The Town of Banff is conducting a feasibility study to see if they can run a biomass heating system for municipal buildings in the industrial compound.
A request for proposals (RFP) to look at a wood-fueled heating system was issued last week and the deadline is June 15 for companies to respond.
Town officials say they believe there’s an opportunity to use its wood waste as a fuel resource in a biomass heating system to be located on municipal property at 120 Hawk Ave.
“It’s a popular concept in environmental circles, but we need someone to look at the economic and environmental considerations,” said Chad Townsend, the Town’s environmental coordinator.
The Town currently gets a significant amount of kiln-dried wood and pallets, and owns a wood chipper and magnet for nail removal. Presently, the material is transported to a local landfill. This fuel source is expected to be a portion of the biomass required to fuel the project.
Townsend said the Town is interested in heating up to five Town-owned buildings, including the transit fleet building, carpentry shop, waste transfer station, operations office and seasonal greenhouses.
He said part of the feasibility study would also look at the potential of heating the nearby Parks Canada warden office and Brewster’s transportation facility.
“Most of those buildings are large natural gas consumers, yet we have quite a bit of wood waste we could potentially use,” he said.
