Aroostook County in Maine goes Green, Exporting as Much Energy as it Uses

If Aroostook County Can Do It, so Why Can't Others?

Aroostook County, with a population of just a little over 73,000 has for years done many things to create a much greener friendly county.

For example, since the early 1970s Aroostook County schools had discussed the importance of trees, and to plant as many trees as possible. They not only were nice to look at, but created natural windbreaks in the winter months, and could be used to heat homes, but also were putting oxygen back into the atmosphere. During the 1970s and 1980s Aroostook County lost over 1,000 acres of farmland to new tree planting. This was a huge amount of farmland, but the County farmers believed that it was very important.

In the late 1990s, some communities in the County started building waste wood chip burning power plants. Fort Fairfield actually has one, and it was the second one to be built in the State of Maine. It uses waste wood chips and waste wood products to burn, which in turn heats water to create steam to turn steam turbines which create electricity. This plant also uses waste wood from construction and demolition as well as wood chips. There are 5 plants throughout Maine, and they range in creating from 15 to 50 megawatts of power each. There are two in Aroostook County that supplies 43 megawatts. That again is enough to supply every home in the County.