In Transcarpathia, two resorts have already found a solution how to get off the “gas needle”

Recently, in Transcarpathia, and the climate here in winter is mild and relatively warm, many people began acting on the principle of "gas is good, but wood is better." And people go back to traditional way of house heating – with wood.

Blue fuel is used only for cooking purposes and in bathrooms. Transcarpathian cities were the first in Ukraine to abandon large boiler rooms of central heating, where a lot of heat was wasted through old rotted pipelines, and to switch to cost-efficient individual heating by installing modern compact boilers in each apartment. Public institutions – hospitals, schools, kindergartens, village councils – are also gradually switching to alternative heating systems… This enables the region  to save up to a third of natural gas.

And here is one of the examples – at the well-known sanatorium "Karpaty", located in the former estates of Count Schonborn near Svalyava, a newly built boiler room for solid fuels was commenced in mid-April last year. Two water-heating boilers provide heating for two buildings of the resorts in area of up to three thousand square meters.

"The cost of work was more than 1.5 million hryvnias – the chief doctor of the "Karpaty" Ivan Koshelya said. – But it enables the resort to reduce gas consumption by half and to save 194,000 cubic meters every year. This is very important. And – profitable. Therefore, we plan after the New Year, hoping for normal funding, to reconstruct gas boiler room №2, that heats the seven-story building to retrofit it for wood too."

As prudent managers, the resort owners preserved the gas equipment of the old boiler room to heat the facility with gas in case of severe frosts or other emergencies.

They buy some wood from forest enterprises and harvest the rest themselves – it is an added benefit. Especially since in the summer there were strong windfalls in the Carpathians that felled thousands acres of beech forests. The wood needs to be promptly harvested, otherwise it will be wasted.

And here’s another example. The chief doctor of the "Kvitka polonyny" resort, known for its three variaties of medicinal mineral water, and also of the largest and best recreational complex "Suzirya" Pavlo Hanynets, who long long time ago installed electric gasifier, in addition to modern gas boiler room with German equipment.

That is, those devices heated water, provided heating and generated electricity. Therefore,  both resorts are independent of external factors. The heat produced by these units was used for heating. And during mild winters, they would not even activate boilers. And would have there own electricity. And even if they bought electricity from the state, their own energy, for example, cost about three times cheaper. But gas gradually becomes more expensive and rather irritating energy.

So Pavlo Hanynets, as a true visionary, finds a way out of any situation. He abandoned gas generators and left them as a reserve – "gas now costs too much." Currently, they are installing two boilers of 500 kilowatts – one megawatt in total – designed for solid fuel, wood and coal.

The arithmetic is simple. Mr. Hanynets says that now, when it is still relatively warm, the facility headed by him burns up to 80 thousand cubic meters per month. It costs about 500,000 UAH. "And when it becomes colder in the winter months – the chief doctor continues – up to hundred thousand cubic meters is burnt, that is almost 620-630 thousand hryvnias." – "And when compared with wood?" – I ask. – "Wood costs two thousand hryvnias a day, ie 60 thousand hryvnias a month. That is, the cost is three to three and a half times less! That is in winter, and in summer – it is twice less. Of course, we need to heat a lot of water for various health care treatments, pool, heating of buildings… But the savings are obvious. Besides, the whole boiler room on turn-key basis will cost up to 1.5 million. So it is easy to calculate how long it will take to pay off. We will commence it in just a few weeks. Currently, the installation continues."

Well, there is plenty of quality wood around. And this is the raw material that continually renews. And forestries and harvesters over previous years did not know what to do with the wood, and would sell it at symbolic price, or at worst would not not even take it out of logging sites – it was unprofitable. Now, everybody wants our, Carpathian traditional fuel. And that’s fine.

Moreover, the state plans to compensate owners for the cost of installing new boilers running on wood, pellets, coal and various logging waste.