The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa unveiled a new biomass heating facility at the Brookston Community Center. The opening featured Fond du Lac Band Leadership, project partners, and a traditional blessing.
The facility will use wood chips from a local forestry business that feed a large boiler that sends heat to the community center and nearby homes. It is expected to have a propane offset of 16,442 gallons annually as well as save an estimated $31,075 per year. The chairman for the Fond du Lac Band, Bruce Savage, spoke on the importance of this facility in the sustainability of the Band.
“This facility just gives an example of how the tribe here at Fond du Lac Reservation has been supporting the Minnesota timber industry for a number of years,” Bruce said. “We’ve been in support of proper management of forests, and part of proper management of forests is to utilize the wood product for fire.”
This facility will provide hands-on job opportunities for tribal members in construction, electrical, plumbing, and HVAC roles. As the Energy Projects Manager explained that the 3 million BTU boiler has the possibility in the future to produce electricity or to expand and heat over 50 homes. The control of the boiler allows for the heat to be adjusted while the leftover ash is used as nutrients in the community center’s garden.
Since the heating facility runs on Biomass, the Energy Projects Manager said that the project could reach a zero carbon footprint by 2030. Currently. the heating facility has a carbon reduction of 116 tons of CO₂ emissions annually.
