http://www.michigannow.org Reporting on Michigan's Economic Recovery Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:17:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 MICHIGANNOW.ORG is a one-stop resource for news and information about how Michigan can succeed in the new economy. Beyond being a public radio news series, we showcase new thinking, new technology, new products, and new ideas that have the potential to be catalysts for Michigan\'s recovery. MICHIGANNOW.ORG is also featured in online magazines promoting Michigan cities and metro areas, including Model D, Metromode, Concentrate, Capital Gains, and Rapid Growth. Chris McCarus created our public radio news series in 2005. A former Peace Corps volunteer and BBC reporter, McCarus has traveled the world getting the story. He is committed to covering news from around the state and the country that reflects ingenuity, vision, hard work, and perseverance, and that has the potential to put Michigan at the forefront of the nation\'s economic recovery. Reporting on Michigan\'s Economic Recovery MichiganNow.org http://michigan-now.s3.amazonaws.com/images/michigan-now-podcast-logo.pnghttp://www.michigannow.org michigan, economy, lansing, detroit, alternative energy, recovery, great lakes no Dave Mulder davidlmulder@gmail.com http://www.michigannow.org/2010/01/17/why-would-yoopers-care-about-transit-in-detroit/ http://www.michigannow.org/2010/01/17/why-would-yoopers-care-about-transit-in-detroit/#comments Mon, 18 Jan 2010 02:10:47 +0000 chris http://www.michigannow.org/?p=671 http://www.michigannow.org/2010/01/17/why-would-yoopers-care-about-transit-in-detroit/feed/ 9 <p>INTRO: Michigan’s Congressional delegation has secured money for transit infrastructure in metro Detroit. It’s the most significant step towards having a light rail system since Congress offered $600 million for it in 1976. At the time, the city and suburbs squabbled over the plans. Now, it appears workers will break ground by the middle of this year. Michigan Now’s Chris McCarus is asking “If you’ve never even been to Detroit why should you care?”</p> <p>Amtrak runs between Pontiac and Chicago. Trains make 3 stops a day in Birmingham. So the area has train service. But Troy Chamber of Commerce President Michele Hodges thinks it deserves more.</p> <p>“Even though it’s freezing cold at the moment this is one of my favorite places in the region. We’re at the border of the cities of Birmingham and Troy near the Maple and Coolidge intersection which is where we hope to construct a multi modal transit center. Buses, taxis, black sedans. There’s even a pathway plans so folks can walk. And there’s an airport across the street. So we’ve covered every avenue.”</p> <p>The two suburbs are doing something called TOD. Transportation Oriented Development. You jam a lot of activity into one place, lot’s of people coming and going in different directions. Have them duck in and out of stores, offices and homes. Right now, the train tracks have a single shelter, about 12 feet long, to avoid the rain. And that’s all. The Birmingham side has dozens of new 3 story townhouses. They have narrow streets with sidewalks. It’s an east coast feel. But some units are empty. Michele Hodges says a real station built at the tracks will add the missing ingredient.</p> <p>“We can acquaint the Detroit region with what transit can do from an economic viability standpoint. It creates jobs. It creates revenue. If you haven’t been to a fabulous place that is dynamic because of its transit then you can’t understand that. It takes vision. So if we can help people understand that and lead them down that path then I think they will be able to understand the benefits.”</p> <p>In December, Senators Stabenow and Levin, plus Congressman Gary Peters secured $1.3 million for the new station. The cities are kicking in money. But they only have half of the $7 million they need. A developer owns the land on the Troy side. He has the right to take it back if the new transit center doesn’t get built by June. That’s about the same time the light rail project is supposed to start on Woodward Avenue in Detroit.</p> <p>“I think it enhances the entire state.”</p> <p>Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick is the only member of Congress from Michigan who sits on the Appropriations Committee. That means she has a greater say in where money is spent. Kilpatrick says even yoopers will benefit from the 12 miles of new track.</p> <p>“The development it will bring to our state. The dollars, the visitors the commerce all has to do with how we move goods and services and people. We’re Michiganders. We move across the state. It’ll help you with your schools. The revenue that’s produced by these local units of government will help the state treasury which will help you in your education and your health care and your housing.”