Oil heating systems are abundant in rural Finland and they need to be replaced by renewable energy as Finland aims to be carbon neutral by 2035. Bioenergy, one of the renewable energies, is a common source of energy in Finland as the country is rich in forest resources. In Finland, combined heat and power plants utilize such resource to produce district heat and electricity but Finnish rural areas do not have access to the district heating network. However, there are potential scenarios where community heating could be possible using portable chip-fired heating systems (heat containers). Ultimately, the cost of heating is an important factor for the consumers and the cost of investment is likely to put off any interest from the communities. In this research, we explored the cost and profitability of heat container investments in rural Finland and examined the challenges for the energy transition away from oil heating systems, as well as the opportunities decentralized biomass-fired heating systems might bring. The results of this research indicate that the price of heat produced in heat containers is comparatively higher than district heating, which is commonly used in cities in Finland, but is cost-competitive compared to oil heating depending on the price of oil. For example, the current price of LFO (~1 EUR/l) generates costlier heat than the 300 kW heat container provides. Firing wood pellets in the heat container is not economically viable due to expensive raw material but smaller-sized heat container (110 kW) firing wood chips could provide cost-competitive heat if uptime is raised to >2700 h/year. There are socio-economic impacts and value-added effects on the rural region due to utilization of local resource instead of imported LFO but there remain challenges and barriers such as high initial investment, low investment support and lack of policies focused on decentralised energy enterprises.

Heating is the most energy-intensive sector worldwide as well as in Europe and Finland. About 37% of the heat produced in Finland is still produced with fossil fuels, including 5.5% with fossil fuel oil (FFO). Phasing out FFO from the energy mix in compliance to Finnish carbon neutrality target is complicated because of the decentralized use all over the country, especially in rural Finland. There have been policies and financial instruments targeted for replacement of FFO-fired heating systems, but the rate of heating system renovation has been slow as there are still about 300,000 FFO and gas-fired heating systems nationwide. In this study, we conducted a survey of homeowners with FFO heating systems and asked about their willingness to renovate their heating system. In addition, we asked them to prioritize their sustainability criteria and we ranked them using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The first part of the results show that younger homeowners are more interested in more sustainable modes of heating. Further, the results also show that the willingness to undergo an FFO heating system renovation is higher among respondents with university degrees compared to respondents with high-school and upper secondary educations. The second part of the results show that the economy and environment were given the equally highest priority ratings compared to technological and social criteria. However, older and university degree-educated respondents emphasized environmental criteria, climate change and renewable energy indicators more than their younger and high-school graduate counterparts.

Farms in many regions can have difficulty obtaining affordable bedding for animals. Many farms have turned their attention to the potential use of manure itself as bedding, but its safe use would first require hygienization. This study tested the farm-specific ManPas hygienization system on a local horse farm in Eastern Finland. The principle of the system is that manure is heated for a specified time, which can destroy pathogens and reduce seed germination. The purpose was to investigate the suitability of the system for hygienizing bedding manure to meet the requirements set by the EU and examine its benefits within the framework of a sustainable circular economy based on farm-specific materials. The study determined the bacterial amounts of E. coli and Salmonella, growing medium suitability, and the degree of maturity of three different types of bedding manure before and after hygienization. The hygienized material batches consisted of wood- and peat-based bedding manures from horses and reed canary grass-based bedding manure from cattle. Before hygienization, the bedding manures had a high E. coli concentration, ranging from 120,000 to 7,000,000 CFU/g. Immediately after processing, the bedding manures contained no E. coli or had a concentration below 100 CFU/g. Salmonella was not detected in any samples. Reusable wood-based bedding manure was the most suitable growing medium, as it had a low bulk density of 270 kg/m3 and a moderate compost activity of 4.89 mg CO2-C/g VS/day. However, its high pH of 9.2 requires acidification treatment before it can be used as a growing medium. The ManPas system plays a key role in the sustainable circular economy, as it enables the reuse of bedding manure as bedding, a soil conditioner material, and a potential growing medium. The system can reduce manure-related costs on farms.