Story by Tom Robertson, Minnesota Public Radio.
Near the shore of the Mississippi River, a small brick facility called a screen house is an example of this city’s efforts to save money, and cope with dwindling amounts of Minnesota’s local government aid.
Located 300 feet downstream from the city’s largest employer, the UPM-Blandin paper mill, the screen house is the first step in the process to treat about 9 million gallons of pulp waste that leaves the plant each day. The water is hot—close to 130 degrees.
Grand Rapids officials are creating a new way to use the hot water to heat public buildings. Pipes will divert the hot water and run it across a heat plate exchanger, which will heat and cool the nearby city library.
“What we’re projecting right now is it’s going to save us between $20,000 and $25,000 a year in natural gas costs,” City Engineer Tom Pagel said.
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