Middlebury College used to heat its buildings with oil, then switched to wood chips. Now, it’s planting a sustainable and relatively cheap fuel source – willow shrubs – that could help cut demand on the state’s forests.
With a nine-acre patch of the fast-growing willows, the college is conducting a biomass energy experiment that seeks to answer the question: What if wood-chip burning heat systems lead to the deforestation of Vermont?
Willows, which grow faster than other trees and branch out when pruned, may be the answer – and may be a resource for other cold-weather states.
The school opened a new boiler system last winter to heat about 100 campus buildings, running turbines that meet about a fifth of the college’s electrical demand.