Bringing you a prosperous future where energy

is clean, abundant, reliable, and affordable

Biomass and Alternative Methane Fuels (BAMF)

Super ESPC Program

Fact Sheet

Biomass and Alternative Methane Fuels (BAMF)

Super ESPC Program

Fact Sheet

Federal Energy Management Program

Leading by example,

saving energy and

taxpayer dollars in

federal facilities

Thousands of large and small U.S. power

plants use biomass fuels to produce more

than 7700 MW of electricity.

Wood waste is one of the most abundant,

cost-competitive, and environmentally

friendly biomass resources. Currently the

most cost-effective wood sources are

residues from manufacturing and wood

waste otherwise destined for landfills.

Manufacturers generate an enormous

amount of waste residue in the process

of making products such as lumber,

furniture, pallets, and paper. In general,

less than 50 percent of the tree ends up

in a final product, and the balance

represents a vast underutilized resource.

most popular fuel for heating. With rising

fossil fuel prices and growing environmental

concerns, biomass energy systems are

reclaiming their positions in schools,

factories, military bases, and community

energy plants. Biomass recently surpassed

hydropower as the nation’s leading source of

renewable energy and now accounts for more

than half of all renewable energy used in the

United States. Energy plants that use wood

waste to produce heat and electricity make by

far the greatest contribution to the total.

Industry Snapshot

Biomass—renewable organic material such as

wood and agricultural residues—comprises

the oldest and most prevalent energy

resource. Even today, biomass is the world’s

Benefits of Using Wood-Waste

Fuels for Federal Facilities

• Stabilizes energy costs and protects

facility from volatility of gas and

electricity prices.

• Enhances energy security—reduces

vulnerability to power grid

interruptions.

• Environmental benefits—lower NOX

and SOX emissions and no net increase

in CO2 emissions.

• Diverts material from landfills and

avoids disposal costs.

• Progress toward federal goals for use of

renewable energy.

Biomass Energy — Focus on Wood Waste

Abundant sources of wood waste in many areas can supply federal facilities with clean,

renewable, low-cost fuels and enhance their energy security.

Biomass Energy — Focus on Wood Waste

Abundant sources of wood waste in many areas can supply federal facilities with clean,

renewable, low-cost fuels and enhance their energy security.

By-products from logging operations, wood residues

from manufacturing, and clean, burnable solid wastes

that would otherwise go to landfills are all sources of

low-cost wood-waste fuels. In contrast to fossil fuels,

the combustion of wood fuels adds no new CO2 to the

atmosphere.
Federal Energy Management Program

Fact Sheet

Federal Energy Management Program

Fact Sheet

electricity in units ranging in size from 5 kilowatts to 75

megawatts.

Another viable application for wood waste as a fuel is in the

co-firing of conventional coal-fired boilers, which means

using biomass as a supplementary energy source in highefficiency boilers. Retrofitting most existing systems for cofiring requires relatively minor modifications and can

significantly decrease emissions of sulfur dioxide and

nitrogen oxide. Also, new developments such as

gasification technologies offer dramatic improvements in

process efficiency and could have a significant impact on

the industry.

Potential for Wood-Waste Projects in Federal

Facilities

The National Energy Technology Laboratory completed a

resource assessment for FEMP to determine the potential for

wood-waste projects at federal facilities. The assessment

analyzed data reported by the wood products industry and

indicates abundant opportunities for using this resource:

• There are more than 12,000 sources of wood residues in

the United States.

• There is at least one substantial source of wood waste

from manufacturing within 50 miles of virtually every

federal facility.

• For 75 percent of the larger federal facilities, there are 10

or more sources within 50 miles.

• There are more than 4700 high-volume wood-waste

sources within 50 miles of federal facilities.

fluidized-bed combustion technology. Energy is generated

this way in thousands of settings around the world using

conventional, off-the-shelf equipment. The systems can be

designed to produce heat, electricity, or both in combined

heat and power systems. Wood-biomass systems produce

Wood fuels can be cheaper than coal (dollars per Btu), and

always emit less air pollution. Because the cost of disposal is

avoided in some cases, wood waste may have a negative

price. Energy projects using the abundant wood waste

found on many federal lands can not only displace the use

of fossil fuels but also reduce the risk of forest fires.

Applications

Given the age of the industry, it is not surprising that the

technologies for converting wood to energy are well

established. Whether for space heat, process heat, or

electricity production, no other type of fuel has been used

successfully in more types of system designs. In most

industrial wood-to-energy applications, steam is produced

in a boiler using standard stoker technology or newer

The BAMF Super ESPC

Federal agencies can use energy savings performance

contracts (ESPCs) to finance their energy projects,

allowing government facilities to reduce their energy

use and costs without depending on Congressional

appropriations to fund the improvements.

Federal facilities worldwide can use the TechnologySpecific Biomass and Alternative Methane Fuels (BAMF)

Super ESPC, which offers financing and private-sector

expertise specifically geared to using renewable BAMF

resources.

The BAMF Program can provide any federal facility with a free report

on the sources of wood waste near the facility.

