Biomass Boilers In Public Schools And Buildings

Craftsbury Academy ACTbioenergy wood chip/pellet boiler

Numerous Vermont schools have converted from fuel oil and electric heat to woody biomass boilers. According to ’09-’10 numbers, the 46 schools that use wood heating systems saved taxpayers $1,764,164. In total, this offset the equivalent use of about 1,500,000 gallons of fuel oil and avoided a total of 15,650 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

A recent example of a school successfully transitioning to a biomass boiler—while preserving the historic character of an iconic Vermont building in the process—is Craftsbury Academy.  The town determined in 2009 that it wanted to green the school, save money, and make a move towards being carbon neutral.  This resulted in the installation of a biomass heat plant, in 2010, that replaced 3 separate oil fired heating plants.  The plant heats 4 buildings, for a total of 45,000 square feet.

Craftsbury selected a technologically advanced boiler system, manufactured by Advanced Climate Technologies, that is capable of accepting both pellets and wood chips.  The fuel flexibility allows the school to change its fuel type depending upon prices and availability.  Craftsbury Academy projects that it will save approximately $36,000 dollars per year, though this estimate is on the low end as fuel prices are likely to rise in future years.  Using this conservative estimate, the town projects that it will save $713,000 over the course of the 20 year bond

To check whether your school would make a good candidate for converting to wood chips, contact the School Energy Management Program with the Vermont Superintendents Association – at [email protected] or www.vtvsa.org.