City warms to cleaner heating fuel
In a bid to make Bmore greener, the city is expanding its tryout of locally produced, cleaner-burning biofuels to heat municipal buildings.
The Board of Estimates has approved an agreement to spend up to $1.3 million over the next year to test 440,000 gallons of vegetable-based fuel in the boilers of three city facilities - the Back River wastewater treatment plant, Eastern health center and the Pimlico fire and training complex. The fuel is to be supplied by New Generation Biofuels, which has a production plant in South Baltimore.
"Today, Baltimore took a great step twoards becoming a more energy efficient and sustainable city," Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said in a press release announcing the deal.
The city's been testing biofuel from New Generation for the past year, and found it burned much more cleanly than heating oil. Ted Atwood, director of the city Department of General Services, said the alternative fuel produced far less air pollutiion - no sulfur or particulate emissions, and greatly reduced nitrogen oxide emissions - an important consideration in a metropolitan area that still suffers bouts of unhealthful smog every spring and summer.
The biofuel, made from vegetable and soybean oil, is no more expensive than heating oil, according to Michael P. Cook, energy chief for the city's general services department. The biofuel provides just 70 percent of the heat value when burned as does fuel oil, but it's also priced 30 percent less.
Should this next year of testing prove out, the city would put out to bid a contract to switch more city buildings to biofuels, Atwood said.
City school officials also are separately testing biofuel at a pair of their schools - Franklin Square Elementary and Woodholme Elementary.
Schools, it seems to me, are an especially appropriate places to test this fuel, since when I first checked it out last year (see photo at left) it looked like Elmer's glue.
And it had a sweet, alcohol odor besides. If any of that aroma survives burning it in a boiler, staying warm probably never smelled sweeter!
(New Generation Biofuels production plant in South Baltimore; a sample of the fuel. 2009 Baltimore Sun photos by Jed Kirschbaum.)
