Libby schools take first look at wood-fueled heating system

With oil and gas prices on the rise, Libby Public Schools officials are looking into replacing their diesel heaters with wood-burning boilers.

Superintendent Ron Goodman said during a May 3 school board meeting that he was in favor of conducting an initial study into the switch with the Montana Department of Natural Resources. Nate Gassmann, U.S. Forest Service Libby district ranger, told school board members that this “pre-pre-feasibility” assessment would allow the district to gauge if it was worth getting in touch with an engineering firm for further analysis.

Tom Perry of DNRC pitched board members on the prospect via video chat during the meeting.

“Wood is highly cost competitive,” he said. “Obviously, it's local. It’s renewable. You’re boosting your economies if you’re sourcing from within the community or a nearby forest-based community.”

While Perry did not have precise numbers on how much a conversion would cost the district, he said retrofitting a diesel system could run between $300,000 and $500,000. Upfront feasibility studies and engineering costs could set the district back another $30,000 to $50,000.

To aid the district in the possible transition, Perry said grants were available through the Forest Service. While DNRC offers grants for wood energy projects, Perry said the funds were set to expire this spring. The state agency still could provide the district with letters of support for federal grants.

Districts that have made the switch to wood energy systems have seen significant savings in recent years, according to Perry. He pointed to schools in Thompson Falls that spent $46,000 using a wood-burning boiler in 2010. Officials projected that the school administrators would have spent $110,000 that year had they not switched over from heating oil.

Goodman said Libby Public Schools district uses diesel fuel to heat both the Libby Middle High School and the Libby Central School. Heating the middle high school alone costs the district between $60,000 to $80,000 a year.

Leslie Forster reminded board members that, as the cost of diesel increases, the price tag associated with making and transporting wood fuels would also rise. Gassmann agreed the prices of the two fuel types are correlated, but noted that a jump in diesel prices would not lead to as steep of a hike in the cost of wood fuels.

Along with the challenges of revamping their diesel systems, school officials would also have to ensure that the wood-burning alternative meets local air quality regulations. Jake Mertes, environmental health specialist with the county health department, said the district would need to prove that the new boilers adhere to EPA standards. If environmental health officials were to issue an air quality alert — which Mertes said is more likely to happen during colder months when boilers are most needed — schools would have to shut off the wood burners.

Perry recommended that school officials select wood fuels that produce fewer emissions such as pellets or clean wood chips. Since wood burners are most efficient when operating at their maximum heat, Perry said the school board should consider a system in which the burner provides around 75 percent of their heat load and a backup system covers the rest.

“If you had a wood energy system built for the coldest days, you wouldn’t run it full bore except for those coldest days, which would be an inefficient use of the wood energy” said Perry.

The backup system could also provide the district with heat on days when the air quality alert prevents schools from using wood energy.

To initiate the next step in the process, Gassmann said he would put the district in touch with Julie Kies of DNRC.