</p> <p>For years, Michigan’s representatives in Washington have said they would support trains in Detroit. But local governments were never organized enough to send up a clear plan. Some saw trains as a threat to cars.</p> <p>“Autos fought it for a long time. But for the last decade or so autos have been on board. Economic development that follows transit and commuter light rail systems and development along the way it’s just time for Michigan. We’re really behind time now. Had we done it [...] "It'll help you with your schools...your education...your health care and your housing." http://www.michigannow.org/2010/01/13/2-michigan-barns-win-campbells-soup-contest/ http://www.michigannow.org/2010/01/13/2-michigan-barns-win-campbells-soup-contest/#comments Wed, 13 Jan 2010 22:09:45 +0000 chris http://www.michigannow.org/?p=656 http://www.michigannow.org/2010/01/13/2-michigan-barns-win-campbells-soup-contest/feed/ 1 <p>INTRO: Two Michigan barns are among the five barns that have won a national contest by Campbell’s Soup. The barns will get volunteers and prize money for restoration. The contest is supposed to show the importance of agriculture in the daily lives of Americans. Chris McCarus reports.</p> <p>Last year, Campbell’s gave $250,000 to the Future Farmers of America. FFA provides agriculture education classes to middle and high school students. In the contest, FFA members cast most of the votes and they’ll fix up the barns. Here’s the transcript of the video sent in by one of the winners.</p> <p>“Welcome to the Bowers School Farm.”</p> <p>It’s in Bloomfield Hills.</p> <p>“Bowers beans are the best.”</p> <p>The school district runs it.</p> <p>“Everyone loves fresh tomatoes. This basil is great for pesto. Stop by Bowers Farm during harvest season.”</p> <p>The other winning barn is in Bark River near Escanaba. Barbara Fudala Atencio grew up on The Augie Fudala Farm.</p> <p>“The farm is still a working farm and a family leases the farmland and grows alfalfa, rye and corn on our farm for their dairy operations. They’re farmers who help grow food for America. I hope the barn restoration is an inspiration to others to restore and preserve their barns. And also educate young people as to where their food comes from.”</p> <p>Oakland County has lost most its farms in the last 30 years, according to Commissioner Tom Middleton. There used to be 4,000 farms in Oakland alone. Now there are 488.</p> <p>Learn more by visiting <a href="http://www.helpgrowyoursoup.com">helpgrowyoursoup.com</a>.</p> <p>Audio MP3: <a href="http://michigan-now.s3.amazonaws.com/podcasts/2010-01-13-campbells-soup-contest.mp3">2 Michigan Barns Win Campbell’s Soup Contest</a></p> "I hope... (to) educate young people as to where their food comes from." http://www.michigannow.org/2010/01/12/more-government-money-for-infrastructure-pushes-suburbs-to-brink/ http://www.michigannow.org/2010/01/12/more-government-money-for-infrastructure-pushes-suburbs-to-brink/#comments Wed, 13 Jan 2010 00:24:49 +0000 chris http://www.michigannow.org/?p=641 http://www.michigannow.org/2010/01/12/more-government-money-for-infrastructure-pushes-suburbs-to-brink/feed/ 0 <p>INTRO: The Michigan Department of Transportation is taking federal stimulus dollars to widen M59. The expressway will have more lanes between Rochester Hills and Shelby Township. That’s part of both Oakland and Macomb County, from Crooks to Ryan Roads. The project will cost $57 million. Some residents near the highway are upset about traffic noise getting worse. But as Michigan Now’s Chris McCarus reports, traffic and noise in the suburbs are unavoidable.</p> <p>In 1984, Avon Township became the City of Rochester Hills. The hills are real and the woods are beautiful. Yet what happens when everyone wants to live there but drives in and out, several times a day, by car for work, school or shopping? Olaf Nitsche lives in the Country Club Village subdivision. He talks about his neighbors who’ve been there 20 years.</p> <p>“They just constantly see the increase of noise. It was acceptable when they moved in. They liked it because there’s woods. There’s animals. It was a nice place to live. By now it was a front row seating to a highway.”</p> <p>The highway is M59. The Michigan Department of Transportation, MDOT, is widening a 5 mile section. MDOT officials held a public information meeting at Rochester Hills City Hall. They wanted to explain why most of the subdivisions will not receive sound walls along with the new extra lane of expressway. Olaf Nitsche is more upset with the real estate developers than with MDOT.</p> <p>“This subdivision was started to be planned after the highway expansion was planned. Shame on everyone who was involved planning that subdivision. How can you in our times today, knowing the technology, the physics of noise, how can you plan residencies so close to a six lane highway without protection?”