Intervale Food Center (Burlington, Vermont) (Formerly Riverside Eco-Park)
The Intervale Food Center is a sustainable agricultural-based project emerging
from discussions between an ad hoc group of citizens and City officials who recognized
the potential of an eco-park as a model of sustainable development. This eco-park
has been conceived as a partnership of the public, private, and non-profit sectors.
It exemplifies sustainable development through emphasis on the principles of cooperative
industrial ecology - waste products from one industry become the raw materials
for another.
The vision for the Intervale Food Center is the integration of sustainable agriculture
with cutting-edge technology. This is accomplished with a firm commitment to the
facility's relationship with the community as an employer, good neighbor, and
incubator for new business. A bedrock principle of the eco-park is to be a model
of environmentally sound and equitable economic development. This four-acre parcel
utilizing the existing McNeil Generating Plant is being developed to improve both
Burlington's economy and quality of life.
It will consist of a complex of greenhouses and buildings utilizing "waste"
heat (steam), a by-product from burning wood chips (renewable bio-mass fuel technologies)
at the McNeil Plant. The McNeil Plant has also taken an innovative step in renewable
energy production with the biomass gasification project. The wood gasification
process has the potential to generate electricity more efficiently and at a lower
cost by converting wood or other organic materials into a gaseous, energy-intensive
fuel source that can be used in high efficiency gas turbines.
The facility will be comprised of 10,000 square feet of business space and 50,000
square feet of bioshelter (greenhouse) space. Ideal tenants are those who can
then utilize the low-grade heat produced at the McNeil Plant to complete the energy-waste-energy
cycle through a symbiotic closed loop. The eco-park currently has community gardens,
citywide composting, wind power, and a Living Machine demonstration project.
The eco-park is envisioned to include a range of sustainable and restorative uses
related to organic agriculture, biotechnology, aquaculture, and 'living machine'
technology. The living machine utilizes living plants to complete the chemical
conversion to turn liquid organic waste from the food industry into viable products
such as fertilizer and fish food. It is now growing healthy talapia and hydroponic
plants adjacent to the building site and provides an open classroom for the community
and educational institutions.
For more information:
Contact:
Nick Warner
Community & Economic Development Office
City Hall Room 32
Phone: (802) 865-7173
E-mail: nwarner@together.net
Links:
http://www.cfe.cornell.edu/wei/Newsletter/newsletter6-01.pdf
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Project Update, Spring 1999