Alaska federal building warms to GSA requirements with wood pellet boiler
Wood pellet boilers were a key innovative component of the recent $4.7 million upgrade at the Ketchikan Federal Building in Ketchikan, AK. The 1930s-era, six-story building had a 47-yr-old steam boiler system that was at the end of its useful life and was providing inconsistent heat to the building. The building owner — the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) — manages 9,624 owned and leased buildings across the U.S. and seeks to be a proving ground for green technologies that reduce costs to the taxpayer, reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and support local clean energy jobs.
The GSA chose the Ketchikan project to demonstrate state-of-the-art wood pellet boiler technology that meets these goals. This project also is aligned with an October 2009 Presidential Executive Order that mandated government-owned buildings to increase renewable energy use and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It is the first GSA building to install a commercial-scale wood pellet boiler system.