MIDDLEBURY, Vt. — Middlebury College in Vermont once heated its buildings with oil, then switched to wood chips. Now, it’s planting a sustainable and relatively cheap fuel source — willow shrubs — that could help cut demand on the state’s forests.
With a 9-acre patch of the fast-growing willows, the college is conducting a biomass-energy experiment that seeks to answer the question: What if wood-chip-burning heat systems lead to the deforestation of Vermont? Willows, which grow faster than other trees and branch out when pruned, may be the answer — and may be a resource for other cold-weather states.
The exclusive liberal-arts school in Middlebury, Vt., opened a new boiler system last winter to heat about 100 campus buildings, running turbines that meet about a fifth of the college’s electrical demand.
![[prison 19] Caption: This is Cellhouse 1, Pod A, from ground level inside the Sterling Correctional Facility which is located outside of Sterling, Colorado Thursday afternoon. Photographer: LEW SHERMAN Title: FREELANCE Credit: SPECIAL TO THE POST City: Sterling State: CO Country: USA Date: 19990617 ObjectName: prison 19 Keyword: PUBDATE____1999_06_22](/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20151207__denverpostp1.jpg?w=538 "20151207__denverpost~p1.jpg")
