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The Enterprise School Project
The rural community of Enterprise is situated in the northeast corner of Oregon in Wallowa County. Communities throughout Wallowa County are based on traditional natural-resource driven economies. Recently, declines in both the wood products and ranching industries have created financial challenges for community facility improvements.
Most of the schools throughout Wallowa County are in dire need of facility improvements. However, with school enrollment rapidly declining and rising energy costs, funding is not available for capital improvements. As a result, the Enterprise school has reduced its curriculum to the bare and operates on a weekly schedule at the state minimum of 4 days.
In 2004, Wallowa Resources, a community-based non-profit, commissioned the Biomass Energy Resource Center (BERC) to conduct a feasibility analysis for utilizing woody biomass to heat the community schools. After some calculations and community outreach, the Enterprise School became the first school to invest in a modern-day biomass boiler in the state of Oregon in over 50 years. The project is under construction and is scheduled for completion in time for the 2008-2009 school year.
See the video of their remarkable story!
Enterprise School project statistics
| Size (sq. ft.) |
Three buildings; 130,000 sq. ft. |
| Cost of project |
$1,519,586 |
| Previous heating system | 2 heating oil boilers 40+ years old |
| Current heating costs |
51,000 gallons; $147,900 @ $2.90/gallon |
| Boiler technology |
2.5 million BTU/hr Automated Wood Chip Boiler |
| Fuel source |
90% Wood Chips (Hog fuel) 10% Heating Oil |
| Projected heating costs |
$18,655 for Chips ($32/ton) $14,627 for Heating oil Total costs $32,282 |
| Pay-back period |
9.5 years (including BETC) |
| Annual savings |
$112,889 |