Wide open spaces like warehouses can mean trouble for wireless lighting networks. Node and point-to-point network systems can be cost-prohibitive because of the number of nodes or repeaters needed to operate a network in such a large space. A new wireless lighting control system is designed for warehouses and other spaces between 50,000 and 2 million square feet. The new system uses a mesh network in which signals are sent from unit to unit. There is no need for nodes or repeaters to enable information to travel longer distances from fixture to fixture.

December 12, 2006 - The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) today issued an order approving $13 million in low-income energy efficiency grants to eight organizations. "These grants will help reduce energy costs for low-income families and seniors just as we enter another heating season," said MPSC Chairman J. Peter Lark. "The improvements made as a result of these grants will help reduce energy costs for years to come."

Cobasys Nickel metal hydride (NiMH) is the technology of choice for the emerging hybrid electric vehicle market and is gaining acceptance for mission critical backup power needs due to its excellent performance, high energy, reliability, low cost of ownership and long life.
Battery Technology Comparisons

A look at alternative energy sources in Michigan. At one time, what was good for the environment was viewed to be bad for business. Today, however, Michigan companies tied to renewable energy are expanding and hiring while traditional manufacturing businesses are closing their doors. The 18th season premiere of the Emmy award-winning series 'Michigan At Risk' takes a look at Michigan’s Green Energy Economy and what the state is doing to lessen our dependence on fossil fuel. Complete article and 58 minute video link (External link)

PARIS -- Physicists have dreamed about it for decades: harnessing the fusion process that powers the sun to make clean, safe and limitless energy. A multinational pact signed Tuesday may bring that dream a step closer to reality. Seven partners representing half the world's population have agreed to build an experimental fusion reactor in southern France that could revolutionize global energy use for future generations.

WASHINGTON - The top of a large steel vat gently swings open, and a slab of silicon, cut into pieces the size of large bricks, is lifted onto a conveyor belt. On a mezzanine above the warehouse-style floor of the factory in Frederick, Bill Good is monitoring the six-foot furnaces that melt the silicon that goes into bricks, which are later sliced into wafers and turned into solar panels in a building next door. Good, 53, used to work in a landscaping business, but like many people around the country he has found work in the alternative-energy industry. After two years, he said, "I could retire here."

ESCANABA - Compact fluorescent light bulbs, an LED (light emitting diode) nightlight/flashlight, an oxygenics showerhead and Neoperl aerators. All these products, designed for energy conservation, have been packaged in kits distributed to many residents in 12 of the Upper Peninsula's 15 counties. Michigan GREEN (Group for a Renewable Energy Efficient Nation) partnered with G-Energy and the Northern Lights Energy Program at M-TEC to purchase and distribute energy kits to low-income renters throughout rural Michigan.