</p> <p>Nitsche grew up in Germany where laws prevent farmland from being turned into suburbs. But when he bought his house in 2005, he knew he wouldn’t be moving into an historic, walkable community. Still he feels tricked.</p> <p>“It’s convenient for me to get to work. I accepted a four lane highway. I accepted a certain noise level. I accepted that there’s trees between me and the highway. I’m losing my trees. I’m getting more highway and I’m getting more noise. I wasn’t aware of that when I moved in.”</p> <p>MDOT’s job is to increase the number of vehicles moving from points A to B. In this case, it’s 80,000 cars a day. This project was planned ten years ago and now federal stimulus money is making it possible. Up to $38,000 will be spent per house on the cement sound wall. Why so much? Walls like this cost $250 per linear foot. Then there’s the square footage for all the work on the ground and underground. Tom Zerburg came from MDOT headquarters in Lansing.</p> <p>“MDOT certainly isn’t gonna tell people how to use their private property and how to develop their land. However, when residential areas are developed along our freeways there are limited options for the types of programs we have that can abate the noise.”</p> <p>“Naturally when you expand something you create more havoc of drivers. More drivers. More people you gotta look out for.”</p> <p>That’s Jeff Lauth. He lives in the Wildflower subdivision off Rochester Road. He’s looking at topographic photos MDOT employees have displayed in a conference room. He points to a home that will get a new sound wall on one side of the highway and another home on the other side that won’t get a sound wall because it’s not clustered near a lot of other homes. Jeff Lath is talking to Tom Half from MDOT.</p> <p>“What do you say to the person who wants to sell their house. I think you would agree that from a sales standpoint we’ve taken a pretty big hit in [...] Angry resident asks, "which side would you rather live on Tom?" Tom from MDOT says, "I wouldn't even live near the freeway." http://www.michigannow.org/2010/01/09/flint-watches-heisman-winner-win-championship-call-him-natural-flint-product/ http://www.michigannow.org/2010/01/09/flint-watches-heisman-winner-win-championship-call-him-natural-flint-product/#comments Sat, 09 Jan 2010 05:17:10 +0000 chris http://www.michigannow.org/?p=608 http://www.michigannow.org/2010/01/09/flint-watches-heisman-winner-win-championship-call-him-natural-flint-product/feed/ 1 <p>Mark Ingram won the Heisman Trophy in December and brought it back to Alabama. But a lot of people in Flint felt he was bringing it home to them too. Whether they’ve chosen to stay or have to stay, they want the world to know they exist. They don’t want to feel forgotten.</p> <p>Thursday night they gathered around the television to watch the hometown hero run the ball. Ingram’s team beat The University of Texas in the national championship game.</p> <p>Mark Ingram Senior was a star wide receiver at Michigan State University. These days he’s in prison for bank fraud and money laundering. Flint has funneled athletes to MSU basketball and football for the last 30 years. Courtney Hawkins, Terry Crews, Carl Banks, Mateen Cleeves and Mo Peterson are just a few.</p> <p>This woman and her friends watched the game at Blackstone’s on Saginaw Street.</p> <p>“Male athletes and female athletes. That’s pretty much it. We breed ‘em good here.”</p> <p>A few tables away, recently elected Mayor of Flint Dayne Walling joked and drank with his friends.</p> <p>“Flint’s a place that dreams big. We’ve got athletes going back decades who have won super bowls and been in the Olympics. We’ve got heavy weight boxers, light weight boxers. Now we’ve got the first Heisman Trophy winner. It’s just a community where everyone works hard. We’ve got a great work ethic.”</p> <p>“It’s been some years since I graduated from Southwestern. But I think it’s pretty cool that a guy that went to my high school is up there playing in the Rose Bowl in the national championship game. So that’s pretty cool.</p> <p>Many Michiganders have been wondering how Mark Ingram Senior got into trouble with the law after being a college and NFL star. And how did his son get lost to an out of state school? Thursday night people in Flint weren’t focusing on the negative. They were saying: it’s not that you’re a success despite being from Flint. But because you’re from Flint.