Gov. Jim Doyle announced Friday the Charter Street Heating Plant will switch from burning coal to biomass, a significant step toward reducing emissions in Dane County and the state.
UW-Madison operates the Charter Street plant, which was found in 2007 to have violated the Clean Air Act limits on emissions.
A new boiler will burn up to 100 percent biomass, including wood chips and switchgrass pellets, and will be backed up by natural gas. The boiler is expected to be ready in 2012 and will provide heating and cooling for the UW-Madison campus, according to a statement from Doyle.
Alan Fish, associate vice chancellor for facilities at UW-Madison, said the announcement was a huge moment for the campus"" and the state's investment of more than $200,000 will move the campus away from the 19th-century technology of coal-burning boilers.
""Instead of burning 110,000 tons of coal every year, we'll be burning up to 250,000 tons of biofuels that are grown right here in Wisconsin,"" Fish said.
According to Fish, the university is also looking at ways to convert the Charter Street plant into a research center for biofuels.
Jennifer Feyerherm, director of the Sierra Club's Clean Energy Campaign in Wisconsin, said the plant uses 60 percent of the coal burned in Wisconsin and this will vastly decrease emissions and help move the state forward with other plants.
""Biomass is a renewable fuel that is much cleaner than coal. It doesn't have mercury in it [and] will produce a lot less particulate pollution, which is the air pollution problem we deal with the most in Dane County,"" Feyerherm said.
Instituting biomass fuel production will decrease the amount of coal burned locally by 108,800 tons per year, according to her statement.
The biomass fuel will be produced in Dane County, which will prevent Wisconsin from sending money out-of-state and allow the state to instead rely on local fuel production, Feyerherm said.
The plan will be included in the capital budget and may receive additional funding from the stimulus package, according to the statement.
