Staff Writer
In lieu of a regular scheduled meeting, the Caribou Board of Education will hold a public hearing at the Caribou Performing Arts Center, Wednesday, Oct. 15, beginning at 7 p.m. The purpose of this hearing is to field questions and concerns from community members regarding the suggested purchase of a Wood Chip Boiler to be installed at the Caribou High School.
Throughout the past months, Trane Building Services has been doing building audits in area schools, attempting to locate areas within a structure that can be revamped or replaced in order to become more user friendly as well as environmentally correct. The audit shows where buildings are least cost effective and representatives from the company, Brent Dudley and Mike McCormick provide in-depth performance contracting programs for the schools being audited.
Last week at a regular meeting, the Caribou Board of Education voted to approve the proposed purchase of a Wood Chip Boiler to be installed at the Caribou High School. Frank McElwain, superintendent of Caribou Schools said the price tag for the Wood Chip boiler purchase and conversion would be an estimated $2.5 —$2.8 million.
“ If we convert to heating by woodchips, we would be the first in northern Maine but not the first in the state, as Leavit School in Turner has been successfully using this type of heat for 10 years,” said McElwain.
“ Upgrading from heating by oil to wood, not only provides higher heat efficiency, lower emissions, protecting air quality it is neighborhood friendly,” said the superintendent. “Most importantly, we won’t be depending on foreign oil, we would be making sensible use of materials that are right here in our backyard.
McElwain went on to say they would work with the forestry industry obtaining the wood chips to burn in the Wood Chip boiler. “This whole project has many positive returns, including a more comfortable learning environment within the classrooms, it is environmentally friendly and would provide a huge savings in energy costs,” he added.
According to the Trane Building Services Energy Conservation Measure Cost and Simple Payback chart, the Wood Chip Boiler at an estimated cost of $2,674,617 would provide a pay back to the community with a 9.33 year period.
Proposed economic benefits of wood chips technology become more evident with increasing scales of energy generation. At the most basic level, one ton of wood chips with a 40 percent moisture content can provide 10,800,000 BTUs of heat energy11. One gallon of oil can produce up to 152,400 BTUs, which means one would need 70,87 gallons of oil to obtain the same quantity of energy as one ton of woodchips.
In regard to emission standards, Maine currently has no emissions standards for boilers under 10 million BTU gross output and the proposed Viessmann boiler exceeds the European standards.
During the hearing Oct. 15, at CPAC, information will be provided to the public and questions will be answered.