</p> <p>Audio MP3: <a href="http://michigan-now.s3.amazonaws.com/podcasts/2010-01-09-ingram-flint.mp3">Flint Watches Heisman Winner Win Championship, And Calls Him Natural Flint Product</a></p> "Male athletes and female athletes. That's pretty much it. We breed 'em good here." http://www.michigannow.org/2010/01/05/off-the-grid-outside-escanaba/ http://www.michigannow.org/2010/01/05/off-the-grid-outside-escanaba/#comments Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:14:32 +0000 chris http://www.michigannow.org/?p=580 http://www.michigannow.org/2010/01/05/off-the-grid-outside-escanaba/feed/ 0 <p>INTRO: Imagine every homeowner with windmills and solar panels. It would avoid power outages, cut down on pollution and maybe even save money. A small number of Michiganders are doing this now. It’s been almost a year since state rules went info affect for something called net metering. Michigan Now’s Chris McCarus visited a man who’s taking advantage of it.</p> <p>Scott Williams lives on the outskirts of Escanaba in the UP.</p> <p>“I’m fifty years old. So when I grew up it was give a hoot don’t pollute.</p> <p>Williams is thinking back to 1971. He first saw a guy on TV created by The Forest Service. His name was Woodsy Owl:</p> <p>“And that’s where it all kind of started.”</p> <p>70 feet in the air, 2 small windmills are bolted to a tower in his backyard. And he’s got 3 solar panels in the front.</p> <p>“I wanted to know there was power there when I needed it. I am out of town. If my power goes down my refrigerator is down, my heat’s down. I don’t have water. But now I can sleep well at night knowing I do. No matter what happens I’ll always have power.”</p> <p>Williams could be called off the grid. He doesn’t need the network of power lines stretching across the state. Instead, they’re starting to need him.</p> <p>“The meter goes both ways. It’s like a bank account. You put it in you take it out. As long as there’s something to take out then I don’t get charged for it.”</p> <p>Michigan has a new law on net metering. Any power you make yourself and don’t use goes to the utility. UP Power, Consumers and DTE, now have to credit you with every watt of electricity you don’t use. And they can’t cancel the credit at the end of the year.</p> <p>Williams started hooking up cables and batteries in his basement 5 years ago.</p> <p>A charge controller converts the wind and solar to 48 volts. That leads to a giant fuse box of copper. 32 batteries the size of car batteries, are stacked on a shelf. A meter on the wall keeps track of voltage. Batteries will last 2-3 days on their own. But the wind and the sun always come back.</p> <p>“Right now we’re getting 1150 watts and it’s a cloudy day out. There’s no sun.”</p> <p>Even the U.P. gets 5 hours of sun a day in the winter. Each solar panel is putting out 1,000 watts. More than enough for a refrigerator, microwave and light bulbs. Grand kids can watch a 46 inch flat screen TV in the family room and a 53 incher in the living room. Williams and his wife don’t have to worry about wasting energy and they shouldn’t ever have to pay the electric company again.</p> <p>“Well they’ll never actually give me a check. But if I could off set my usage for the winter that’s what I want. I just want to be net zero. I want to live comfortable but at net zero. And it can be done. It’s not impossible. You can do it.”</p> <p>Most of his equipment came from a $25,000 bank loan. Technology has made the same stuff smaller and cheaper today. Williams says he would have spent that much over a 12-year period anyway. So why not avoid pollution and the power company at the same time?</p> <p>“So instead of paying the power company 100 bucks a month I just pay the home equity loan and it’s tax deductible. I get a federal tax break out of it. 30%. So it’s actually more of an investment than it is anything else.”</p> <p>Williams says power companies should see him as an ally not a threat. And with this new net metering law people like him could sprout up all over the place.</p> <p>“I can see where every house will have some form of power generation. And it’s good for the grid too. When I’m producing power is at the peak [...] No matter what happens, these guys will always have power. http://www.michigannow.org/2009/12/23/michigan-made-solar-lamp-sold-here-and-abroad/ http://www.michigannow.org/2009/12/23/michigan-made-solar-lamp-sold-here-and-abroad/#comments Wed, 23 Dec 2009 09:04:11 +0000 chris http://www.michigannow.org/?p=559 http://www.michigannow.org/2009/12/23/michigan-made-solar-lamp-sold-here-and-abroad/feed/ 2 <p>A team of Michiganders is manufacturing and selling a solar powered lantern. It can also function as a flashlight. It costs $50 and lasts 10 years. Michigan Now’s Chris McCarus has their story.</p> <p>They’re green and clear plastic, about 8 inches long. They come with a thin solar panel, about 6 inches long. Herman Moffett is packing them in boxes. They’re called K-lights.</p> <p>“This lantern is changing lives. That’s a good thing. This lantern is changing my life as well. It’s allowed me to be employed. It works out nice on both ends.”