Apr 19 2010
Green Mountain College (GMC) has established its $5.8-million novel combined heat and power (CHP) biomass facility, which is likely to generate 85% of the heat energy required by GMC and produce 20% of its electrical energy. Construction management on the facility was conducted by HP Cummings.
Expected to commence operation on April 22, Earth Day, the biomass facility will use locally harvested woodchips of around 4,000 to 5,000 tons per year as its primary fuel. This move is likely to bring the campus’ greenhouse gas emissions to 546 metric tons per year from 3,420 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year recorded in 2007. Green Mountain College intends to be completely climate neutral by the year 2011 after reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by more than 50%.
The resulting steam generated from the process of burning woodchips fed into the biomass facility’s boiler will be utilized to run a turbine that is likely to generate 400,000 kWh of electrical energy.
Active participation from students played a key role in convincing the college authorities to make this switch to renewable energy. A proposal for studying the practicality of a novel biomass heating facility written by students in 2005 was later approved by the Student Campus Greening Fund (SCGF), which is a program run by students to help take steps that decrease the ecological impact of the college and also increase environmental awareness.
Source: http://www.greenmtn.edu