Now, is it going to be the substitute Middlebury College has been looking for? Allowably, the deniers may not affirm to the option of replacing wood chips with willow shrubs for its biomass system, still Middlebury sees it as a viable way to stop the deforestation of Vermont.
As a part of a biomass energy experiment, the college is rejuvenating a nine-acre patch of the Vermont’s forest with the willow crop in a field west of Middlebury’s campus. Since willows grow faster than other trees, it may ensure a constant biomass fuel supply. The experiment is being lent a hand by scientists from the State University of New York’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse.
We use our buildings to teach as much as we can. We wanted students to be aware that when they turn up a thermostat, there’s a connection to a tree getting cut down.
Says Jack Byrne, director of sustainability for the college. Therefore, eco-sensitivity is the core issue the team at Middlebury hopes to deal with. It wishes to make sure that its usage of biomass should not interfere with the natural order of the cultivated area. Anyhow, we need to wait for a year at least to see the first crop harvested in the winter of 2010-2011.
Via: KTUU