</p> <p>The two ends are the basement of an old furniture warehouse in Grand Rapids where Moffett is working. And the other is East Africa. The K-Light lantern is made and sold there as well as here. Just 1 out of 4 homes in Sub-Saharan Africa has electricity. People walk miles to chop down fragile forests so they can cook and heat and light their homes.</p> <p>“I couldn’t imagine that. I’ve lived here in the USA all my life. I’ve had electricity. So I couldn’t imagine life without it.”</p> <p>And yet deprivation isn’t foreign to Moffett. He spent a decade in prison. The Methodist church found him the job with K-Light. Missionary work at home and abroad is a Grand Rapids tradition. This is the buckle on Michigan’s Bible belt. 77 year old Dr. Dale Williams is one example. He and two other retired doctors have spent $2 million to bring light to the dark continent.</p> <p>“We love it. Beats playing shuffleboard. Having a good time. We don’t really intend to get rich. But we do want to break even. You haven’t broke even yet? No. Not even close. We’re doing pretty well in Rwanda.”</p> <p>The K-light sells for $49. If you charge it in full sun for 10 hours it will give you 20 hours of light.</p> <p>“I was chairman and a big shareholder in a small medical device company called Instrumet. We developed a pump and turnicets and sold the company to Stryker. We put half the money into the foundation, called it God’s money and that’s what we’re using. So he better help out or he’s gonna lose all his money.”</p> <p>Williams was in Ethiopia in 1984 when the brutal communist government prevented food trucks from reaching starving people. That’s why British pop stars recorded the song ‘Do They Know it’s Christmas?’ He was in China’s Tiananmen Square right after the bloody government crackdown on students. He and his son went to Rwanda a year after the civil war that killed a million people. But hey, let’s tackle something easier than politics, says Williams. Let’s replace the old time kerosene lamps with solar powered ones.</p> <p>“If you have a kerosene light going in those small houses it’s like smoking 2 packs a day. They also cause fire and they’re expensive. And once they get this light they don’t have to buy power or any fuel for 10-12 years. They’ll last that long.”</p> <p>At his rural home in Shiawassee County, South of Owosso, K-Light engineer Bill Greenhoe explains how he came up with the idea.</p> <p>“Dr. Williams had built a bunch of schools with the Koinonia Foundation and he wanted to go over and install solar on them and then run computers. So I designed the systems and the installation manuals. We shipped them off in a container to Rwanda.”</p> <p>Then Greenhoe decided to redesign the lantern he had done a couple years before. That one was bigger and more expensive. They sold only 40,000 units. This model is up to 70,000 and even selling here in the U.S. Greenhoe says large scale solar isn’t yet popular here because…</p> <p>“We do not add in the additional costs of the health concerns, the environmental concerns [...] "This lantern is changing lives. That's a good thing. This lantern is changing my life as well." http://www.michigannow.org/2009/12/18/washboard-player-thrives-as-people-walk-by/ http://www.michigannow.org/2009/12/18/washboard-player-thrives-as-people-walk-by/#comments Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:43:42 +0000 chris http://www.michigannow.org/?p=532 http://www.michigannow.org/2009/12/18/washboard-player-thrives-as-people-walk-by/feed/ 0 <p>Some say…good music comes from misery. One local musician has never had to pick cotton or work on a chain gang. But his work would still be hard for many of people. He generates mutations within DNA fragments in test tubes. If that’s not helping him play good music, then factor in two other things. He performs in a safe place where there are no cars. And, hundreds of other people can listen as they walk by him every day. Michigan Now’s Chris McCarus reports from Ann Arbor.</p> <p>Most days, he’ll come out of his lab at around 4 in the afternoon and sit on a cement bench.</p> <p>“My name is Tom Goss. I’m a university employee that after work I come out here to manage my stress level by playing harmonica on the diag with my washboard.”</p> <p>The washboard he’s playing on this day has the words ‘Elbow Grease Miser’ on it. A bell is on one foot. He’ll play originals and cover tunes. This one is called ‘San Trope’ by Pink Floyd.</p> <p>“I work in a research lab. And you really get emotionally involved with the experiments you’re doing. You walk out of there feeling all bummed out because the experiment didn’t work and your theory must be wrong and have to rethink things. Then you walk in the next day and you look at it again and say it was upside down. Everything’s right. And it’s this manic depression thing. You just kind of detach yourself and leave it at work. And this is a good way to unload all that baggage so I don’t agonize about it my whole day.”