MAINE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS • June 30, 2021
Starting this winter, carbon-neutral Bates will use even less fossil fuel thanks to fried-food enthusiasts around the Northeast. With two of the three boilers that steam-heat the central campus already burning a product called Renewable Fuel Oil, Bates College is converting the third unit for a different climate-friendly fuel: vegetable oil recovered from the food-service industry. Lifecycle Renewables of Tewksbury, Mass., will supply the fuel, known as LR-100. Bates’ use of LR-100 will be limited. Boiler No. 3 is a back-up boiler, operated when one of the others is out of service. Renewable Fuel Oil, made from waste wood products by the Canadian firm Ensyn, will remain the primary fuel for the campus steam plant’s two workhorse boilers.