2988                                     JOINT RESOLUTIONS

A Senate Joint Resolution concerning

A Pilot Program for the Use of Wood for Heat
and Energy in Public Buildings

FOR the purpose of requesting the Department of Health and
Mental Hygiene, with the advice and assistance of the
Department of General Services and of the Forest
Service in the Department of Natural Resources, to
initiate and conduct a pilot program at Eastern Shore
Hospital Center for the use of available and waste wood
products to supply heat and other energy.

WHEREAS, There are abundant and waste supplies of wood
available in many portions of the State that could be
utilized for providing heat and other forms of energy for
public buildings.

The General Assembly is requesting the Department of
Health and Mental Hygiene, with the collaboration of the
Department of General Services and of the Forest Service in
the Department of Natural Resources, to initiate and conduct
a pilot program to determine the economy and feasibility of
such a study at Eastern Shore Hospital Center in Dorchester
County.

There is an ample supply of extra and waste wood

products in Dorchester and other nearby counties. Wood   very

likely could be substituted for heating oil in      this

institution and thereby save quantities of this vital      and
scarce resource.

Similar substitutions very likely also could be made in
other public buildings throughout the State, saving the use
and consumption of fossil fuels. Wood is available
throughout the State as a byproduct of regular forest
cutting programs and site preparation work. The wood now is
left on the ground as wastage, so its use would not only be
of economic benefit tut also of assistance in clearing the
land of these waste materials. There are such programs now
operative in a number of states, including Tennessee,
Alabama, and Vermont. In addition, there are municipal
applications of this program in Burlington, Vermont, and in
Binghamton, New York.

It has been estimated by the Forest Service that while
the cost of such a conversion at Eastern Shore Hospital
Center might be as much as one—half million dollars, the
savings over a period of five or six years would pay off
this initial investment. It would be necessary, of course,
in the first instance, to provide funds to start the
program.

The Forest Service, in the Department of Natural
Resources, already has done research in these programs and
is taking affirmative action in support of the feasibility