</p> <p>Goss’s features are hidden underneath a sports cap, glasses and a grey mustache. He’s 52. More than twice as old as the University of Michigan students walking by. Some come to listen and appreciate. Others think he’s homeless. Here he’s playing Turkey in the Straw, from the 1820’s.</p> <p>Then he sings Turkey in the Straw with different words.</p> <p>Get this if you can– Tom Goss studies the causative agent of cholera. He specializes in protein-DNA interactions. He’s generating mutations within the control regions of genes involved in the expression of cholera toxin and other virulence factors. This is commonly known as “promoter-bashing” among molecular and microbiologists.</p> <p>“Oh God it’s horrible. I think I spend my whole day pushing around little teeny drops of fluid with parts of living things in there or entire living things in there. I need to wear reading glasses all day long. I know everything about little things and nothing about reality. It’s weird.”</p> <p>Goss says the brain wracking inside a lab drives his music. And he also likes playing to the hundreds of people that recognize him in the same spot every day. David McCarty is also sitting down in the diag, within earshot of Tom Goss. McCarty is getting an MBA at The U of M with a focus on real estate and urban planning. He’s from suburban Atlanta.</p> <p>“So growing up in such a community that functions so poorly and had such little sense of community and no public space, the only social space was at the mall. I have very little connection to where I grew up.”</p> <p>Washboard and harmonica player Tom Goss is helping create new connections for David McCarty and any other people walking by.</p> <p>Audio MP3: <a href="http://michigan-now.s3.amazonaws.com/podcasts/2009-12-18-washboard-player.mp3">Washboard Player Thrives as People Walk By</a></p> "I come out here to manage my stress level by playing harmonica on the diag with my washboard." http://www.michigannow.org/2009/12/16/wmu-prof-leads-alt-energy-charge/ http://www.michigannow.org/2009/12/16/wmu-prof-leads-alt-energy-charge/#comments Thu, 17 Dec 2009 01:29:45 +0000 chris http://www.michigannow.org/?p=524 http://www.michigannow.org/2009/12/16/wmu-prof-leads-alt-energy-charge/feed/ 1 <p>Universities around the country are ramping up programs in alternative energy. So what do students learn and will it help them find jobs? Michigan Now’s Chris McCarus met up with a Western Michigan University professor and students who are taking alternative energy as far as it can go….100 miles to the gallon.</p> <p>Dr. John Patten calls himself a treehugger. And his car?</p> <p>“I call it my clean, green, transportation machine.”</p> <p>Patten spent $10,000 on a windmill. It stands 50 feet above the huge new engineering complex at Western Michigan University. Patten wired it to a plug in the parking structure. He says he wants to set an example for his kids.</p> <p>“My daughter is in Copenhagen this week at the UN Conference on Climate Change. I don’t know anybody else’s children that are there. I think she’s there in part because of the crazy things her dad does with the solar energy and the wind energy and the plug in car.”</p> <p>In October, Patten thought his peers would also be going the extra mile for alternative energy.</p> <p>“Ok we went to a plug in hybrid electric vehicle conference in Detroit. All the big players were there. The federal government, state government and industry. I was the only person who brought a personal vehicle. I tried to get ahead of time set up a place to plug in. That didn’t work. When I got there I tried to find a place to plug in. That didn’t work.”</p> <p>So Patten drove back to Kalamazoo in his Toyota Prius Hybrid, disappointed. He had to settle for 50 miles to the gallon. Normally, he’s getting over 100 miles to the gallon thanks to a battery pack in the trunk. He bought it from A123 Systems for $10,000. They’re from Massachusetts. But their building a new battery plant in Livonia.</p> <p>Inside a classroom, Dr. Patten shows a chart he made. He drove his car for a year. His windmill puts out 1,500 kilowatt hours a year. He needed 1,200 kilowatts hours to drive for a year.</p> <p>“If you had a wind turbine like that for every electric car out there basically would meet the needs of that electric car, a $10,000 small wind turbine could handle a car.”</p> <p>Patten can drive for weeks on pure electricity alone. But charging at home and at work only gets him 30 miles before the charge is gone and it shifts into regular hybrid mode. About 65% of the time he’s in hybrid and 35% of the time in pure electric. That’s when averaging in longer trips.