The University and the Maine School Administrative District #27 received a $2.7 million U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) grant in the fall of 2011 to design and construct a biomass heating system, which is expected to heat 11 buildings on the UMFK and Fort Kent Community High School campuses, and to save the two institutions more than $4 million in combined energy costs during the next 10 years.

The USDA grant is the second biomass project awarded to UMFK.  In May 2012, the University dedicated a wood-to-energy heating system that will provide heat for 1.75 acres of floor space and is expected to save the campus nearly $1 million in the next decade.

With this project, UMFK will complete the conversion of its entire campus from foreign oil to local biomass alternative fuel sources for heat and hot water needs.  The project also will spur northern Maine’s growing wood pellet and biomass fuel by consuming more than 1,300 tons of wood biomass annually. It will serve as a working environmental education example of local renewable fuel replacing imported non-renewal oil, and will dramatically reduce the two campus’ annual energy costs.