City of Franklin now heats all three of their municipal buildings witha new hot water boiler system, fueled by compressed foliage pellets. [Warning: link is to .pdf file]
FRANKLIN, Minn. (TEE) – In the hardworking town of Franklin, with nearly 475 souls, a giant step forward in regard to renewable energy is turning the heads of all those who hear.
Think for a moment, the idea of heating 180 gallons of water and using that hot water to heat an office building. Now, add to that schematic the heating of a work shop. That’s not all. Now add a building large enough to house several fire trucks and an ambulance.
What could be the first remark on this idea? How about, “It sounds expensive – to implement and to operate.” The answer: Nope.
The City of Franklin was brilliant in their application to the federal government’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG).
Through this program, funded for the first time this year by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, Franklin was given $75,000
toward a renewable energy concept with very little precedence.
The three municipal buildings in Franklin, the city hall, city garage, and the fire hall, all need to be heated, just as every other business or office during the winter. It’s the cost of heating these buildings that annually placed more strain on already-thin taxpayer budgets. That’s when Franklin stepped up to the plate. Not only were they to explore new heating options, approximately $11,000 of the
grant would go for new, insulated overhead doors.
With a total population of up to 475, Franklin is not exactly New York City but the cost of the project is - low by any measure.
Keith Poier, president of MnVAP presented to the city a bio-mass pellet concocted of alfalfa, corn stalk, bean straw, wood, sunflower hull, and a special binding agent to aid in pellet formation.
Maybe Keith, a never say die kind of guy who had plenty of regrets about starting on his project when I met him years ago, used McDonald's secret sauce to help stick the mess together. :-)
You might notice this is not about power but heating. Heating and air conditioning is a very large market but it won't take us off fossil fuels nor will expensive sometime renewables like solar and wind.
Baseload [always on] green energy would allow us to kick the lethal fossil fuel habit that is destroying us. Fortunately the various alternatives are cheap, vastly more plentiful than all other sources of energy and available worldwide.
So why don't we switch?
Some thoughts below the fold.
Humans are creatures of habit. This conservatism or inertia, if you prefer, is protective but eventually leads to destruction of any species. It may eventually do the same to ours.
What happened to the species with the big brains?
Oh those were the Neanderthals and they are all gone. Elephants with much larger brains than ours will probably soon follow.
And then are dolphins and whales - oh, and insects can be pretty smart and...
We really aren't as smart as we think we are even though our brains are better organized than the big brained species. If we were really intelligent we would stop destroying ourselves.
But we won't.
It is - if you will pardon the expression - unthinkable.
Best, Terry