</p> <p>“We did some cost analysis. But the bottom line is neither the wind turbine nor the plug in electric vehicle will pay for themselves. They’re new technologies. The prices are really high. A lot of the work we do is aimed at driving down those prices from a $10,000 turbine to a $1,000 turbine, from a $10,000 option on a plug in hybrid to a $1,000 option. So that’s kind of where we have to go. We have to lower that price by a factor of ten to make it economical.”</p> <p>Patten heads Western’s Manufacturing Research Center. They work on fuel cells, bio fuels, wind, solar and plug in hybrids. Schools like this are getting millions of dollars in federal stimulus money. But it’s short term. So are high gas prices the only way to get the public to support alternative energy?</p> <p>“Yeah forced is one way to look at it. Certainly taxing energy or taxing the pollution associated with energy would be one way to motivate people to look at alternative energy.”</p> <p>2,500 engineering students here are working on dozens of projects. A favorite is the Sunseeker. It’s a yellow solar race car. A tiny cockpit is surrounded by a large flat black surface of solar panels. Student Tim Gaston is from Livonia. He’ll go to The North American [...] "My daughter is in Copenhagen... she's there in part because of the crazy things her dad does." http://www.michigannow.org/2009/12/14/will-wind-power-move-from-theory-to-reality/ http://www.michigannow.org/2009/12/14/will-wind-power-move-from-theory-to-reality/#comments Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:33:58 +0000 chris http://www.michigannow.org/?p=506 http://www.michigannow.org/2009/12/14/will-wind-power-move-from-theory-to-reality/feed/ 1 <p>The Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association is a small non-profit outside Lansing. They promote the wind, solar and bio mass industries in Michigan. While the auto industry has shrunk, this group has gone from 1,000 to 2,500 members in just 8 months. Some 300 of those members are business people themselves, even from the big electric companies. Michigan Now’s Chris McCarus reports from the group’s annual meeting over the weekend. </p> <p>Attorney Eric Schneidewind is making a big claim.</p> <p>“Now you’re going to see a surge of implementation. People in their neighborhoods, in their businesses are actually going to see renewable power as part of their life.” </p> <p>Just a year ago, state legislators were skeptical about wind, solar and biomass. They said such boondoggles would stick the average consumer with big electric bills. But Schneidewind has kept talking dollars and sense in Lansing’s halls of power. </p> <p> “Now, instead of looking at idealism and long term goals we’re going to say to average Americans if you do this you will save money and you’ll help the environment. And that I think is going to take us to a whole new level.”</p> <p>Utility companies are starting to sign contracts with small wind producers to sell them renewable energy. The Michigan renewable energy portfolio standard is forcing them into this. And Congress has put policies in place. For example, if you buy a $9,000 windmill for your house you’ll get about $3,000 back on your taxes. </p> <p> “Well first of all there are great large tax credits available from the federal government. Second thing is building codes have been relaxed or revised to allow this to get done. Another thing is the utilities have programs, thanks to the law, which says that any excess output from a windmill on your own premises you can sell back the utility. That’s a new thing that didn’t exist before. That’s called a feed in tariff.”</p> <p>On Saturday the Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association honored Schneidewind for his work. They also attracted entrepreneurs. Dan McIntire works with 21 Century Fuels LLC. They’re trying to bring a car and truck tire recycling plant to the Detroit area. </p> <p>“It takes scrap tires and puts them in a nitrogen enriched environment. It supplements them and breaks them down into their elements and recycles everything. Everything is captured. The end result is we get a synthetic oil, synthetic gas, a carbon black and we get steel. Even after the gas has been condensed into the oil there’s enough gas left over to run a turbine which runs the machine and puts electricity back into the grid.”</p> <p>Amongst the hundreds of new members of the renewable energy association is past president John Richter. He’s a professor at Macomb Community College. He says soaring energy costs triggered the housing crisis.