Energy

These stories are about traditional and alternative energy sources and challenges.

Michigan Materials Management Facilities. Image: EGLE

State expanding e-waste recycling in the Upper Peninsula

By Elinor Epperson | August 21, 2024

By Elinor Epperson

Residents of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula have more options for recycling their old electronics. That’s because of Michigan’s Electronic Waste Take-Back Program. The state program has opened nine more permanent drop-off locations for electronic waste since 2021, more than doubling the number of facilities in the U.P. The program makes sure Michigan residents have access to e-waste recycling that meets state regulations. E-waste recycling facilities have been in the Lower Peninsula for years, but the majority are in the southern part of the state. No e-waste is recycled in the U.P.

Contractors pick it up from drop-off stations or events and transport it to recycling facilities in Wisconsin or the Lower Peninsula.

ty Center is run by Community Action Network in partnership with the city of Ann Arbor, Michigan. The center’s solar power system is part of the agency’s growing renewable energy projects in the city’s underserved communities. Image: Elinor Epperson

Ann Arbor ballot proposal promises affordable access to renewable energy

Electronics contain critical minerals such as copper, nickel, gold, lithium and cobalt needed to make batteries for electric vehicles and to electrify Michigan’s energy grid. Image: Gabrielle Nelson

The electric energy future could be wasting away in a junk drawer

Indiana climate groups push renewable energy as coal use drops

Electric vehicle charging stations to be installed at more state parks

Energy

Book documents uranium pollution of First Nation community

By Daniel Schoenherr | October 3, 2023

Lianne Leddy grew up with stories of the uranium mining that poisoned her Anishinaabek community in Ontario.

Now, she’s retelling these stories through Serpent River Resurgence, her new book based on documents and interviews from family and friends who lived through the environmental crisis.

Energy

MiWaterNet monitors quality of northern Michigan streams

By Nicoline Bradford | February 27, 2023

This network provides valuable, real time data on a stream’s water quality, level and temperature.

Biofuel

University of Wisconsin partnership converts manure to jet fuel while easing climate change

By Anastasia Pirrami | January 6, 2023

The California based company refines biogases produced by landfills, food waste or manure from Wisconsin farms into fuel.

Energy

Study details impact of COVID-19 pandemic on energy bills

By Borjana Alia | January 3, 2023

Utilities and government agencies are cooperating in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and other Great Lakes states to ease the burden and risks of energy uncertainty for low-income households.

Energy

Ann Arbor developers create solar neighborhood

By Genevieve Fox | December 30, 2022

Each home will have all-electric appliances powered by solar panels. They will be built with sustainably harvested wood.

CIGLR

Ice makes oil spills harder to detect, easier to contain

By Cameryn Cass | December 22, 2022

Over half of the Michiganders surveyed in the study were extremely concerned about an oil spill at the straits. Most preferred that the almost 70-year-old pipeline be shut down.

cosmic

Heat detector finds explosive stars in cosmic game of “I Spy”

By Kate Townley | December 21, 2022

As surveys monitor large parts of the sky at a time, they are more likely to observe short-lived events.

Climate change

Iron, salt and water could change the grid

By Jake Christie | December 1, 2022

Iron-flow batteries could be the technology that helps pave the way for the Great Lakes region’s green energy future.

Energy

Solar-powered Lilypad gets Michigan launch

By Anastasia Pirrami | November 2, 2022

A solar-powered boat has recently emerged on the Kalamazoo River that can run even through the night after the sun fully charges it.

Energy

Nuclear power concerns outlast decommissioning

By Cameryn Cass | February 4, 2022

As Michigan and other states gradually move away from coal and other brown energy sources, there’s growing interest in carbon-free alternatives, including nuclear energy, which some advocates call a “clean alternative” that now fuels 30% of Michigan’s total electricity. With Palisades and other plants in the Great Lakes region scheduled to shut down in the coming decades, more people are considering the long-term impacts of this energy source.