Middlebury College Fires Up Its Biomass Plant | Chronicle Blog

Middlebury College’s $11-million biomass plant was fired up this week. The plant will burn around 20,000 tons of wood chips each year, replacing one million gallons of fuel oil, or half the college’s consumption. The plant, which will provide both electricity and steam for heat, will reduce the college’s annual carbon emissions by 12,500 tons; wood ashes from the plant, which are high in nutrients like potassium and calcium, will go to a fertilizer company. The whole project will pay for itself in 11 years.

College officials put the plant in a central location on the campus to symbolize the college’s quest for climate neutrality by 2016. They say it has generated interest from students and visitors and will be used as an educational opportunity for the campus.

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