Our World and Everything in It

The Clean Corporate Citizen (C3) program, established under Administrative Rules R324.1501 to R324.1511, allows regulated establishments that have demonstrated environmental stewardship and a strong environmental ethic through their operations in Michigan to be recognized as Clean Corporate Citizens. The C3 program is built on the concept that these Michigan facilities can be relied upon to carry out their environmental protection responsibilities without rigorous oversight, and should enjoy greater permitting flexibility than those that have not demonstrated that level of environmental awareness. Clean Corporate Citizens who voluntarily participate in this program will receive public recognition and are entitled to certain regulatory benefits, including expedited permits. http://www.michigan.gov/deq/0,1607,7-135-3307_3666_4134—,00.html

While I’m happy that DTE is looking into investing in environmentally sound alternatives in the future, and this attempt to clean up AROUND Monroe’s coalburner is great progress, the Clean Corporate Citizen’s award is a little out of place here. What about the mercury? What about the CO2? Has DTE turned our coalburner into a carbon capture plant, because unless all three things are addressed with this award, than clean is a subjective word?

The award comes from Michigan’s DEQ whose budget has recently been slashed again. http://www.blogsmonroe.com/world/?p=414. The same DEQ that warns they will have fewer regulators looking out for Michigan’s wetlands, rivers, and streams, and will not likely to be able to respond to pollution spills.

If you read about the Clean Corporate Citizen program above it says, “regulated establishments that had a strong environmental ethic THROUGH their operations in Michigan…”  Come on, DTE just recently installed scrubbers that DO NOT address CO2 and or the resultant mercury emissions. It’s the second largest burner in the country.

I especially like the part above that says: “should enjoy greater permitting flexibility than those that have not demonstrated that level of environmental awareness.”  DTE is now a Clean Corporate Citizen who can enjoy EXPEDITED permits says the Dept. of Environmental Quality that no longer has the funds to regulate what happens to much of our state’s surface waters. The same surface waters of which 25% do not fall under the Great Lakes Compact protection either, thanks to Michigan’s senate.

Lovely.

I recently watched Planet Green’s presentation about Contessa Foods developing a green frozen food manufacturing plant. It’s the only such plant awarded a LEED award by the US Green Building Council. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design or LEED is a third party certification program and nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings.

This plant was designed to conserve as much as possible and as a result, Contessa Foods cut both their energy consumption and related emissions by 50% within one year. 

Now if Contessa can do this within a year, why can’t everyone figure out ways to really lower their consumption of energy? It is the easiest and most prudent thing to do right now. We have high gas prices and want to drill yet we’ve hardly scratched the surface at conservation. Speed limits haven’t been lowered, people haven’t even been told to stop running outdoor lights. We did these things without a whole lot of griping in the 70’s, but now we have the audacity to just demand more without cutting back first. Remember the years no one had Christmas lights around their houses? You were the bad guy if you put them up.

Contessa Foods is a good guy. According to Contessa’s CEO, John Z. Bazevich,  “Until now, the USGBC has never LEED-certified a frozen-food manufacturing facility. As a leader in our industry, we didn’t wait for environmental standards to be established. Instead, we collaborated with LEED and decided to raise the bar for the entire industry and to do the right thing for the long-term sustainability of our environment.” Attaboy!

Imagine if all manufacturing had that attitude? Think of the money they could save too.

Contessa stands out in 5 areas of the LEED rating system with:

• A solar-power array that reduces carbon dioxide emissions by more than 730,000 pounds each year, producing an effect similar to conserving 276 acres of pine forest – roughly the size of 209 football fields, including end zones – each year.
• A heat-recovery system that captures waste heat from the refrigeration system and redirects it to preheat water for the plant’s boilers.
• Variable frequency drives that adjust the amount of power supplied to motors at specific times or under specific conditions to minimize energy use.
• An innovative loading dock that prevents the loss of refrigerated air, reducing temperature fluctuation – and energy use – in the loading dock area.

What I saw on TV was an impeccably clean plant where all the rooms within are distinctly cut off from the others, the idea being to keep heat with heat and cold with cold.

Their motto at Contessa: “Reduce, Redirect, and Reuse. It’s a good model to follow for sure.

Read more about what Contessa accomplished:

http://myseafoodshow08.bdmetrics.com/portal/ViewPressRelease.aspx?id=35922&cid=4217488

The U.S. Department of Energy has said the main thing holding back a major upswing in the installation of renewable energies like wind and solar power is better methods for storing that power when the wind dies, and the sun goes down.

I’ve seen the race to come up with super small and simple properties that can hold a charge on Discovery Channel’s EcoTec series. One researcher was developing batteries from bacteria as thin as a piece of cellophane. It’s not hard to believe that in the near future we will have super small batteries that hold a mega charge that is if we allow progress to happen and quit running back to a source that will eventually run out like oil.

