Biomass Boilers Offer a Cost-Effective Alternative, Says GSA
Testing Shows High Boiler Efficiency and Favorable Payback under Many Conditions
Advances in pellet combustion and control automation have recently positioned wood-pellet-fired biomass boilers as economical alternatives to traditional boilers. Their targeted use promises distinct benefits to the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), foremost among them the ability to bring cost-effective heat to facilities that lack access to natural gas. The technology also has the potential to redirect some regional energy economies from fossil fuels to locally sourced renewable energy such as waste wood, which has been accumulating in the nation’s forests. This is particularly relevant throughout the western United States where waste wood has been accumulating because of a pine beetle infestation that has killed over four million acres of lodgepole and ponderosa pine.1
In 2012, GSA’s Green Proving Ground (GPG) program leveraged the replacement of an entire legacy heating system at the Ketchikan Federal Building in Ketchikan, Alaska, to evaluate a state-of-the-art wood-pellet-fired biomass boiler. The project demonstrated that wood-pellet-fired biomass boiler systems are an efficient alternative for hot-water-heated facilities where natural gas is unavailable. They are most cost-effective for buildings in cold northern climates within 50 miles of a biomass pellet mill.