Exercise on Energy Content and Conversion of Energy Units
FSEM 136 – In Class Exercise
Please show your work. Use appropriate units, rounding, significant figures, and show
results in regular and scientific notation.
1. On average, the Colgate University steam plant consumes 21,000 U.S. tons of dry
hardwood chips per year. What is the heat content of this biomass?
2. In addition to wood chips, the university uses, on average, 515,000 gallons per year of
#6 fuel oil to heat outlying buildings, and as backup for the wood chip system. What is
the heat content of the fuel oil used annually?
3. What percentage of Colgate’s heat comes from biomass?
4. A small natural gas field is located just west of the Village of Hamilton, in the Town
of Lebanon. A relatively high-yielding well in this field produces 25,000 MCF (1
MCF=1000 standard cubic feet) of natural gas per year. How many of these wells would
be needed to supply Colgate’s non-biomass heating needs that are currently being met by
#6 fuel oil?