The greenhouse at the University of Illinois Energy Farm will soon be receiving environmentally friendly heat during winter months. A new "biomass boiler" from Germany will be replacing the greenhouse's currently used propane gas.
The new boiler will release fewer carbon-dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, and will use perennial grasses grown on the UI Energy Farm to produce heat.
The project is a test system that could possibly power other parts of campus or East Central Illinois Farms in the future. It forms part of the UI's Climate Action Plan to reach "carbon neutrality" no later than 2050.
The UI's Climate Action Plan has driven various projects to move the campus toward renewable energy, including the solar farm near First Street and Windsor Road in Champaign.
