Vermont high school students Jessie-Ruth Corkin, Ethan Leveillee, Ashely Sandy and Logan Bessette are thinking about big numbers. Here are a few.
18.1 trillion = The energy in BTUs used each year by Vermont (based on the EPA's 2003's statistics)
130 million = the energy equivalent of those 18.1 trillion BTUs in gallons of oil
85% = the percent of the money Vermonters pay for that yearly total fossil fuel consumption that leaves the state
243 million = the cash in dollars each year that could be pumped back into the Vermont local economy if oil, LP gas, and kerosene could simply be replaced with local biofuel
On Weds, February 20, the Pelleteers, other high school students, and concerned Vermonters are taking to the streets. See more about it at the Vermont Sustainable Heating Initiative site.
The students are taking these numbers to heart. They call themselves the Pelleteers and have on their own time and of their own initiative developed a plan to promote the production of fuel pellets from switchgrass, a warm-season, quick growing perennial grass. According to non-profit Resource Efficient Agricultural Production Canada (REAP), pelletized grass biofuel is poised to become a major fuel source because each unit of grass pellet energy directly substitutes for one unit of oil, but can be used on a large scale without significant air pollution and (with the exception of pellet production) is largely carbon neutral.
Switching to switchgrass, say the Pelleteers, would be good for Vermont as well as good for the planet. Vermont is in need of a new agricultural crop and has the 100,000 acres of under-utilized farm land. Their plan is complete with recommendations about the funding needed to construct an experimental pelletizer facility, support local farmers making the transition to switchgrass and other fuel crops, and establish a biofuels co-operative.
Jessie says that the primary problem with their project is a case of the chicken and the egg -- or in this case, the pellet and the stove -- which comes first? Farmers cannot afford to grow the fuel if there is no infrastructure to pelletize it and Vermont residents won't purchase the fuel if they don't own a stove capable of burning grass pellets. So the state of Vermont plays a key role in the Pelleteers' plan, first, by paying farmers to grow grass on their marginal and fallow fields. There are 100,000 acres of under-utilized agriculture land in Vermont which in turn could cultivate enough switchgrass to heat every home in the state, says Jessie. The Pelleteers envision 14 pelletizers each harvesting 7,000 acres of switchgrass. These pelletizers would be strategically placed in closest relation to the producer and consumer. The next role of the state, then, is to establish state-created incentives for home pellet stove purchases. Since there have been huge advancements in the establishment of reliable, residential-level, clean-burning grass pellet stoves, say the Pelleteers, if the state would just provide the incentive for purchase, the very threadwork of this project would be lining up.
The Pelleteers took their plan to the VT House Committee on Agriculture last spring. Afterwards, Addison County Senator Harold Giard told the local newspaper, “I was so impressed with the work they've done. It fits in not only with what the legislature wants to do but with the energy policy (now under debate).” This year, they're still on task. On February 20th, Vermont students from across the state are gathering at Montpelier High School and holding a "March on Montpelier: Rally for Renewables!" They'll walk a quarter mile to the Statehouse and rally outside, calling attention to a hearing scheduled for that evening in the Statehouse on unaffordable home heating prices. Are you in the area? Maybe you'd like to join in! “This is our future,” says Jessie, “and we want it to be a sustainable one!”
Stay tuned to Cogito for more news about how the rally and hearing went, and any pellet progress.
Do you have ideas or news about energy in your town? Send an email to us at Cogito.