Monday, February 09, 2009
By Lynn Moore

HOLTON -- Holton Public Schools may harness the wind as part of an overall strategy to reduce energy and operations costs by $100,000 per year.

But rather than provide a lot of savings, wind turbines would be more of an educational and "goodwill" gesture by the school district, said Holton Public Schools Superintendent John Fazer.

The turbines could be part of a retrofitting plan, which rough estimates place at $2 million, for such equipment as boilers, windows, lighting and ventilation systems. The district has applied for an interest-free government loan to pay for the improvements.

by Kristin Longley | The Flint Journal
Wednesday February 04, 2009

LANSING, Michigan -- Could the battery packs for the Chevrolet Volt be assembled in Flint?

Competition is stiff, but we're in the game, one state lawmaker said.

General Motors officials already have said that Flint workers will build the gasoline-powered backup engine for the electric Volt -- and landing the battery work, too, would be a major coup that could spark even more life into the sagging local economy.

"I have a good feeling about it," said state Rep. Lee Gonzales, D-Flint Twp., about Genesee County's chances for landing the Volt battery work. "I think it's a good possibility. In other words, we're in the game."

Speculation about where the battery packs would be assembled began circulating Tuesday after Gov. Jennifer Granholm's State of the State address, during which she pointed to GM as an example of a business keeping jobs in Michigan.

GM is staying mum on the prospect, saying the only details it has confirmed are that the battery packs will be built in Michigan.

February 04, 2009

Perhaps the largest coal-fired power plant now under construction, the 1,600-megaÂwatt Prairie State Energy Campus in downstate Illinois, might become a model for other successful build-outs as the electrical industry negotiates the green transition. The goal is to advance coal generation by making it cleaner.

Early on in the Bush administration, Peabody Energy, the largest public coal-mining company in the world, decided that one way to increase its slumping coal sales in the Illinois Basin and the Southwest would be to convert its vast coal holdings into electricity on its own. The company intended to do this by constructing three mine-mouth coal-fired power plants -- one each in New Mexico, western Kentucky and southern Illinois -- and sell the power commercially. The New Mexico and Kentucky projects became mired in permitting challenges and other obstacles.

Source: Great Lakes IT Report
by Matt Roush

Energy is too precious to waste, and so are taxpayer dollars, which is why the city of Ann Arbor looked for ways to get more bang for its streetlighting buck.

How the city is applying the latest in LED technology to light its streets and reduce power consumption by 50 percent is among the highlights in the latest edition of ElectricTV.net.

Across the United States, local governments are slashing budgets, presenting significant challenges to those entrusted with providing services to the community. The city of Ann Arbor suffered a 60 percent reduction, spurring the search for areas to cut costs, including the city's power consumption. The city had been spending more than $1.4 million a year. on street lighting.

Source: Great Lakes IT Report
by Matt Roush

Franklin-based Franklin Wind Energy Group LLC has purchased the exclusive United States manufacturing and marketing rights for a new type of micro wind turbine.

The U.S. rights for the wind turbine were purchased from VBine Energy of Canada.

"This is an exciting time to enter the U.S. market with this revolutionary product," said Franklin Wind chairman and CEO David Koyle. "Demand in the small wind market is increasing dramatically each year with applications across a wide range of industrial and consumer markets. We plan to become the leading supplier of vertical axis wind turbines in the U.S. and capture a significant share of the market for small wind turbines."