By Clay LePard
clepard@cbs4qc.com
They call it the heartbeat of the Arsenal; the heating plant is responsible for heating the majority of the Arsenal buildings.
And leaders say the coal–powered steam plant continues to evolve.
"We were the first plant in the army to change to digital which was back in the 1980s," said Jay Richter, energy manager.
Over the past 35 years, the plant has been working toward lowering it's coal consumption.
"We're in a continual process of improvement on the Arsenal," he said. And with quite a bit of success - the plant is burning 20,000 tons of coal a year.
That might seem like a lot, but not when you compare it to 1978 when it was burning 45,000 tons a year.
"It was an entirely different scene," said Richter.
Considering now it's only run eight months of the year, Arsenal leaders say there's no comparison to the plant when it first opened in 1917.
"It used to be the operator would open up the door in the front and look in and see the coal but because there a potential that something could happen and the fire could come out the hatch, they try to do it as much as possible with the camera," said Richter.
Energy leaders said they hope to convert a couple of the boilers to natural gas in the coming years.
