Clean burn

University looks to biomass to cut energy bills

USC plans to begin building this fall a biomass gasification plant for campus heating that will largely eliminate the need for expensive natural gas.

Natural gas prices rose dramatically last winter, and an ongoing campus energy audit project pointed toward biomass as a way to cut energy costs.

Biomass gasification heats wood chips to about 1,800° F, which releases gases that are combusted to generate steam. The process is cleaner than natural gas, emitting far fewer particulates and greenhouse gases and would result in electricity and natural gas savings of nearly $2 million annually for the campus. The plant is expected to come online for the 2006–07 winter.

The plant will be built on USC property near the College of Engineering and Information Technology, which might incorporate a classroom into the facility.

“You see a lot of these plants up North, but as natural gas costs rise, I think we’ll start seeing more of them in the South,” said Rick Kelly, USC’s vice president for business and finance. “The good thing for us is that wood chips are readily available and a renewable energy source. Their cost is also very stable.”