SEATTLE — Blue and orange flames flicker and whir within five massive natural gas-fired boilers, visible only through hatches where coal used to be shoveled.
They burn up to 90,000 therms a day to feed a 7.5-mile network of pipes that provide steam, hot water and emergency electricity for the campus, including a hospital and laboratories. On a cold winter day, the belly of the University of Washington's steam plant is sweltering.
Here, near Lake Washington's shore, the university has burned fossil fuels since the 1890s. But this year, it comes at a much steeper cost.
