Our World and Everything in It

I can’t believe it, but for whatever reason, DTE is going green. They are poised to invest billions in alternative energy for Michigan and from what I gathered of the Detroit Free Press article in yesterday’s Sunday paper, it is to help jumpstart Michigan’s economy. Actually, it said it was: “boosting the state’s efforts to become a leader in this rapidly growing market.” It can’t be talking about our senate’s recent efforts. It looks more like this is another example of the market driving environmentalism. The company couldn’t have made a more timely decision.

The article went on to say that DTE would invest $3 billion dollars over the next 6-7 years. This hinges on the state passing the mandate to insure 10% of Michigan’s electricity comes from renewable sources. The article reiterated that there are major differences between the senate and house energy bills, and that unless these differences are resolved, Michigan will continue to lose out on environmental jobs. 

DTE recognizes the potential for job growth, reduction in global warming, and energy independence by going green. The company is taking up the slack on wind power in Michigan that the latest round of energy bills through the senate seemed to dismiss. The “bulk of DTE’s multibillion-dollar investments will be in wind power.” The wind farms will be in the thumb region, the western side of the state, as well as, the possibility of a wind farm in Huron County.

DTE said it has begun to make multimillion dollar investments into its venture capital fund for alternative energy sources like wind, solar, and biofuels, but also new technologies and solutions, power storage, and companies that produce equipment like meters that monitor electricity use. This venture fund, formed in 1995, has not been active for the past few years, and is one of the few corporate venture funds available in the state “focused on alternative energy.” 

Recently, I happened to find a 1997 congressional presentation by many companies, including DTE, and from many states relative to alternative energy innovation. DTE presented some pretty advanced technology way back then. I’ve followed one of their investments, a company that produces hydrogen fuel cell extractors. It’s really advanced technology.  

What I find interesting is that these absolutely wonderful alternative ideas for energy presented to our federal congress back in the mid to late 90’s that were either ready to be developed further, marketed, and/or sold, just got shelved for years during the Bush administration. It looks like a big “Green Thumb” kept wraps on new technology entering the general public milieu even though the Texas ranch uses geothermal energy, and I wouldn’t doubt Cheney’s digs are eco friendly too. DTE just admitted their alternative energy venture fund has been on hold. It was obviously waiting on politics and/or the market.

I wonder if this new push to go green by DTE has anything to do with a federal judge vacating the “Clean Air Mercury Rule” as just another way to move pollution around, while demanding that the EPA set new standards for mercury emissions in less than 2 years? That ruling has a direct impact on coal fired plants. That’s for sure. Or is DTE keen enough to see the writing on the wall that a new environmental economy will lure more money and investment into Michigan, a good thing for all business, and in which case DTE is doing what our congress should be doing. Or is another monopoly forming because the possibility exists that any home can get solar panels, or a wind turbine, or a bio-digester for methane gas production, or all three, and provide energy for itself in the future. That paints a pretty scary picture for big utility companies and great incentive to go green first. 

I was watching Good Morning America this morning and the news featured a billionaire, ex-oil man named T-Bone Pickens on the subject of high oil prices. He stated that parts of America are known as the Saudi Arabia of wind and had to agree.  His home state of Texas has the largest wind field and is looking to Denmark to explore more off shore wind power along the coast. http://www.windenergynews.com/content/view/945/43/.

He stated there is no sense drilling for more oil in the U.S. There is not enough to sustain us but there is plenty of natural gas and WIND.

Meanwhile, I wondered about the “Saudi Arabia of wind” moniker and found that long-term studies have quantified the amount of mega the U.S. can produce. We’re rich with it.  Back in 2004, the U.S. Energy Dept. reported that wind power in the plain state’s region alone can provide more power than the entire nation’s electricity needs. And wind power is competitive with natural gas prices from way back in 2001. http://www.energyjustice.net/solutions/wind/.

According to Energy Justice, North and South Dakota alone have enough wind energy from its highest wind speed sites to supply over half of the electricity needs of the lower 48 states. A group of 12 states in the midsection of the country have enough wind energy potential to produce nearly four times the amount of electricity consumed by the nation in 1990.

Michigan just restored the monopoly by DTE Energy in Michigan, which allows DTE to limit use of alternative energy to only 10%. Does this  put a damper on overall use of more wind or solar power in Michigan? Does this limit individuals who want to go with solar and/or wind power for residential use?

