Wood pellet use is on the rise in Vt. schools

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Wood options are heating up in Vermont’s schools, with more school leaders choosing to use it in their buildings.

In 2017, 60 schools used wood heat, and that number has gone up. Now, 75 school systems in Vermont use wood heat to stay warm.

People’s Academy in Morrisville used wood heat from the early 1980s until 2014, when they paused to upgrade their system. During the hiatus, they used oil but switched back to wood in 2016.

“I think it was about 30,000 gallons a year for the two years that we were not burning,” said Brian Rafferty, District Director of Facilities of the Lamoille South Unified Union School District.

Rafferty says now they barely tap into their oil supply, instead burning around 225 tons of pellets a year.

“The budget with the pellets is pretty much the same every year, only a few dollars difference so that the stability is nice,” said Rafferty.

The middle and high schools in the district use wood pellets, but neither elementary schools do. They have considered a district wide system, but there are some hurdles.

“The problem with that is the infrastructure and the cost of that infrastructure. The systems we have at the elementary school make it hard to add in a completely new system,” Rafferty said.

At People’s Academy, Rafferty says the district spent around half a million dollars for their switch, which included getting rid of old boilers, cleaning, and a new silo.

Paul Frederick with Vermont’s DEC says a hurdle for many schools to convert to wood is the cost, slowing down the conversion process statewide. But he says there is an increase in state and federal programs and grants to help schools offset the cost.

“They’ve been able to look at what he has an alternative to using fossil fuels and a potential answer to some of our questions regarding, you know, climate change,” said Frederick.

Frederick says wood heat isn’t necessarily carbon neutral but better than burning fossil fuels. He also says it positively impacts the forest economy.

“We’ve seen over time is that about 78%, or 78 cents on the dollar of every dollar spent on fossil fuel, goes out of state. Whereas with wood fuel, closer to 80% of that dollar stays in the state and gets recirculated in the economy,” said Frederick.

Since 2017, 15 schools statewide have made the switch. Now, a third of Vermont students go to a school with wood heat. Fredricks says 10% of wood fuel burned statewide is happening at schools and institutions.

He also says his department is working with a handful of smaller schools to make the transitions or upgrades, like Craftsbury Elementary School, Hardwick Elementary School, Newbury Elementary School, and Mount Anthony Union High School.

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