Biomass Energy at Work Case Studies of Community-Scale Systems in the US, Canada & Europe Biomass Energy at Work Case Studies of Community-Scale Systems in the United States, Canada & Europe his volume comprises a Focus was put on replicable ex- selection of exemplary com- amples of technology that could be Tmunity-scale biomass instal- widely deployed elsewhere and that lations in the United States, Canada, showcased the use of innovative, and Europe. The goal of the initia- high-effi ciency equipment (com- tive was to identify the “best in class” bustion and/or emissions control in biomass technology applications systems), cost-saving installation and highlight these successes in a and operation, minimal mainte- case study series to be widely shared nance with low staffi ng require- as a tool to grow the community- ments, and technology types with scale woody biomass industry in the particular promise to create a new United States and Canada. national industry. Similar emphasis was given to systems using high During 2009, BERC traveled to se- standards of sustainably provided lect biomass facilities in the United wood fuel (including harvesting States, Canada, Austria, Italy, practices), new and effective fi nance Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, or project development processes, Sweden, and Finland to identify, and broad community involvement visit, and conduct assessments of and commitment. applications and technologies in these countries that are excellent Examples of community-scale examples of heating and combined applications include district energy heat and power (CHP) using wood (mini-grids for heat, downtowns, fuels. From this investigation, 53 of small communities, cities), schools, the best sites were selected for in- campuses, hospitals, prisons, public clusion in this case study portfolio. buildings, multi-family or senior housing, government buildings and Funded by the US Endowment for complexes, heating for commercial Forestry and Communities with or offi ce buildings, farms and green- additional support from the US houses, and small industrial parks. Department of Energy, the series il- lustrates the successful use of wood- chips, wood pellets, cordwood, and other low-grade wood in com- munity-scale systems that would otherwise be using fossil fuels. Contents Introduction i-ii Schools 2 Barre Town Elementary and Middle School, Barre, Vermont, US 3 Christianshede Zoo School, Bording, Denmark 5 Council, Idaho Schools, US 7 Darby, Montana Schools, US 9 Leavitt Area High School, Turner, Maine, US 11 Mount Abraham Union High School, Bristol, Vermont, US 13 Nakusp Secondary School, British Columbia, Canada 15 Ponaganset High School and Ponaganset Middle School, N. Scituate, Rhode Island, US 17 Townsend, Montana School District, US 19 Verdersø Sports School and Husby Boarding School, Jutland, Denmark 21 Campus Settings 24 Chadron State College, Chadron, Nebraska, US 25 Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont, US 27 Mount Wachusett Community College, Gardner, Massachusetts, US 29 University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, US 31 Nova Scotia Agricultural College, Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada 33 Institutional Settings 36 Harney County District Hospital, Burns, Oregon, US 37 Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center, Greenfi eld, New Hampshire, US 39 South Dakota State Treatment and Rehabilitation Academy, Custer, South Dakota, US 41 Kings County Memorial Hospital, Montague, Prince Edward Island, Canada 43 Housing Complexes 46 Dartmouth College’s Sachem Village, West Lebanon, New Hampshire, US 47 Green Acres Public Housing Complex, Barre, Vermont, US 49 Spring Valley Bruderhof, Farmington, Pennsylvania, US 51 Government Facilities 54 Boulder County Parks and Open Space Department, Longmount, Colorado, US 55 Quabbin Administrative Building, Belchertown, Massachusetts, US 57 Businesses and Industries 60 Fronius International Factory, Wels, Austria 61 Woodchip District Heating Business, Joutsa, Finland 63 Mitter Transporte Fuel Company, Linz, Austria 65 NRG Wind Systems, Hinesburg, Vermont, US 67 A. Reponen Oy, Joutsa, Finland 69 Xolar Group Headquarters/Manufacturing Plant, Eberstalzell, Upper Austria 71 Chisholm Lumber, Tweed, Ontario, Canada 73 Madsen’s Custom Cabinets, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada 75 Lathrop Forest Products, Bristol, Vermont, US 77 Community District Energy 80 Cooperatively Owned System, Buchkirchen, Austria 81 Town of Gjern Varmevaerk, Denmark 83 Town of Gleinstätten, Austria 85 Hållanders Sawmill & Village of Dalstorp, Sweden 87 Vølund Gasifi er Plant and Town of Harboøre, Jutland, Denmark 89 Village of Koivulahti, Finland 91 Village of Hovmantorp, Lessebo Kommun, Sweden 93 Lundsbrunns Bioenergi AB, Lundsbrunns, Sweden 95 Community-Owned Pellet District Heating System, Mullsjø, Sweden 97 Village of Oujé-Bougoumou, Quebec, Canada 99 City of Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada 101 Towns of Toblach and Olang, South Tyrol, Italy 103 City of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada 105 Agricultural Facilities 108 Nordstrom Greenhouses, Närpiö, Finland 109 Stefan Nordmyr Family Farm and