Study looks at heating some public buildings with biomass

A study about energy use in several government buildings was delivered to the Baker County Commissioners this week.

The idea is to see whether it would feasible to convert natural gas heating in these buildings to biomass systems. It was created initially for the Baker County Economic Development Council.

Conversions to biomass suggested by Renewable Energy Solutions Inc. are mostly unwarranted at current fuel prices. However, “the tools developed and described in this report can help municipal building managers reassess these projects as natural gas and prices and other variables change and to assess other projects in the area,” according to the report.

The study focused on Sam-O-Swim Center, Baker City Hall, Baker City Public Works shop and warehouse buildings, and the Baker County Courthouse. Together, these buildings burn approximately 30,000 therms of natural gas at a current market cost of nearly $31,100 a year.

Price projections indicate natural gas price increases of about 2.7 percent a year during the next 25 years. It's a stable market now for natural gas, but could become more volatile in the future.

Converting heating systems from natural gas to biomass is costly initially, but saves money over time because biomass is much less expensive. Grant sources to pay for retooling the heating systems might be available as well.

None of the local buildings studied use massive quantities of heating fuel but each is unique because the sizes, layouts and uses differ widely:

• Sam-O Swim Center needs to keep the air and water warm around the clock. The systems are integrated so the air equipment can help heat the water when a back-up source is needed. The warm spring from where the water originates and a hydronic heat pump help keep the pool water heated and the overall natural gas costs low — thanks to the thermal sink of the pool.

• The city’s shop and warehouse complex is composed of four relatively small buildings. The warehouse has a new natural gas system in the floor. The other buildings have point-source heating with controlled thermostats.

• Baker City Hall replaced two coal-fired boilers with natural gas boilers in 1989. Steam and electric heat pumps operate separately in sections of the 11,000-square-foot building. The steam system is becoming less reliable and some areas now rely on electric heat. The city’s plan is to continue the conversion to electric as the parts of the steam system continue to fail because of age.

• The Baker County Courthouse also uses a mix of boilers heated with natural gas or electricity, then extracts hot water through heat pumps around the spaces inside the building. Natural gas is the primary source and electric is back-up. The hydronic pumps are electric as well.

The findings

• The swim center “represents the best opportunity for biomass heating” and could benefit from a cleaned and seasoned wood chip-fed system —but only if the chips were inexpensive and natural gas prices rise substantially. The existing geothermal source heating the water also could help with a portion of the air heating.

Cost of the biomass conversion would be $270,000 for the boiler alone — though it would handle up to 89 percent of the heat requirements. Heavy grant funding and a good loan rate could make the project viable over the long term.

• The city’s storage, shop and offices could be heated with wood pellet stoves for about $7,300. The pellets burn for roughly the same amount of money as natural gas. The stoves come with higher maintenance costs, however.

It’s a concept that could prove more financially feasible in the future if natural gas costs start rising quickly. It also has been declared potentially viable if fuel prices make biomass more fiscally attractive. 

• Baker City Hall was considered the least likely location to convert because the heat distribution system is being slowly “mothballed” and replaced with electric heat pumps.

The mixed system and current prices of natural gas and electricity, as well as the building management plan, make City Hall “a poor fit for biomass heating,” according to the report.

• Baker County Courthouse could convert by installing a wood pellet boiler system next to the boiler room that would pipe hot water into the rest of the building’s heating system. The conversion would cost about $125,000 for installation and would provide more than 90 percent of the needed heat for the roughly 33,000 square feet of interior space. The remainder of the heat could come from the gas boiler.

Maintenance and operation of the new system would be less expensive than for the system there now, but high-quality biomass fuel could be more costly than natural gas at current prices. Overall it’s not considered a feasible endeavor at this time.

Commission Chairman Fred Warner Jr. and Commissioner Carl Stiff recently toured a biomass plant in Wallowa County. Warner described the experience as “really fascinating” but added that as an energy source, particularly these days, “you can’t have it everywhere.”

Warner also pointed to the potential for more production of fuel from junipers. These trees have proliferated and in Eastern Oregon alone grow across more than 420,000 acres, he said.

Experts consider them bothersome because they cause soil erosion, reduce the amount of moisture in the soil and can degrade wildlife habitat. Junipers also are hard to eradicate and are prone to fire, according to the Oregon Department of Forestry.

Most people agree they “should come out,” he said.

They aren’t the best source of biomass because they are stringy, however. More processing is required to make them usable which only adds to the eventual cost for their use as fuel, said Wynne Auld, project manager for Renewable Energy Solutions Inc.

“It’s a very difficult species to use,” she said.

Not all forms of the material can be used universally. Some types of wood work better than others. Processing of the wood also is an important aspect of biomass energy use.

Powering up with a source from nearby forests is a goal stated in the study because it’s a renewable source of energy, could create local jobs and prove beneficial to the health of area forests.

Several Baker County businesses that offer different forms of woody biomass also were listed in the report. A close and secure supply of fuel to burn ensures the cost to use biomass stays as low as possible.

If all five government buildings studied were heated with biomass, they would use the equivalent of less than one percent of the woody biomass in Baker County available annually, the report also stated.

Funding for the study comes from the Infrastructure Finance Authority, Oregon Business Development Department and Wallowa Resources.

Results of another swim center energy evaluation will be the topic of a future Baker City Council meeting.

This study comes from the Oregon Energy Trust, said Michelle Owen, the city’s public works director.