Green Technology

School makes smart energy choice by investing in an on-site biomass energy facility to reduce its carbon footprint.  Nan Jenks-Jay, Director of Environmental Affairs, outlines Middlebury College's plan to construct a biomass plant, which will cost up to $11 million.  The facility will generate power from wood chips rather than fuel oil, which is something that the surrounding forests have an abundance of.  Construction is slated to begin in 2007 and start operations in late 2008.  When placed into service, the biomass facility will cut the college’s greenhouse gas emissions by 12,500 metric tons annually.  The school will leverage suppliers of wood chips that use sustainable practices.  ...

...   "Middlebury’s primary objective for the biomass facility is to provide a sustainable, local and renewable fuel source for heating, cooling and electricity for the campus. According to Jenks-Jay, the college’s long-range goal is to obtain wood chips harvested in an environmentally friendly manner from local sources. Our hope is that the college’s entry into biomass will greatly stimulate the growth of the local, sustainable wood chip market and bioenergy economy in Addison County and Vermont, she said. The college estimates that it will require 20,000 to 21,000 tons of chips per year.

The biomass plant will cut the college’s use of number six fuel oil in half, from about two million gallons to one million gallons a year. Increasing the diversity of Middlebury’s energy sources, the facility will leave the college less dependent on the global oil supply and subject to the fluctuating price of oil. Use of the plant will also make it unnecessary to pay for the transportation by ship and truck of one million gallons of oil a year from thousands of miles away to Middlebury. There will be a reduction of carbon emissions produced in the fuel delivery process as well. Most of the money previously spent on the oil and its transport will continue to be spent on energy costs, but now these dollars will remain in Vermont and New England. "  ...

Via Middlebury College: New biomass facility to reduce greenhouse gases by almost 12,500 tons a year ...

Middlebury is one of the country's top liberal arts colleges. It offers its students a broad curriculum embracing the arts, humanities, literature, foreign languages, social sciences, and natural sciences.  It is located in the Champlain Valley of central Vermont, with Vermont's Green Mountains to the east and New York's Adirondacks to the west.