Coal boilers picked over gas despite $700K cost premium

St. Vincent College in Pennsylvania is paying a $700,000 cost premium to install coal-fired instead of natural gas-fired boilers because local costs of coal are one-third the costs of gas. The two boilers should save the school $145,000 a year more than gas boilers, and will give a five-year payback for the $1.5 million investment. A cost analysis showed that coal boilers could give a 78-79% efficiency for $103,000 in annual fuel costs, while the same performance using gas would cost $250,000. The higher capital cost for coal-fired boilers is partly due to the additional equipment and operating personnel required for solid fuel systems.