Greenhouses, Närpiö, Finland 111 Community Buildings 114 All Souls Interfaith Gathering, Shelburne, Vermont, US 115 Municipal Aquatic Center and City Schools, Craig, Alaska, US 117 Lambach Abbey, Lambach, Austria 119 Long Lake Conservation Center, Palisade, Minnesota, US 121 Wolf Ridge Environmental Education Center, Finland, Minnesota, US 123 Introduction s institutions, communities, and poli- And in Vermont, USA, more than 45 public cymakers in northern regions where schools now heat with woodchips. So does Aforests are a natural resource confront prestigious Middlebury College, which has the insecurities of cost and supply that surround gained renown as a leader in the fi ght against fossil fuels in the 21st century, more and more climate change, in part by installing an $11 leaders and local champions are asking about million biomass plant that now meets most those woods. Could we get at least some of the of its heating and cooling needs while cutting energy we need from there? Are there ways to do the college’s fuel-oil usage in half, saving an this that might boost the local economy and help anticipated $2 million each year on fuel costs, build a sustainable, affordable energy supply, reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 40 while avoiding negative environmental impacts? percent and replacing a distantly sourced fuel with one that comes from the surrounding The answer is yes. As the case studies in this forests (pp. 27-28). book show, the use of woody biomass—fuel derived from low-grade wood, usually in the Throughout this book, the brief case studies form of chips or pellets—to fuel clean-burning, that profi le these and other biomass facilities effi cient heating systems is already providing a are intended to serve as a balanced informa- wide range of benefi ts for hundreds of schools, tion resource. They highlight key factual data, colleges, other institutions, and even whole describe the challenges that some systems have communities in the United States, Canada, and worked through—most of those dealing with Europe. For example, for about two decades inconsistent fuel quality—and detail the ben- the City of Charlottetown, provincial capital of efi ts that users report having gained. Canada’s Prince Edward Island, has been been Often, as some case studies show, the advo- burning woodchips and municipal solid waste cates of biomass face initial skepticism. Some is to meet 85 percent of the heating needs of its often based on the relative newness of today’s commercial center and large downtown build- biomass energy technology; there can also be ings, also generating some electricity in the concerns about the capital costs of building process (pp. 105-106). The district energy sys- or converting to a biomass system, the sus- tem works well, and the fuel supply is reliable; tainability of the fuel supply, and the fear that woodchips are culled from forest-thinning and burning biomass will be cumbersome to oper- land-clearing operations in the area. ate, dirty, or air-polluting. In just one province of Austria, called Styria, Here, in brief, are some responses to these more than 300 biomass district energy systems concerns, based on present-day technology are at work, including the one that heats the and the experiences of users such as those town of Gleinstätten (pp. 85-86). Two pictur- profi led in these pages: esque towns in the Italian Alps heat more than 900 buildings with woodchips, paying local farmers a premium for chips to strengthen the link between energy use and healthy forests (pp. 103-104). Similar systems are at work all over Denmark, Sweden, and Finland. i Biomass energy systems save money Biomass plants are running on trimmings on fuel, and tend to repay their up-front from logging operations, on residues from costs in a short number of years. On a wood milling and processing, and on wood Btu basis, the cost of biomass fuel is gener- harvested in thinning procedures that ally less than half the cost of fuel oil—and improve forest health and—especially in dry over the past 20 years, the real price of areas like the American West—can sharply wood energy has actually declined. In the reduce the dangers of forest fi res. future, however, in order to develop and Today’s biomass energy systems are sustain a reliable wood fuel supply infra- non-polluting, and combat climate structure, suppliers will need to be paid change. Modern institutional biomass prices at least matching the rate of general systems burn cleanly, with no visible emis- infl ation over time. sions or odors, and emit far less particulate Biomass systems tend to be reliable. matter than do conventional wood stoves. As the profi les here detail, these systems And while the burning of fossil fuels takes have been operating for years, sometimes carbon that has been locked away under- decades, with high reliability in hundreds ground, as crude oil and gas, and releases it of community, school, and institutional into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, bio- settings. Some systems are more automated mass energy systems recycle carbon that is than others; most do require more regular already a part of the natural cycle between cleaning than do fossil-fuel systems.