Frigid temperatures and a looming gas price increase may be a concern for greenhouse owners, but MSU officials say rising costs are not going to leave them out in the cold.
“We don’t have a problem with heating our greenhouses because we don’t pay for it,” said Dave Freville, MSU greenhouse manager. “We use steam from the power plant right here on campus to provide heat for them.”
Recycling heat from the MSU power plant saves the university thousands of dollars every month.
“This is a huge concern for private greenhouse owners,” he said. “The problem right now is with people who heat their greenhouses with propane.”
Propane is a relatively inexpensive way to heat a greenhouse, but the amount of fuel in a propane tank is limited. When the tank runs out, you have to purchase a refill.
Loren Wingo, a customer service representative for the U-Haul Company, 5020 S. Cedar St. in Lansing, which sells propane tanks and refills, said he’s noticed a slight increase in sales this winter.
“The propane sells at $3.14 per gallon,” Wingo said. “A 60-pound tank of propane, which holds 12 gallons of gas, could heat a greenhouse for about a week, depending on the level the temperature is set on.”
At that rate it would cost $37.68 to heat a greenhouse for one week.
“After April 1 however, heating will be a huge concern for those using natural gas,” Freville said.
Consumers Energy is looking to raise the unit price of natural gas from $2.83 per 1,000 cubic feet of gas to $5.69 per 1,000 cubic feet, said Michael Kidd, Michigan Public Service Commission gas division director.
“If the requested rate hike takes effect in April, bigger bills will be on the way in Michigan before the spring melt and warmer temperatures arrive,” Kidd said.
Sunday Todosciuk, manager and owner of Andy T’s Farm Market in St. Johns, said increasing gas prices could become a problem.
“It’s hard to say how it’s going to affect the dollar amount of our business,” Todosciuk said. “But it will be a concern.”
Todosciuk said she burns wood to provide extra heating in the wintertime.
“If we have a lot of sunny days early in April the greenhouses will heat on their own,” she said. “But if the weather stays like this we may have to get creative.”
MSU has some greenhouses that cannot be heated with recycled steam from the power plant, Freville said.
“We have 26,000 square feet of greenhouse space out on Jolly and College roads which we pay to heat,” he said. “We don’t know how they will be affected come April 1 with the cost of natural gas going up.
“We do know that natural gas or propane are the only real solutions.”
Freville said MSU might have to re-evaluate the manner in which it heats those specific greenhouses.
“We are not going to close down the greenhouses,” he said. “But we will have to look at how much it will cost to heat them.”
