Boiler

Energy is ordinarily supposed to crunch, but right now it's squeezing. And the squeeze - as any au courant devotee of the cliché would tell you - has the College hoist on its own petard, between the horns of a dilemma, all the while batting a sticky wicket.

The squeeze goes roughly like this: The College has for some time been considering construction of a high-pressure, oil-fired steam boiler, to be installed at an estimated cost of $617,000 at the present plant - not to increase capacity, but as back-up for the four boilers now in use. Currently, three low-pressure units produce steam only for heating, while one high-pressure boiler first generates about half the electricity the College uses - at about half the rate charged by the local electric company - and then, part of its pressure expended, augments the other three for heating.

The problem is that the boilers are aging - the low-pressure units are 14 to 20 years old, and the high-pressure 10 years old - and increasingly liable to breakdown. If those which provide heat should fail during the winter, all manner of discomfort would ensue; if the high-pressure boiler broke down, the College would be forced to buy all its electricity at double the cost of the home-made variety. Hence, a petition to federal authorities for an installation permit for a new boiler.

Enter President Carter's solemn warnings about the need to curtail oil use and switch over to coal wherever possible. The College has had in mind the ultimate necessity of converting to coal, but the estimated cost of between $4.7 and $6.5 million put conversion some 10 to 15 years in the future. Added to the cost would be the zoning and environmental problems coal-fired boilers would provoke in Hanover.

So, even though the new back-up boiler would not increase the College's use of oil, the Federal Energy Administration sent notice of "intent to deny" the petition to build the new unit and scheduled a hearing May 24. Meanwhile, College authorities were pondering an appeal.