Boiler operator Travis Coleman, 32 of Bowling Green blows out the soot tubes of a coal boiler in Western's Central Steam Plant Sunday night. The station is currently providing heat and hot water to campus using the coal boiler and a new natural gas boiler that was put into operation in January of this year. The new boiler saves money, burns cleaner and will help cut the plant's coal consumption by about a third, stated Paul Barbour, the plant's senior boiler operator. CHRIS FRYER/HERALD

Western is now heating its campus with cleaner energy, thanks to a newly-installed natural gas boiler.

The boiler, purchased last semester, has been up and running since Jan. 23, Facilities Operation Manager Dale Dyer said.

Dyer said the boiler produces 50 percent of the steam needed to heat the campus at any given moment and uses natural gas instead of coal.

In addition to being a cleaner source of energy, the gas boiler is also less expensive to operate.

The new boiler will help Western save money as long as natural gas continues to be cheaper than coal, Dyer said.

Sustainability Coordinator Christian Ryan-Downing said via e-mail that one reason for installing the new boiler was to diversify the types of fuel Western uses.

Fuel prices are highly volatile, so being able to choose between natural gas and coal provides some financial protection from rising prices, she said.

Ryan-Downing also said that another reason for the boiler’s installment was to reduce Western’s carbon footprint on the earth.

“The use of coal for heat and energy has significant environmental consequences, from the way that it is extracted to the emissions resultant from combustion,” she said.

Western has reduced its energy use by about six percent in previous years despite campus growth and increased enrollment, she said.

The energy savings accumulated over the previous year were enough to purchase the gas boiler, Ryan-Downing said.

Although there is no way to say for sure how much money will be saved as a result of the boiler, any savings will be reinvested into Western’s efforts for increased sustainability, she said.

Ryan-Downing said that Western is making a long-term push for continued sustainability.

According to the university’s strategic plan through 2012, sustainability has become an increased priority for Western.

The two main reasons for this are to serve as a model for environmental stewardship and to save money, according to the strategic plan.

Western plans to convert from a coal-fueled campus to one that predominately uses natural gas, according to the strategic plan.