Biomass Case Studies
The following case studies were produced in collaboration with the Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council.
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Three Rivers School District
This year the Three Rivers School District in southern Oregon faces a $2 million budget shortfall but is turning to biomass heat to help reduce energy costs.
The district is installing wood pellet boilers at Evergreen Elementary and Illinois Valley High School to provide the school’s heating and hot water needs. The $650,000 investment in new woody biomass heating systems will take over for two aging heating oil boilers and is expected to save the school district about $30,000 per year in heating bills. Because the value of the energy savings will be greater than the loan payments, the new heating systems will be net-positive to the district’s budget.
Download the full case study to read more...Oakridge Elementary School
The Oakridge School District is installing a new woody biomass boiler at Oakridge Elementary, reconnecting to their timber roots and protecting the school’s budget against rising fossil fuel costs. The new boiler will burn wood pellets and provide the school’s space heat and hot water. The project costs are capped at $475,544 and the new system expected to save the district 11,387 gallons of 11,387 gallons of heating oil per year. The district expects to save over $20,000 per year in heating bills at current heating oil prices. The innovative system allows the district to use propane, heating oil, or wood pellets—which ever is least expensive at the time. The district used a Qualified School Construction Bond of $330,000 to help fund project. However, because the value of the energy savings is greater than their loan payments, the system is net-positive to the school district.
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Sisters School District
Listening to Sisters School District officials explain anticipated budget cuts in Spring 2009, Benny Benson was inspired to take action. With a daughter in the district, the President of renewable energy company ENERGYneering Solutions Inc. (ESI) began a quest to explore how renewable energy could cut the district’s energy costs. “I assumed energy costs were a significant part of their annual budget. Any energy savings, efficiency, or offset we could provide would go back to the kids through education.” School District officials welcomed the effort and are now celebrating the installation of a biomass boiler that will save the district between $35,000 and $65,000 a year on heating fuel costs. What began as an “aha moment” at a public meeting launched a dynamic partnership that is reducing district energy bills, spurring local forest product employment, and improving the health of surrounding forests.
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Blue Mountain District Hospital
Few sources of renewable energy can claim to be less expensive than their fossil fuel alternatives, and fewer still can support forest health efforts.The new wood pellet heating system at the Blue Mountain District Hospital earns a triple crown for reducing energy costs, supporting forest health efforts, and advancing local energy independence. The new system will save the hospital over $80,000 a year on heating bills,burns pellets made from locally-sourced restoration by-products, and supports jobs at the new local pellet mill.
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Estacada High School
Success breeds success at the Estacada School District. After an initial energy efficiency partnership resulted in significant cost savings, 10-year veteran School Board member Mark Greene turned to McKinstry Company to explore an alternative to the District’s dated and costly heating oil boilers. Gabe Johnson of McKinstry suggested the District could realize significant cost savings by converting to a woody biomass-fired boiler system using an Energy Saving Performance Contract. The resulting project leveraged state and Federal incentives and provided jobs for local manufacturers and contractors to make a true Oregon success story.