The latest in new energy storage comes from the University of Texas at Austin. They’ve come up with a carbon structure that is only one atom thick called graphene. Graphene, “could eventually double the capacity of existing ultracapacitors, which now are manufactured using an entirely different form of carbon.” Ultracapacitors are the other means of electrical storage besides batteries. This technology “could greatly improve the efficiency and performance of electric and hybrid cars, buses, trains and trams, even office copiers and cell phones.”

And think of the storage capacity for wind and solar. In 2007, “U.S. wind power installation grew 45 percent.” Rod Ruoff, a mechanical engineering professor that is working on the graphene project said that if installation grew that much every year for the next 20 years, “total energy production from wind alone would almost equal the entire energy production of the world from all sources in 2007.”

That’s impressive. We keep hearing that many of the green energy propositions are impossible but with ever evolving methods, materials, and discoveries happening every day who is to say what is possible? We need to unleash and nurture this ingenuity and quit hindering progress. I’m tired of fueling cars at the pump, and plugging in cell phones constantly to recharge them, basically because I forget to do that until I’m in a hurry.  There’s got to be a better way.

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/sep2008/2008-09-16-091.asp.

Professor Rose Ann Cattolico of the University of Washington began her study of algae back when the other fuel crisis hit in 1973. Only unlike those that eventually gave up the search for alternative fuels Cattolico continued on for more than 30 years.

The results of her tenacity may help the entire world shed their need for crude in a very short period. For the U.S. it may happen within a decade. Her studies are so promising that according to an article on UW News website, “Allied Minds, an investment company that works with universities to commercialize early-stage technology, invested in the University of Washington biology professor’s work, forming a startup company called AXI.”

What Prof. Cattolico basically did was create an entire database of different types of algae. Different algaes produce lipids, or oil, as a result of photosynthesis. All algaes are different so that one type of algae may produce oil that is perfect for two stroke engines, another for home fuel, and another for jet or car fuel. There are so many forms of algae that genetic engineering is unnecessary. 

Cattolico stated, “Algae grow rapidly and do not require the use of productive farmland. Algae also can use various nutritional sources, including wastewater.” What a boon to be able to use wastewater to feed the algae. If it works in anyway like biodigestion, the effluent and/or any solids leftover are pure fertilizer.

According to Erick Rabins of AXI, “Entire infrastructures, from specialized growing facilities to processing plants, will have to be created. [] The most optimistic assessment that I’ve heard is that it could be six to eight years before there’s something that’s useable, but the tools and techniques to make it possible are being created right now.” he said.

The professor emphasizes what many environmentalists have been saying all along: “What we need is a Manhattan Project for fuel. If we can get a Manhattan Project for fuel, it won’t take 25 years.”

http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleID=43454.

An article in the New York Times stated:

The technology [compressing and storing air] has been around for decades, though the only major plant in the United States opened in Alabama in 1991. Another plant was built in Germany in the 1970s. But compressed air storage is getting a fresh look because so many windmills have been built across the country in recent years, and energy producers are increasingly looking for ways to avoid building power plants that rely on expensive oil and natural gas.

Who knew? And this is supposed to be old hat? I hope it’s stored way down below because compressed air reminds me of the movie No Country for Old Men. That little tank of compressed air was mighty powerful to say the least.

I don’t know about this technology. There certainly are plenty of abandoned mines and old gas lines to use. Perhaps if the alternative energy industry ever gets fully loosed, we will see improvement upon improvement so that wind technology no longer involves huge, noisy turbines that don’t always produce energy. Look at mainframe computers of yesterday compared to the laptop of today. It’s a matter of getting started. Once the ball starts rolling, improvements are inevitable, especially for wind power, which increased five fold between 2000-2007. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/26/nyregion/26wind.html?_r=2&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin&oref=slogin.

At one hundred kilowatts per hour per for one device, Swell Fuels lever operated pivoting float is something we should be using right now. A World Wire article stated: “The patent-pending device uses a pivoting float and a lever arm that unfolds to capture the up and down motion of ocean waves, producing electricity in the process.” How ingenious.

Swell Fuels is ready to go with this product but guess what? Politics and special interest groups are blocking this and many more innovative ways of creating energy for the future. We’re being told by many different articles including one in the Detroit Free Press this weekend about wind power, that the costs and time involved in alternative energy is too much, that’s why we’re not moving forward. Baloney. Innovation is being blocked to say the least.

Read more about this curious but effective invention: http://world-wire.com/news/0808120002.html.

Americans may be looking at 4-day workweeks soon in efforts to offset energy costs. Both Utah and Idaho’s state employee are on 4 tens. Some good things are happening as a result of the energy crisis. Not only are workweeks getting shorter, but employees are also allowed to work from home more and more. This can be good. This can be bad.

