High above the newly-turfed football stadium stands a towering chimney stack alongside The College of Woosterís Westinghouse coal-fired power plant, built by the Westinghouse Mfg. Co., Pittsburgh, Pa. in 1939.
For the last 70 years the plant has provided steam for heating and cooling the campus. Since 1992, the plant has provided 10 percent of electricity as well, approximately 1,280 MW/yr (energy.rochester.edu).
While the plant fulfills campus needs sufficiently, students have started to ask about the efficiency of a plant that burns coal and whether it is environmentally sustainable.
When burned, coal emits a significant amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. According to Peter Schantz, the physical plant director, the Collegeís power plant burns 9,000 tons of coal per year. This is enough to provide the campus with ì40 thousand lbs of steam/hr,” said Schantz.
Laurie Stickelmaier, vice president for finance and business, explained that there are also two natural gas boilers that have a combined capacity to meet the campusí steam demand.
The College has considered the switch to natural gas only, but has decided against it because of the cost.† Stickelmaier stated, ìThe cost of gas is currently more than twice as expensive as coal.”† The College spends $700,000 a year on coal. The switch to natural gas, according to Stickelmaier, would result in an annual increase of $823,500.
Schantz explained that shutting down the Wooster coal plant is not a logical solution for the time being because the College would most likely switch to another source that burns coal. Without Woosterís coal plant, we would probably become heavily dependent on American Electric Powerís (AEP) plants, which typically burn 250,000 tons of coal a year. Ninety percent of the Collegeís electricity is provided by AEP.
According to Schantz, AEP burns coal more dirtily than the College; the College does more to ensure that the plant complies with EPA regulations.
As part of the 2004 Maximum Available Control Technology Law (MACT), the EPA ordered the College to construct filtration systems that, according to Schantz, ìremoved particulate matter from the flue gas. Prior to this installation, we were emitting about 30 tons of fly ash per year.”
Fly ash is finely ground coal with trace amounts of heavy metals such as arsenic, lead and mercury that may pose as health risks and environmental concerns (The National Academy of Sciences 2007).
The College invested $4 million in the project in order to complete it by Sept. 13, 2007, only to find in June of that year that the United States Court of Appeals vacated the law. The College, however, chose to finish construction. Consequently, the amount of fly ash was, according to Schantz, ìreduced to half a ton per year.”