In 2016 we faced a problem with heat supply. This problem was caused by several factors that still exist today. Firstly, it is the economic unreasonableness of heating tariffs and the fiscal nature of how they are set. Secondly, it is the physical and moral wear and tear of our fixed assets (the boilers and gas equipment we had). Thirdly, it is the current urban culture of energy saving. There is also resource dependence on natural gas suppliers. Among the drawbacks we had we can mention the price policy, which has been constantly changing in recent years, making it difficult to calculate heating tariffs for the season. There is the low quality of natural gas and the low efficiency factor. In other words, we could not accurately calculate the costs – how many cubic meters of gas we needed to heat this area. There is also unstable pressure in the gas supply system, which leads to equipment failures and is a very serious risk today.

Taking all these factors into account, we faced the question of switching to more alternative sources of heating. We considered electric heating, but pricing policy also played an important role. We finally chose solid-fuel equipment. And given our location – an agricultural region – the solid fuel we use is pellets. During the last heating season we operated entirely on this alternative type of heating, and now I can present concrete calculations and clearly show what savings we obtained.

If we look at the economic feasibility compared with using natural gas and the solid-fuel boilers we are satisfied with today: during the heating season we used 30–35 thousand cubic meters of natural gas per month. At today’s gas price, assuming the heating season lasts only five months, this would amount to 1,500,000 UAH. I am not even taking into account tariff increases during the season – this is calculated at 8.05 UAH per cubic meter, as it was at the beginning of the season.

For this heating season we consumed on average 125 Gcal of heat energy per month.

In our residential and educational buildings the indoor temperature was maintained at 20–22 °C, sometimes up to 24 °C.

If we assume consumption of 125 Gcal of heat energy at a cost of 1,300 UAH per Gcal, the financial expenses were about 162,500 UAH per month. For the entire five-month heating season this is 812,500 UAH. Compared with 1,500,000 UAH, today we have 50–52% savings.

We achieve these savings thanks to the use of solid-fuel boilers.

I am not even including savings on labour resources. We save because the equipment is automated and does not require constant servicing. Only four operators work in the boiler room, and we also save four full-time operator positions.