I can weigh in on the shortened workweek.  I worked 4 ten-hour days back in 1984. The extra two hours were split between morning and afternoon. My schedule started an hour earlier and ended an hour later than usual. So the bad thing was getting up earlier and getting home later. With longer hours, you might be a little more tired at days end also so after-work-projects aren’t likely to happen. But if you’re running your kids around most evenings anyway, this shouldn’t be a problem.

The real problem with 4-day workweeks is latch key kids. If working parents can tackle this problem then the rest of the attributes for working 4 tens are all positive. For one thing, your car is spared the trip. If you don’t use that up running all over town on Friday, then it’s a plus. It was reported that Utah figured all of its employees collectively saved $100,000 in gas money by not working on Friday. One woman said she only saved $72.00 for gas money during the month but finds the extra time spent with her kids invaluable.

From an employer’s point of view, a successful switch to 4-day workweeks depends on associated companies that work a 5-day workweek. Back in the early 90’s I actually worked a 3-day workweek for the same salary as 5 days.  I negotiated that by showing all the work I was doing that really belonged to others on the payroll. I got my way, a 3 day work week with Tuesday’s and Friday’s off, because I was able to show I was not only doing all of my duties in 5 days, but a bunch of other people’s also. Since I was a purchasing agent, and did payroll the 3-day problem came up. Tuesday was a slow day at work, and well Fridays, let’s get real here. I told my employer quite frankly that not much of anything would get purchased on a Friday anyway. Most of those orders will not hit someone’s desk until Monday. You’re not likely to get a sales rep to come around on Friday either. It’s like Friday “work” days dissolve somewhere around noon for quite a lot of professions. Most things are stalled until Monday because someone is usually missing on Friday. My employer acknowledged this. He was notorious for disappearing on Fridays. Monday and Friday off would have been sweet but that would have been pushing the envelope. I acknowledged that I needed to be there for payroll on Mondays. The best thing was when the company decided I needed to work 40 hours again. My wages almost doubled.

Like ABC news stated this morning, now is the time to negotiate for shared hours, shorter workweeks, and/or working from home. I did it when there was no energy crisis, late 80’s and early 90’s. A good employer should have no problem paying for a job well done regardless of the time involved. If you have a job that doesn’t involve other associates on 5 day work weeks, you’ve got a good case for a 4 day workweek. Prove you work faster and more efficient than most and you’ll probably get your way. It’s win win right now.

Once you get used to 4 days, and really using that Friday in an organized way so you can kick back on Saturday AND Sunday, you’ll probably find you do much less running around altogether. The solitary time away from the rat race is priceless. It might be good for America to learn to relax and quit all the running around. It would certainly be good for the environment.  

And the race is on. Alternatives or the same ole polluting solutions until we’re extinct. Looks like Washington isn’t waiting around for anyone’s opinion. The oil people are getting their dibs in while they can. We won’t see any of that oil for years but hey why not?

The wealthy are starting to polish their crowns in front of us.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/17/us/17alaska.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

A short synopsis of what I gathered from a brief presentation of Al Gore’s speech in Washington today:

Gore thanked all of the congressman present and the many that he has conferred with over the years and around the world. He said he hoped to lift partisanship from global warming efforts.

He went on to say that America needs to shake off its complacency because the survival of the United States is at risk, as well as, what’s at stake for all civilization relative to global warming.

He acknowledged what many of us are currently thinking that so many things are going so wrong simultaneously. The economy is tanking. We’re losing job. The mortgage industry is in dire straights. We still have security risks, and the Iraq war. Gas prices keep rising. Food prices are rising.  And our weather is increasingly horrible, posing new threats to the economy as many homeowners lose everything they own to fires, floods, and tornadoes.

Global warming is advancing faster than originally thought in 2001, (National Geographic’s “Planet Earth” series proves this). Our own U.S. Navy subs went under the Arctic Ice Cap, and it’s now believed 75% of it will be gone in just 5 years. Greenland is disappearing with 20 million tons of ice melting into open water daily. Sea levels will rise. And based on the latest round of increased lightening strikes during storms, scientists say that a 1% increase in global warming will increase lightening strikes 10% more. The problem is bigger than we think.

So the bulk of America’s problems can be categorized as economic, environmental, and as national security issues. After speaking with leaders from around the world, scientists, engineers, CEO’s of major corporations, etc., all agree that old solutions that treat each of these categories separately is a mistake because at the core of every bad issue is our dangerous dependency on fossil fuels.

America needs to end dependency on carbon-based fuels!  (Roar from the crowd). It’s easy to see that these same measures to help the environment can:

• Ease the economy by offering thousands of new jobs in new green industry right here in America
•  Stop the energy/safety threat we suffer through control by foreign oil interests. These foreign (enemy) interests have a stranglehold on us. If we don’t need oil, we won’t need them. Oil fuels their wealth and power.  

