County considering biomass heat in building remodel

Clean, renewable energy source will save county money

There’s a growing movement toward gaining energy independence by using the resources in your own backyard. Communities on the coast are looking to electricity generated by ocean waves, while those in the desert southwest are trying to capitalize on solar power. Wind turbines are going up across the Great Plains.

So it might not come as a surprise that the Gunnison Board of County Commissioners, in their attempt to reduce the county’s carbon footprint, is considering woody biomass as a way to heat the Public Works facility, which is due to be rebuilt over the next two years.
The biomass boiler being considered by the county would use locally harvested trees that will be dried and chipped to fire a high temperature boiler, which would circulate a mixture of water and glycol to heat the Public Works building.
It wouldn’t be the first project of its kind in the state. Gilpin County also has a landscape where trees outnumber people and the commissioners took a tour of their Road and Bridge facility Monday, May 18 to see how some of those trees were being put to use.
“It is really cool,” commissioner Hap Channell says of the Gilpin county woody biomass boiler. “I think we’ll be looking into a similar system for our public works facility.”
For Channell, the reasons a woody biomass boiler system would work well in Gunnison County are clear.
One biomass boiler project is already being considered in the county at the renovated 75,000-square-foot Taylor Hall on the Western State College campus, although the college has not yet committed to building the boiler.
Also, according to the U.S. Forest Service, every year around 27,000 tons of green trees are removed from the Gunnison National Forests to mitigate wildfire danger.
According to Andris Zobs, building director for the Office of Resource Efficiency, the biomass boiler at Taylor Hall will use only 1,200 tons of green timber each year.
“The Forest Service is looking for a way to use that material,” says Zobs. “Right now they hire contractors to thin the forest and then they just have slash pile and an open pit fire in the forest. At least this way, they can get some benefit from it.”
By using the wood that comes from thinning projects, the county can get a fuel source that travels less than 60 miles to the place where it will be used. The carbon released during burning would be recaptured as new trees grow, nearly creating a “carbon neutral” system, says Zobs.
Another advantage is price. Channell points out that Gilpin County is saving $3,000 a month on heating fuel. Although they have a natural gas boiler to back up their biomass system, it has never been turned on.
Zobs says even without tax rebates or other incentives, the payoff period for biomass systems that fit well to the building they will heat is between five and seven years.
A biomass boiler would also create jobs and keep money being spent on renewable energy in the Gunnison Valley by using local contractors to cut the trees and deliver them to the storage facility, and by employing someone to operate the chipping equipment and transport the chips to the boiler.
Director of Public Works Marlene Crosby says the plan for the new building “does not currently include a biomass facility, but it is something the board [of county commissioners] saw in Gilpin County that they liked.”
Already the cost of the new Public Works facility is estimated to be around $5 million and the Gilpin County biomass boiler system, which is possibly larger and more advanced than anything Gunnison County might consider, cost nearly $1.5 million.
Despite the relatively quick payoff period, Channell says it isn’t the cost of the biomass boiler that will be prohibitive but the amount of money the public is willing to spend to bring the technology to a county building.
Another obstacle to building a biomass boiler is finding space at the new Public Works facility, which is going to be built on a 14-acre lot in the Gold Basin Industrial Park, to make room for the different uses of the building and the storage and processing of logs for the boiler.
One option for the county, according to Crosby, is to store the trees being dried and chip them into the proper size at the county landfill, where space is abundant. Then the chips would be transported to the Public Works facility for burning.
Another problem Zobs sees with a getting public approval of a biomass boiler is concern over air quality.
“Any new system will have to be checked to make sure it’s not emitting particulates into the air and there will be an assessment and comparison against current air quality standards,” he says.
Channell hopes to dispel any public concern about a biomass boiler by educating people who have questions and pointing out the relative cleanliness of the system.
“There is almost no ash to speak of because of the high-intensity burn that the wood goes through, and it is a renewable source of energy,” says Channell. “I think the cost saving, local job creation and being able to keep those dollars that we want to spend on renewable energy in the valley are all great reasons to look at biomass more seriously.”