Thursday, April 28, 1983
7
Daily Ncbraskan
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By Mike Schmoldt
When experts finish a study next month for UNL
to determine the mciits of buing steam energy from a
proposed garbage -burning plant, t lie company that wants
to build the plant will know whether it has a customer or
not.
Energy Complexes. Inc. won approval from the
Lincoln City Council last week to exceed the city's 75
feet height restriction by 15 feet if and when the plant
is built. The city and LCI have been working together on
the project, but so far no customers have said they will
buy steam from the plant as an energy source.
Part of the problem is the 20-year contract I 01 wants
its customers to sign.
John Cochel, UNL vice chancellor for business and
finance, said it would take a prophet to predict how much
other fuels will cost that far in the future. UNL now buys
natural gas from Minncgaseo to produce steam in its
boilers.
"The firm says that in the long run, it will be cheaper,"
Goebel said. "Our initial investigation cast some doubt
on that."
Goebel said the initial study made university officials
"want to ask a lot more questions." The NU Board of
Regents approved a SI 7,500 study now being done by
two firms to answer those questions.
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A local food processor, Atcher-Daniels-Midland Co.,
did its own study and decided not to buy steam from
the proposed plant, Company officials familiar with the
reasons for the rejection were not available for comment.
I lai ley Schrader, director of UNL's physical plant
department, said future fuel costs "are the big question
mark," but that there are other questions as well.
They include the technological soundness of the
plant, possible impacts on traffic at the proposed site
at 32nd Street and Huntington Avenue and whether the
plant will produce pollution and be accepted by the
community.
Schrader also said that although the university will
not be investing its own money, it is studying the
profitability of the plant because it does not want to
incur the wrath of investors who may lose money if the
project "goes sour."
The plant would produce about 85 percent of the
steam now used on City Campus, Schrader said. UNL's
present steam plant would remain operating to make up
the difference and could be brought back up to 100
percent in case the garbage-burning plant had to be shut
down for any reason, he said.
The regents will have the final word on the matter,
probably acting on a recommendation by UNL Chancellor
Martin Massengale once the feasibility study is complete.
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