Hopefully, everyone in Michigan realizes by now that we are not simply in an economic downturn. We are going through a transformational change away from a predominantly manufacturing state toward more economic diversity. We should have done this long ago. Michigan has suffered horrible ups and downs in the economy from relying too heavily on the auto industry. If we can just hang tight and move to change wisely, things will get increasingly better for Michigan. Dr. Charles Ballard, an economist, writes about transformational change in his book “Michigan’s Economic Future.”
http://www.absolutemichigan.com/dig/michigan/michigan-books-michigans-economic-future/

We don’t need anyone to tell us we’re going through something much different than regular economic cycles. We know we’re trying to expand our markets, many of which will be green markets.  Back in 2006, Governor Granholm issued an Executive Directive for the development of a comprehensive plan for meeting the state’s electric power needs that would include alternative sources and a timetable. As a result the MPSC, Michigan Public Service Commission, developed the 21CEP or 21st Century Energy Plan. That plan calculated what would happen if Michigan’s economy went through a tranformational change for the worse, which is evident as loss of manufacturing capacity and jobs continues: http://www.emaee.org/articles.php?id=42 and http://www.cis.state.mi.us/mpsc/electric/capacity/energyplan/newenergy_oct11_2006rev.pdf

The MPSC calls transformational change for the worse “low load growth sensitivity” and the results of this low demand for electricity is found on page 67 of the above pdf from the MPSC. The table there shows no new coal plants are needed until 2021. This is big difference from DTE’s rate filing before the MPSC that shows no growth demand until 2012, a nine year difference. But it shows that even DTE doesn’t expect any increase in electricity demand for years. Pages 73-75 of http://efile.mpsc.cis.state.mi.us/efile/docs/15417/0001.pdf

There should be a moratorium on any new permits for coalburners then. The rush to get scrubbers on Michigan’s coalburners satisfies Michigan’s lax CO2 laws that state if a number of emissions are eliminated, then the owner of the coalburning facility can apply for a permit to expand that facility and not have to capture or control the remaining emissions. Unfortunately sulfur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen oxide (NOx), mercury, and CO2 are all lumped together. The scrubbers will eliminate the sulfur and nitrogen, but the mercury and more CO2 are good to go. Why the rush to put scrubbers on coal plants now if not to apply for permits, and before the rules change? Any new permits for expansion or new construction of coalburning facilities should be denied because by DTE’s own admission, the increase in demand for electricity in Michigan is simply not there, at least for awhile. 

Back in February before the flu bug got me I read an article in the Detroit Free Press called “Beneath state: A warming solution, Friday, February 22, 2008, Section A, by Tina Lam, about Michigan being the first state to inject CO2 into the earth somewhere around Gaylord. The article said Michigan’s bedrock is perfect for storing the CO2 between layers of the rock. It also said 3 times that it is experimental.

The well head is about 8 feet high with all type of sensors and an underground pipe that sends the CO2 from DTE’s Turtle Creak natural gas plant to the well. The article said CO2 is a by-product of natural gas extracted from underground. The injection process will stop by the end of this month (March).  The well will hold 10,000 tons of CO2.  There are many of these wells that were already used for oil and gas, some 55,000 of them in Michigan! Who knew? And there’s a push to drill for more oil in the lakes? It looks like someone has been busy at it all along. How many wells are there like this in the country? Add over 500,000 abandoned mines too and it truly is a “Swiss Cheese Nation” as I called it before. The term “rape and pillage” comes to mind. Some of these wells are a mile deep. Ouch.

The gas is well below 3,000 feet of any layer from which drinking water comes and spokesman John Austerberry said the CO2 is harmless, that “even if it somehow escaped, it wouldn’t harm anyone.”
Anybody remember a blog I did with the title: “CO2 Buildup Causes Lake to Explode?” Might want to read that again. http://www.blogsmonroe.com/world/?p=226. It’s the first thing I thought about.

American and European opinion differed greatly on that explosion in Africa’s Lake Nios in Cameroon.  It happened in 1986. The lake exploded from 1.6 million tons of CO2 gas being released that had settled on the bottom. Over 1700 people were asphyxiated up to 16 miles away along with all their livestock, some 3000 head of cattle. I’m thinking about the “experimental” word again and lucky us.