</p> <p>“If you look at the statistics about how the housing crisis started it started very clearly in 4 states, California, Arizona, Nevada and Florida. Florida is a little different. But if you look at the 3 western states the housing crisis began in the furthest reaching suburbs from the main cities. They built new subdivisions out there. They put them on the market. Gasoline hit $4 a gallon and people said I can’t really afford that drive. The whole economic of I can get a cheaper house if I drive further, drive ‘til you qualify, suddenly reversed. People said I can get a cheaper house but I can’t pay for the house.”</p> <p>Richter has been lecturing on energy policy since 1996. So what does he say Michiganders need to do?</p> <p>“What we need to do is structure our lives so we’re using a whole lot less energy. That means living close to [...] "If you do this you will save money and you’ll help the environment." http://www.michigannow.org/2009/12/08/bill-milliken-ann-arbor-lifestyle-formula-as-good-as-san-fran/ http://www.michigannow.org/2009/12/08/bill-milliken-ann-arbor-lifestyle-formula-as-good-as-san-fran/#comments Wed, 09 Dec 2009 06:54:49 +0000 chris http://www.michigannow.org/?p=431 http://www.michigannow.org/2009/12/08/bill-milliken-ann-arbor-lifestyle-formula-as-good-as-san-fran/feed/ 1 <p>INTRO: In the last U.S. census, two Michigan cities gained population. Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor has the lowest unemployment rate and perhaps the most expensive real estate. Some consider it a model for the rest of the state. Michigan Now’s Chris McCarus takes a tour with the son one of a former governor. </p> <p>Bill Milliken Junior is the spitting image of his dad. He’s managed to stay out of politics and stay in real estate. He picked the right town. Ann Arbor. Milliken is leading investors on a bus tour. On State Street he points out a small building that will soon be rebuilt.</p> <p>“They paid 4 million dollars for 15,000 square feet. That’s a home run. New Yawkers. New York investors. They’re New Yorkers, former University of Michigan students. They know the market. They like the market. They wrote the biggest check that we know of on a per square foot basis for redevelopment here.”</p> <p>Milliken says real estate marketers are talking about third place. First place is where we live, second place is where we work and third place is where we go to have fun or socialize. For the three places to function right, they can’t be far apart. And the easier you can get there on foot or on bike, the better your economy is.</p> <p>“Density is the prerequisite for the health of downtown and for transit corridors. There are some arterials going in and out of the city that are gonna be premised on density. People living nearby that they’ll walk to them and take advantage of them to go to work and go shopping. And there’s tax capture there. Yes we like density.”</p> <p>Ever heard some one in Michigan say, “I haven’t been downtown in years.” You won’t hear that in Ann Arbor. Walk, bike or drive if you have to. See the houses on hill tops that look down over valleys to classical architecture that’s downtown or on campus. </p> <p>“There are some wonderful examples of perfectly restored old homes that even people in San Francisco would have to look at with approval. We’re gonna drive through a couple of the neighborhoods and show you some of the things that people have done here….”</p> <p>The tour bus drives into Ann Arbor’s old West side. An historic district commission requires new houses to look like the old ones. Milliken points to a strawberry red house. It’s brand new. But it complements the houses with fieldstone foundations, built before1900. The red tape is worth the hassle. </p> <p>“I think that was in the $600,000 neighborhood. We’re seeing prices here at $300 square foot. That’s the kind of value and cache the neighborhood has. These are young professionals living here. This is the kind of neighborhood they’re looking for. Young professionals are very important to the economic health of a community.”</p> <p>The think tank Michigan Future Inc. says there are 8,000 young professional households in Ann Arbor. But Madison Wisconsin, another college town, has 23,000. So Ann Arbor has some catching up to do. Bill Milliken says building railway infrastructure will help. </p> <p>“The railroad crossing that we are at right now we hope will become a commuter station. When the Wally line connecting Livingston County to the north is put into place the idea is to give north-south commuters the chance to leave their car at home and commute by rail.”</p> <p>The bus moves slowly in the congestion of Main Street. Sidewalk café’s make you want to get out and walk around. Not everyone wants to live in a subdivision out by the highway. For a couple hundred years, living above a store or restaurant wasn’t against the law. Here’s urban planning and real estate student Kevin Bush. </p> <p>“If you look at main [...] “Yes (funkiness). We consider it part of the character. We like that.”