In 2004 the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation awarded Bridger Bowl Ski Area $20,000 in grant money for a proposed onsite wood boiler project. The $50,000 wood boiler was installed in the summer of 2015, with the twin goals of using a renewable resource and reducing energy bills.

Wood for the cordwood boiler system is sourced on property during the summer and fall, as the resort actively manages dead and dying timber to help maintain a healthier forest.

The boiler itself, a Froling FHG-Lambda Turbo 3000, is approximately 50” x 26” x 65” in size and located in the corner of the area’s woodworking shop. It produces about 170,000 BTU and connects to two insulated water storage tanks, which are plumbed to heat Bridger’s vehicle maintenance shop area within the same building, as well as the lift operations building 200 feet to the north.

Using downdraft gasification technology, the boiler runs at 90 percent efficiency—capturing all but 10 percent of the available energy. It replaces a 96 percent efficient propane boiler.

The combustion chamber is designed to take advantage of the need to burn firewood hot and fast. It also utilizes an electronic control system to continuously monitor and adjust the burn during the entire cycle. The water storage tanks allow the heat extracted from the burn to be stored until needed in either the shop or the operations building.

The resort’s 6,000 square foot vehicle maintenance shop has an existing 144,000 BTU high efficiency (96 percent) propane boiler which heats the shop floor. The new biomass boiler is tied into the same system, allowing the two boilers to run in tandem or as a backup when needed. The 900-square-foot lift operations building houses a smaller, 50,000 BTU propane boiler for in-floor heat; it has a 90 percent efficiency rating and is also tied into the biomass boiler, enabling tandem or backup heating.

About halfway through the 2015-16 season, the resort had used roughly 250 million BTU’s worth of stacked beetle-kill wood, which equates to more than 2,000 gallons of propane. Last winter, local propane prices were around $1 per gallon. At that rate of usage and price, the resort projected savings of around $4,000 in energy costs for the year, since firewood sourced on the property with in-house labor involved little cost—and provides a significant savings versus purchasing wood by the cord.

With an extra $4,000 in the resort’s pocket each year—and a lot more, if propane prices rise from recent lows— this investment will only get better as the years roll by.