Gore stated that the U.S. is borrowing money from China to purchase oil in the Middle East. We end up polluting while accelerating global warming. In that statement alone are the three categories of our problems economics, security, and the environment. We’re dealing with potential enemies to supplies us with our needs while they drain our bank account.

The quickest, cheapest, best answer to all three problems is the efficient production of electricity for all of our needs. Science proclaims that the sun provides enough cumulative energy every 40 minutes to provide 100% of the entire world’s needs. Now why wouldn’t we use that instead? Gore also reiterated what I’ve already learned, that there is enough wind through the U.S. corridor to provide all of America’s energy needs. Add geothermal power to the equation and we simply have enough energy to get away from fossil fuels once and for all.

Gore remembers a statement that was made long ago that if oil got to $30 per barrel then alternative energy sources would be competitive. We’re closing in on being 5 times that limit and greater demand for alternative energy by big corporate consumers is already bringing costs down.

The logic then follows that we must put an end to our old fossil fuel solutions. We need a new start. Gore presented a strategic challenge to all of America. It is the linchpin of a bold new strategy to change America’s direction. He urged Americans to strive to reach 100% reliance on clean alternative energy sources within the next 10 years! And we should never think we can’t, because we can. Gore sited the walk on the moon at this juncture. (Huge applause and ovation).

Talking about solutions 40 years away is ridiculous. We have to aim for less than 10 years and if that challenge is not politically viable, Gore said, “Then ask the people.” (Another huge ovation).

Gore stated that our country can’t afford 10 more years of a tanking economy, job outsourcing, horrible weather disasters whereby the home insurance business may bottom out, and 10 more years of troop deployments to dangerous regions who happen to have huge oil supplies. Hmmm that last statement was interesting. Did we really invade Iraq for the oil and how is that playing out, and what oil companies and people are benefiting from our grief?

That’s pretty much all CNBC and CNN allowed us to watch. CNN announced at the same time Gore was giving this speech that John McCain was in Kansas getting an ovation for his idea about offshore oil drilling. I think Gore can forget partisan unity at this point.   

Late last Friday night our Michigan Senate watered down and passed energy legislation that took months to put together. There was no attempt at bipartisanship here.  As a result Michigan has a pretty shabby RPS or Renewable Portfolio Standards compared to surrounding states. What took the wind out of the sails of this legislation was the deletion of mandates. There will be no mandates on business, which means business may or may not choose to reduce it’s consumption of fossil fuels by choosing other sources of energy.

The Senate decided to go the route where state government would lead by example and be the first to reduce it’s dependency on fossil fuels by choosing alternative energy and also through conservation. The idea is that business would likely follow suit—but they don’t have to!

The positive side of this move by the senate is that taxpayers will be spared the cost of switching to alternative energy sources, and struggling business in MI won’t have to spend more to comply with any mandates. The state will bear the burden for moving forward. This is protectionism and admirable, but it also degrades Michigan’s RPS to nothing. States that have a strong RPS have reaped big  rewards in economic growth as a result. Michigan is missing the importance of a strong RPS. It equates to jobs and investment into the economy.

So the biggest downside is that Michigan’s economy will not likely pick up soon despite the “Green Gold Rush” that is on right now. On top of that, among all the cities in the country that had dismal spring housing sales where that market dropped again, Detroit area home sales were actually up 8%. That was on the news. So Michigan is primed and salivating for economic growth from anywhere that more than likely will not happen thanks to this senate’s quick and rash decisions last week.

Also, Michigan ranks in the top fifteen states in the country for wind generation, but there were few incentives and little interest in wind production in the bills. Yet according to an article on Metro Mode’s website, “[A] fully harnessed wind industry could result in up to 50,000 Michigan jobs, ranging from construction to assembly to engineering to research.” In this instance, the Republican lead Senate in Michigan is actually blocking progress and job growth. Wind is nothing to overlook in Michigan where there are constant shoreline breezes.

 The last negative to the final version of the bills is whether or not the environmental changes that take place within the state government will require outside contracts. I don’t like the sound of government contracting. Senator Waxman has uncovered billions of wasted dollars in contracts on the federal level both in Afghanistan and Iraq. This kind of thing looks like just another opportunity for friends to get paid.

 Environmentally friendly voters should drop a line to our state senate. The cons outweigh the pros for their decision on this latest round of energy bills relative to the loss of a lot of new jobs, and new money into our economy from somewhere else besides the auto industry for a change. Michigan’s economy is supposed to be undergoing change remember? 

Read about RPS in MI: http://www.blogsmonroe.com/world/2008/03/12/renewable-portfolio-standards-environmental-resume-for-states/

Entire article on Metro Mode about MI windpower: http://www.metromodemedia.com/features/MichiganWindPower0064.aspx