September 2008- Hull Forest Products To Supply Wood Chips for Rhode Island Public School Energy Initiative
The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded a $984,000 grant to Ponaganset High School in Rhode Island to develop an alternative energy laboratory and install a wood-chip fired heating system. The D.O.E. grant also includes funds for the installation of a solar panel and wind tower at the school and a hydrogen fuel-cell technology for student projects. Central to the project are biomass boilers that will heat both the Ponaganset high school and middle school for one-fourth the cost of conventional oil. Hull Forest Products, Inc. of Pomfret, Connecticut, was chosen to supply wood chips for the boilers and is proud to be part of a project that provides students first-hand experience with alternative energy.
Ponaganset High will play a “pioneering” role in energy eduation, says Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “Generations of students here can learn about alternative energy and prepare themselves for a world where alternative energy will be central to our success as an economy. It’s a very exciting moment when you can see practical progress –– lowering the cost of energy for a school system — and also see the education of young people who can take this knowledge forward to the next generation.”