To encourage agencies to displace the use of

fossil fuels with renewables, and to reduce the

risk of forest fires, the Secretaries of Agriculture, Energy,

and the Interior on June 19, 2003, executed a joint

MOU that promoted the use of woody biomass from

federal property as a source of fuel for renewable

energy projects.
The CMU system is designed to burn 43,700 tons of wholetree chips per year. The chips are harvested from low-grade

wood supplies within a 50-mile radius of the campus. CMU

estimates that the school is saving more than $1 million

per year through reduced fuel costs while injecting

approximately $1 million per year into the local and state

economy from wood harvesting and processing operations.

Vermont Public Schools Use State-of-the-Art

Wood-Fired Systems

Vermont is a national leader in wood-to-energy

applications and has been particularly successful in heating

its schools with wood. Over the past 15 years, wood-fired

heating systems have been used in as many as 25 Vermont

schools ranging in size from 23,000 to 270,000 square feet.

These facilities use about 8000 tons of wood chips per year

percent increase in energy demand. The original system

continues to service the expanded facility with reliable,

low-cost energy.

Central Michigan University Retrofit to Wood-Fired

Energy Has Four-Year Payback

The wood-fired energy system at the Mount Pleasant

Campus of Central Michigan University (CMU) was built in

1984 as a retrofit to an existing natural-gas-fired system at a

total cost of $3.6 million with a payback period of less than

4 years. The conversion included the addition of a solidfuels gasifying burner and a boiler rated for 50,000 lb per

hour of steam. A 1-MW steam turbine generator provides

electrical power and serves as a pressure-reducing valve for

steam that is used downstream for heat, air conditioning,

and hot water.

Examples of Successful Wood-Waste-to-Energy

Applications

Wood-Fired Cogeneration Provides Reliable Off-Grid

Power for Maryland Correctional Facility

A Maryland Department of Corrections facility has cut its

fuel costs by 63 percent by producing its own power using a

wood-chip-fired cogeneration plant. For this facility, on the

eastern shore near the town of Westover, the decision to

depend on a wood-fired power plant was driven

predominantly by issues of energy security. The rural area

surrounding the prison is isolated from the normal energy

supply infrastructure. There are no natural gas pipelines or

direct road or rail links. Since power interruptions cannot

be tolerated at a prison, having a dedicated power system at

this site was deemed a necessity.

The power plant consists of two boilers that provide steam

to two condensing steam turbines rated at 1.9 MW each.

The boilers are fueled by 50,000 tons of green wood chips

per year that are acquired under a 5-year contract.

The system was originally designed to supply all of the

electrical power, heat, and hot water needed for a 1500-bed

facility, and to have enough surplus capacity to return as

much as 1 MW of electricity to the power grid. However,

the facility was expanded to 3100 beds, resulting in a 60

A storage silo and part of the feed system for the wood-chip-fired

cogeneration plant that powers a Maryland correctional facility. The

plant provides security from power interruptions and cuts fuel cost by

63 percent.

The nation’s leading source of renewable energy is now

biomass—predominantly wood waste, such as the wood-chip fuel

being unloaded in the photo above.
For More Information

To find out more about biomass and woodwaste fuels or about using the BAMF Super

ESPC to implement a wood-waste-to-energy

project at your facility, please contact one of

the following BAMF Super ESPC Program team

members:

Christopher Abbuehl

National Program Representative

215-656-6995

christopher.abbuehl@ee.doe.gov

Craig Hustwit

Technical Lead

412-386-4532

craig.hustwit@netl.doe.gov

Danette Delmastro

FEMP

BAMF Team Leader

202-586-7632

danette.delmastro@ee.doe.gov

and reduce fuel bills by more than 50 percent

compared to the cost of fuel oil. The systems

are modern, computer-controlled facilities

with automated fuel feeders and highefficiency boilers that have very low emissions.

One Vermont school that has discovered the

advantages of wood heat is the Hazen Union

High School. Their heating system was

installed in 1993 at a total cost of $600,000,

which included a completely new piping and

radiator system. With a total heated floor space

of 80,000 square feet, the school saves more

than $40,000 in fuel costs annually. The local

purchase of fuel also supports the regional

economy.

Rules of Thumb

• It takes roughly one ton per hour of wood

waste to produce one megawatt of

electricity.

• Typically, the most important factor in the

cost of wood waste is transportation.

Transporting wood-waste fuels more than 50

miles may not be economical.

• The heating value of wood waste (Btu/lb)

can be approximated as (1 – m) x 8500,

where m is the fractional moisture content

of the wood.

• Existing coal-fired power plants can often be

co-fired with 10 percent wood residues with

only minor plant modifications.

A Strong Energy Portfolio for a

Strong America

Energy efficiency and clean, renewable

energy will mean a stronger economy,

cleaner environment, and greater energy

independence for America. Working with

a wide array of state, community,

industry, and university partners, the

U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of

Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

invests in a diverse portfolio of energy

technologies.

Bringing you a prosperous future where energy

is clean, abundant, reliable, and affordable

Visit FEMP's Web site: www.eere.energy.gov/femp

For more information contact:

EERE Information Center

1-877-EERE-INF (1-877-337-3463)

www.eere.energy.gov/femp

Produced for the U.S. Department

of Energy by the Oak Ridge National

Laboratory, a DOE national

laboratory

ORNL 2004-02581/abh

July 2004