Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/category/energy/page/25/)
These stories are about traditional and alternative energy sources and challenges.
(MI) The Detroit News – The new fuel-efficiency and emission standards may lead to smaller cars with lighter engines. This is not what consumers prefer, auto analysts tell us. They may be right that Americans want big, cheap cars. They also want free gasoline, clean air and complementary cocktails in coach. Meanwhile, they don’t want to send their money to petro-financed terrorists.
(NY) The New York Times – The nationwide automobile mileage and emissions standards announced by President Obama on Tuesday represent a huge step forward in the effort to limit greenhouse gases and reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil. They also represent a departure from the Bush administration’s indifference on these issues and an important down payment on Mr. Obama’s pledge to fashion an aggressive and imaginative energy policy. The standards, forged after weeks of negotiations orchestrated by Carol Browner, the White House coordinator on energy and environmental matters, may also mark the end of decades of wearying, unproductive legal and political combat between the automobile industry and environmentalists. More
(MN) Duluth News Tribune – In 2005, a coalition of Midwestern corn growers, giant agribusinesses, environmental groups and politicians anxious to assuage public concern over dependence on foreign oil joined together to mandate the addition of ever increasing amounts of ethanol to our gasoline. This was never a good idea, but we now know it is even worse than we imagined as we’ve learned more about its impact on our environment, our transportation infrastructure and our economy. More
It’s easy to recognize Fermi 2’s distinctive cooling towers rising over Newport. The nuclear power plant’s hyperbolic-shaped towers have puffed water vapor along the shore of Lake Erie since 1988.
The DTE Energy-owned facility is the newest of Michigan’s three nuclear plants.
Dramatic changes are coming to the networks that bring energy from plants to homes, from the high-voltage lines that carry it over great distances to the house meters that measure how much consumers use, according to officials and industry experts.
(MI) The News-Herald – DTE Energy shut down its Fermi 2 reactor plant in Monroe County on March 28 after an unexpected vibration in plant equipment was detected. John Austerberry, spokesman for DTE, said the nuclear power plant was scheduled to be shut down at 3 a.m. that day for a refuel outage plan. The vibration in the bearings for the turbine was noted at 1:48 a.m., so operators decided to shut the plant down to protect the equipment, Austerberry said. “It was not a safety concern,” he said, adding that the operators responded appropriately. More
By Joe Vaillancourt
LANSING — Twenty years from now, petroleum gasoline may be obsolete. As you pump bio-diesel fuel into your brand-new Ford-GM roadster, you probably won’t think about where the fuel came from. That’s all right — because Michigan government and business are already thinking about bio-diesel fuel, one aspect of green chemistry. Green chemistry could bring vast economic benefits to Michigan while reducing waste and harmful exposure and developing better materials in everyday products, experts say. Green chemistry, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate hazardous substances.