Schuylkill County Comtemplates Switching to Gas <Gasp>

gregsmit · Post by **gregsmit** » Tue. Jun. 10, 2008 9:51 pm

EnergyManager is on to something...from now on I no longer have a coal boiler - it's a Clean Burning Anthracite Coal Boiler.

-Greg

Post by **Richard S.** » Wed. Jun. 11, 2008 11:48 am

Yet some more information:
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The Reading proposal states that the company is willing to sign a 15-year contract with the county and also promises to cap coal costs at 10 percent less than the “natural gas equivalent.”

Rich also said he was denied the opportunity to “inspect” the coal boilers in the courthouse and prison, which county officials have said are in bad shape and getting worse.

“They denied us that opportunity,” Rich said Tuesday. “That’s disappointing. The only reason that machine (boiler) isn’t performing is because proper maintenance wasn’t done.”

Post by **Richard S.** » Thu. Jun. 12, 2008 5:39 pm

Schuylkill County officials say they didn’t understand coal boiler inspection request from Reading Anthracite

County officials, however, said they didn’t understand what he was asking.

In part, Rich’s letter reads “We suggest ... to have those boilers thoroughly inspected to determine what steps may be necessary to repair them, and at what cost.”

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Apparently on top of the lack of simple math skills they also have issues with reading.

Post by **Richard S.** » Fri. Jun. 27, 2008 5:02 am

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Council to county: Keeping coal may save $5M

BY BEN WOLFGANG
STAFF WRITER
Published: Tuesday, June 24, 2008 8:11 AM EDT

The Pennsylvania Anthracite Council and a Pittsburgh boiler manufacturing company are the latest to jump into the debate over a proposed heating switch from coal to natural gas in county-owned buildings.

“They’re (the county commissioners) looking to gas. It doesn’t make any sense,” Duane Feagley, executive director of the Pottsville-based council, said in a phone interview Monday. “The county commissioners have hurt this industry. I think they’re sending the wrong message to the world.”

In a June 19 letter sent to the county commissioners, Feagley cites figures provided by Combustion Service and Equipment Co. that argue sticking with anthracite coal would save Schuylkill County $5.5 million over 25 years.

And on another note:
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Somerset County finds coal cheaper

BY BEN WOLFGANG
STAFF WRITER

Published: Thursday, June 26, 2008 9:37 AM EDT
While a move from coal to natural gas heat is on the table in Schuylkill County, officials in Somerset County took the opposite approach two years ago.

“We were on natural gas and switched to coal,” Somerset County Commissioner James Marker said in a phone interview Wednesday, adding the 2006 switch saved about $27,000 in the first year. “It was a substantial savings.”

The “tri-fuels boilers,” installed in 2003, are capable of heating with coal, natural gas or oil, Marker said.

Post by **Richard S.** » Sat. Aug. 16, 2008 5:14 am

Looks like the snow job is continuing and even the commissioner admits that most of the savings is from the new lighting as I previously suggested:

Even if heating work does not begin by winter, Gallagher said light installation — which she said is “most of the savings” — could begin very shortly after the decision is made.

Ok so most of the savings is for the lights, frankly I think all of the savings is for the lights and is probably supplementing the expenditures for the gas boilers. So are they still considering coal?...... Nope.

Earlier plans, submitted by Reading Anthracite and later by the Pennsylvania Anthracite Council, appear to be off the table.

“All they offered us was coal,” Gallagher added

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Post by **Richard S.** » Thu. Aug. 28, 2008 11:29 am

Looks like some common sense has prevailed but I still question the need for gas at all and their implementation of how they are going to use coal:

Dual fuel system sounds promising

Published: Monday, August 25, 2008 4:21 AM EDT
Coal and gas are getting married at the courthouse.

On Wednesday, the Schuylkill County commissioners announced that Honeywell International withdrew its proposal to upgrade the heating system at the courthouse and prison.

The company had proposed converting the prison heating system to gas, while keeping the courthouse on coal. An earlier proposal to change both buildings to gas prompted a protest from the local coal industry.

With Honeywell out of the picture, a proposal from PPL is the only one left standing.

This plan calls for a dual fuel system in which both gas and coal can be burned to heat the buildings. It will cost the county $2,682,582 and PPL believes the system will save the county about $3.6 million over 15 years — $300,000 more than what Honeywell had promised.

**Broken Link(s) Removed**Further on down the article there's two things points that I really question:

Barring neither extreme case, the county can save money by burning gas during warm weather without spending man-hours removing the ashes.

In buildings of this size that are going to produce large quantities of ash why do they not have an automated ash removal system? I wonder how much of the cost was factored in to account for ash removal when it can be done automatically. Having said that I'm sure its cost effective to shut coal boilers down in the courthouse hoewver in the prison where you are going to have an enormous need for hot water I don't see how that can be the case.

Post by **Rob R.** » Thu. Aug. 28, 2008 1:16 pm

I can think of another cost-effective ash removal system.

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Post by **Richard S.** » Thu. Aug. 28, 2008 1:19 pm

Good point, they do have all the labor at the prison they need.

EnergyManager · Post by **EnergyManager** » Wed. Sep. 24, 2008 12:30 pm

ANY UPDATES...

bksaun · Post by **bksaun** » Thu. Nov. 27, 2008 10:18 am

We Win, sort of!

http://www.readinganthracite.com/whatsnew_schuylk ... htmls.html

Bk

tvb · Post by **tvb** » Thu. Nov. 27, 2008 10:43 am

There's another issue here that I don't anyone has mentioned -

If the county and local govts start abandoning anthracite, it removes the big customers that we, as retail consumers, feed off of. Our consumption as coal burning consumers heating our homes are probably not enough of a market for the mines to continue doing their work. If the large govt customers go away, I would expect the retail price of coal to skyrocket.

Post by **Richard S.** » Sun. Nov. 30, 2008 6:06 am

Unlikely TVB, they only use a couple hundred tons a year and I'm not aware of many other government buildings heating with coal. Even if it was thousands of tons It's only a drop in the bucket.