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 | Solutions at Work |
Montachusett Regional Transit Authority
Fitchburg, Massachusetts
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"Unitil's natural gas is reliable, clean and not
subject to price fluctuations like heating oil. We have done an extensive analysis and
we find natural gas is the way to go. To me it's the smart choice for business today." Philip Rocca, General Manager MART |
September 19, 2000 - In September 2002, the Montachusett Regional Transit Authority
(MART) of Fitchburg, Massachusetts began construction of a new garage for storage and maintenance of
their bus fleet. The new garage would be an expansion of the existing MART facilities in Fitchburg.
Because the MART used oil to heat and provide domestic hot water at the facility, the expansion was
going to require them in increase their on-site fuel storage capacity. On-site fuel storage had been a
persistent problem for personnel at the facility and expansion of these already troubled storage facilities
would consume valuable space and was estimated to be very expensive. As a result, MART management began
looking for alternative solutions for meeting their energy needs.
Conversion to natural gas heating and domestic hot water equipment was the most viable solution. The
problem was that the existing oil fired equipment was no where near the end of its useful life and
replacing it with natural gas fired equipment would not make economic sense. The obvious solution was
the installation of six (6) gas fired conversion burners. Unitil was able to
offer the MART this simple, low-cost solution to a problem that had the potential of being harmful to
the environment and very costly.