Last Friday, Gov. Jim Doyle announced the Charter Street Heating Plant will convert from burning coal to biomass by 2012. The plant is run by UW-Madison and is responsible for the heating and cooling of the UW campus.
The decision comes after decades of scrutiny from environmental groups including the Sierra Club, WISPIRG and Action for Environmental Justice. In 2007, the plant was found to be in violation of the Clean Air Act, designed to limit U.S. emissions. The Charter Coal Plant, located in the south-central section of campus, has been a black eye for UW-Madison, a university trying to do its best to be a green"" campus.
Needless to say, converting the Charter Street Heating Plant from coal to biofuels is a great step for not only Madison, but Dane County and UW-Madison as well. Biofuel emissions are much cleaner than coal emissions, and converting the plant will reduce the amount of coal burned locally by 108,800 tons per year.
The plant will also run primarily on switchgrass, a biofuel being touted as the next ""miracle crop"" for its possibilities as an ethanol source. A new study shows switchgrass ethanol is five times more efficient to produce than corn ethanol, and Wisconsin also has plenty of prairie land in Dane County available for switchgrass harvest. With the switch, local farmers, landowners and state fuel processors will have a new market available for the energy-efficient crop.
In addition to supporting the Wisconsin economy with the advent of switchgrass fueling, UW-Madison researchers may also be able to perform research on biofuels, opening up further avenues for grants and revenue for the university.
Although the switch comes later than desired, we are pleased Doyle took steps to ensure Wisconsin maintains its reputation as a green-minded state, and Dane County and UW-Madison can benefit from the economic and research-based opportunities in switchgrass as a biofuel.
