As Dartmouth Tries To Move Away From Fossil Fuels, What Role Will Biomass Play?

Wood chips from Matt Patch’s property in Lebanon. These chips would have fueled Dartmouth’s proposed biomass plant to heat campus. (Annie Ropeik/NHPR)

Dartmouth College had a plan to build a wood chip burning plant to heat its campus. This would have added a new biomass market for landowners and foresters within a 50 mile radius of Hanover.

But, after months of local pressure the College said it would reconsider building the plant. Dartmouth’s decision speaks to the complexity of using wood biomass to transition away from burning fossil fuels.

Matt Patch is a seventh generation farmer. His family came up the Connecticut River in 1775 and settled in Lebanon.

As we walked up a steep, wooded hill, he explains he’s converting this recently purchased 1,000 acre lot of land into a profitable maple sugar bush.

“I’ve sugared all my life. I’ve got three boys that’ll come back and work with me,” Patch said. “So, this is one more avenue to make a profit on or make a living on.”

Read the rest of the story at NHPR’s website.