The biomass belongs to the renewable energy sourses, because of the fact that speeed of useage of different plants and waste of their processing to produce enrgy resources is lower than the speed for which they renovate. The term biomass includes the increasing organic material such as grass, trees, seaweeds, pead, as well as products and raw materials of plant and animal origin. Biomass as a term includes a variety of products except wood and waste of timber and manufacturing industry, as well as energy cultures, agriculture waste and food-processing industry waste, animal manure, as wel as the organic fraction of the urban solid waste and purification station sediment.

The appearance of wood biomass is unfinkable without the availability of sun, water and mineral substances. In the tree plants passes a physico-chemical process called photosynthesis. When there is sunlight the plants transform carbon dioxide and water into glucose and oxygen. Wood is a basic component of the stems of the tree plants, the trees mostly, but also of some bushes, lianas and the perennial creeping/climbing plants like the vines. Wood consists of cellulose fibres connected with each other with lignin. Wood is hygroscopic, built by cells and an anisotropic material. Dry wood consists of fibres and cellulose (40%- 50%) and hemicellulose (15%- 25%) connected together with lignin (15%- 30%).

Energy cultures are cultures grown especially for energy purposes. They can be annual or perennial cultures which serve as raw materials to produce solid, liquid and gaseous fuels. The leaves, stems and seeds of these cultures can be used for processing. This definition does not include the organic remanins and waste of a wide range of plants which also can be processed to produce fuels and which are of a significant potential.

The Biogas is a fuel gas which is produced during the organized fermentation of biological products in an anaerobic (without the precence of oxigen) environment. The gas produced in the nature through natural conditions is called marsh gas. The term biogas is used for gases produced during the anaerobic fermentation of biological materials. Their basic components are methane and carbon dioxide. Significant quantities of biogas are released during the assimilation of the sediments in the purification installations for waste water (gas from the waste water purification stations) and during the anaerobic fermentation of agriculture waste and organic remain in the dumping grounds (dumping ground gas). As biomass is an energy source without any net emissions of carbon dioxide its use as a fuel can lead to the decrease of the fossil fuel usage and from there also to the decrease of the greenhouse effect.

The solar energy is a radiant energy produced in the sun as a result of the nuclear connecting reactions. The solar radiation of one square meter of the Earth’s surface amounts to 1360 wats of power. Reaching the atmosphere surface part of the solar energy is reflected back in the cosmos (10%). Another part of it, of about 30%, is held back in it heating the upper layers. About 37% of the solar enerfy is accumulated by the ocean. Part of this energy is preserved by the biosynthesis. During the process of photosynthesis the assimilation of solar energy and its accumulation in biomass has the efficiency of 14%. In the case of the solar installations it can reach up to 90%.
Sunny days in the different regions of Bulgaria are between 200 and 270 per year.

Water energy or hydroenergy is produced by a water torrent during the spinning round of a rotating mechanism or similar installations. Water enrgy is a renewable natural resource because of the periodicity of the water cycle. The popularity of this energy source is due to the appearance of the electric generator, the improvement of the hydraulic turbine and the increasing consumption of electric power.

The geothermal energy is contained in the heated up to a high temperature undergroung layers. This heat originates from the nucleus of the Earth or is caused in the Earth’s crust during the decomposition of the radioactive elements which can be found in all rocks. In the places where the heat is concentrated near the surface, it can be used as an energy source.

The wind is caused by the uneven heating of the Earth’s surface. The hot air raises high, a sphere of a low atmospheric pressure is formed. The air moves from places with high to places with low athmospheric pressure and the bigger the difference, the stronger the wind is. The most important parameter of the wind is its energy. Wind energy contains the wind potential of the winds. By connecting a rotating rotor with an electrical generator, the modern wind turbines transform wind energy into electric power.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY is a criterion for that to what extend the electric and heat energy is used rationally in a one site.

