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A school in rural Douglas County is one of only a few in Oregon to generate its heat from biomass fuel, and now its efforts are gaining national attention.

The recently completed a $487,945 installation of a wood pellet-powered heating system. The small facility is one of approximately 10 schools in Oregon to use woody biomass for heat, according to Cam Hamilton, business development manager for , a Seattle-based engineering, construction, design and consulting firm.

McKinstry’s Portland-based Energy and Facility Solutions division conducted an energy audit of the Days Creek school and projected that the biomass system will save $6,580 in energy costs per year compared to the average $22,000 spent annually on the old system.

Money for the Days Creek project came from a grant from the and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, as well as district construction bonds.

The computer-controlled, pellet-burning boiler was custom-manufactured by of St. Helens. It will eventually be used as part of the science curriculum, according to Laurie Newton, superintendent of the school district.

Newton hopes to use the state-of-the-art technology to revamp the school’s engineering and vocational education programs, and engineers from McKinstry have signed on to help introduce the technology program, she said.

鈥淲e want to use what’s there in the backyard as fodder for the kids’ work,鈥� Newton said. 鈥淎nd we can really connect with the industry in this movement. If we don’t step up public education in the U.S., we will continue losing jobs to foreign companies because other countries have a better-prepared workforce.鈥�

Days Creek’s focus on technology and engineering programming for K-12 students caught the attention of , and Newton said she was invited to participate in a small, nationwide coalition working to integrate more science into public school curricula.

鈥淭he coolest thing about it if you look at this project is that it is a complete, turnkey Oregon project,鈥� Hamilton said.

The woody biomass comes from in Central Oregon. The system requires about the same amount of maintenance as a traditional diesel boiler, according to Newton, although the system has required some adjustments.

鈥淚t hasn’t been without some birthing pains,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here have been some maintenance issues and it has required a little learning curve from our staff, but a diesel boiler isn’t perfect either. Once all of the kinks are worked out, we anticipate it will require less work and enhance the kids’ education.鈥