communities with renewable energy

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Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, are forest rich countries and have traditionally used wood for heating and cooking. The problem is that the way wood is used traditionally is not sustainable, it is burned using old inefficient and environmentally unfriendly stoves while sustainability of origin and quality of the raw material is not a priority. Such a habit is directly harming the climate and has earned wood a reputation of not being a climate friendly energy product. This project is about changing the reputation of wood by showing that the oldest renewable fuel can not only reduce carbon footprint but also help develop the local economy if used sustainably. Heating with woody biomass is a labor intensive process that will create new jobs for private forest owners and ecxisting companies in the field of biomass or wood processing who are at the heart of this project. Targeted investments in Croatia and BiH including the installation of 3 biomass boilers of toatal 0,775 MW capacity are to serve the purpose of increasing the local demand for woody biomass as an incentive for new economic activites in form of supply. The project will also bring a positive change to the economy as it introduces 2 new business models based on best case practices from EU and one such model will be implemented within project lifetime (3 contracts for heat supply concluded). Results are built on exchanges of experiences and collaborative learning experiences between partners and local stakeholders using a multisector (public, business, citizens) and multi level (local, regional, national) approach in order to achieve strong outputs, such as the Road Map (joint strategic plan)  Investments have been chosen to have an educational and public character in order to provide the buidling occupants with a real life demonstration of renewable energy usage. Children and teenagers are at the vulnarable where new experiences set habits for life (400 students educated on energy saving)

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