Energy efficiency has a wide application in the following cases:
  • An underteking in buildings which are public or private property with the aim to decrease the heat lose and electrical power used for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, as well as to provide a better comfort of the buildings residents.
  • The systems for transfer and distribution of energy to the consumers with the aim to decrease the loss of heat and electric energy.
  • Industrial systems with the aim to decrease the loss of heat and electric energy during the production of goods and cervises.
  • Efficiency increase of the installations with which the energy carrier is produced.
  • Projects connected with decreasing the expences for heat and electrical energy.
  • In projects with proven ecological effect.
  • In the industrial sector where is achieved deacrease of the prime cost of the goods and the services and the competitiveness increases.

WHAT HAVE I TO DO IN ORDER TO DECREASE THE ENERGY CONSUMPTION, RESPECTIVELY – MY EXPENSES?

The Bulgarian economy uses 10 times more energy than the countries in the EU, due to the contribution of the industry as well the public utilities. The government pursues a policy of decreasing the energy consumption since years, evidences are the enacted lows and normative documents as well the foundation of Agency for energy efficiency. By the meaning of Energy law “Efficiency enactment (activity)” is organizational, structural technical and/or technological institutional or normative change for enhancement the energy efficiency. Due to the specific of the previous economy and the lack of energy saving initiatives in the past, every replacement of overworked equipment in Bulgaria brings in fact to energy savings.

WHAT YOU HAVE TO KNOW BEFORE STARTING YOUR ENERGY EFFICIENCY PROJECT?

Basic theses
  • Your project has to bring to decreased energy costs toward the base costs after project execution;
  • The project cash flow will cumulate mainly from abstained and reduced costs for fuels and energy sources;
  • The project cash flow has to be enough for paying off the credit and covering of eventual additional expenses by project execution.

Project development
  • Project identifying: The idea for EERE could come from different organizations and institutions. Municipality, municipality enterprise or commercial and industrial enterprise could determine a possibility for conserving through induction of energy efficiency technologies. Independent persons could also been interested in the specific energy efficiency project execution. On the other hand a financial institution could turn the customers’ attention to applying energy conserving measures.
  • Smaller projects could form a bigger one. For example energy efficiency measures for number of municipality buildings could be group in one project.
  • Primary solvency analysis: The ownership and the financial status of the enterprise (organization, institution) for the last three years is the base for preparing the primary solvency analysis which is necessary by presenting a project proposal to the financial institution. If this information is not sufficient for the credit institution should be better to find another ways for finance your project even before the project is not worked out in details – no financial institution will grant you funds without evidence that your company/municipality suit the credit policy requirements. It is good to be mentioned existing correct relationships between you and banks and other financial institutions, this will improve your credit rating.
  • Energy audit is the first step to create a data base for your project. Part of the information will include existing fuel and energy consumption, installed and working capacity, produced output and equipment capacity, working hours, base status completely determination (before energy efficiency measures applying) and energy problems identifying, technical solutions for correction etc according to the project idea specific.
  • Determination of needed investment. Next step is to initiate all the information and to calculate the costs to make your ideas true.
  • Quantitative determination of energy savings. When you finish the energy efficiency model, you can calculate exactly how much and what will you save in order to show the financing institution that you will refund the loan and to prove yourselves that your actions will be for real use, expressing not in pure idealism and environment care only.
  • Preliminary agreement of basic loan parameters is next step to preparing the financial side of the project – you can fix the final project costs and the repayment schedule of the loan.
  • You will start negotiations with the bank for financing terms and will prepare your business plan: cash flow analysis, analysis of sensibility and the risk. You can look the samples on page "Finance part" for more information.
  • With this you have nearly finished the whole procedure – it remains to submit the specific loan documentation and the project business plan to the bank or to the financing institution.
  • From now on you will wait for banks ‘decision. The bank makes again complete credit analysis and evaluates how far you can be awarded on the basis of the whole information you have submitted. If you defended successful your idea, then you have to
  • Sign the loan contract. Have in mind every finance institution will watch closely the project implementation according to the parameters written in the business plan.

Project implementation
Extremely significant for the project success is the precise and aggressive management of the project, which engage that the project will put to operation in the foreseen terms, according to the expected quality and to the foreseen budget. Furthermore the bank follows the implementation and has the fully right to leave off work. You as a borrower have to expend all funds disbursed pursuant to the Agreement with your bank only for the purposes and in the amounts set forth in the "Project".