Energy Evangelists
Diesel vehicles running on vegetable oils.
Water fountains powered by the sun.
Free furnaces.
Sound crazy? Futuristic? Maybe so, but they’re real efforts being undertaken by NMU grads and embraced by the Marquette community and beyond.
In hopes of spreading the word and use of renewable energy options and energy efficiency, Northern Options was started in true grassroots style by former NMU student Jennifer Silverston and downstate Urban Options Executive Director Aileen Gow, who met at a Marquette Citizens for Wind event, a group Silverston founded. Drawn to the organization by a grant to do community biodiesel education, environmental scientist TJ Brown ’05 BS joined the small staff, who at first worked out of their homes.
Today, Northern Options has a downtown Marquette office and is part of a group of eight Michigan Energy Demonstration Centers—the only one in the Upper Peninsula. Jennifer Binkley-Power ’97 BS (with a master’s in environmental policy) is now the organization’s program manager.
Their work goes far beyond oil and water, though.
They’ve assisted Marquette’s historic Landmark Inn to become the Upper Peninsula’s first Green Lodging facility by assessing and recommending changes to energy usage.
They’re working with the City of Marquette to meet the goals of the Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement, a national initiative. And they’ve created and posted greenways trail maps of the city, designed to make Marquette more walkable and bikable.
They’re also helping the Upper Peninsula Children’s Museum be more energy-efficient and to create an “Enlightening Power” wind and solar exhibit—that’s where the solar fountain comes in. It will provide an outdoor habitat for the museum’s popular reptiles and teach kids about sun energy. Inside, there will be a solar house and hands-on modules about different types of power and fuel.
Kids at Marquette Senior High School and students who attended the annual Great Lakes Youth Symposium didn’t only learn about biodiesel, they made samples, tested them and poured them into Brown’s truck. When the high school program was introduced in 2006, students were so excited by this effort that 40 participated in the chemistry labs after school. Using waste soybean oil from a local restaurant, and virgin oils such as sunflower, canola and peanut, they chemically processed biodiesel with methanol and sodium hydroxide. The samples were tested for acidity, specific gravity and cold-flow properties. The students also performed a 13-week-long bus trial using 300 gallons of purchased biodiesel. After convincing bus drivers and head mechanics to use the biodiesel, the students “splash blended” different mixes, from a 5-percent bio-to-diesel ratio to a 20-percent blend. The students also worked with U.P. Engineers and Architects to measure exhaust emissions, including unburned hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds and carbon monoxide.
The high school students then shared their research project with two other schools, the local school board, the City of Marquette’s Transportation Advisory Committee, and more than 100 Upper Peninsula fleet managers who attended a 2006 Biodiesel Workshop at Northern Michigan University.
The students aren’t the only ones learning. “The kids teach me so much based on their questions,” says Brown, who has continued presenting about biodiesel and energy efficiency around the U.P. “We get a great response from children, especially with energy efficiency, since they have an immediate impact. Kids can take energy efficiency to the next level because they can see and feel the results and teach their parents how to save money.”
Northern Options also focuses its energy on homes. On-site energy audits are offered to low- and moderate-income households. These are practical, do-it-now visits, where Brown goes into a home and insulates windows, doors and outlets, wraps hot water pipes and installs compact fluorescent lightbulbs, all while educating the homeowner about other ways to save on heating and electrical costs—some of them simple behavioral changes. “We’ll usually save them 15 to 20 percent, and in some instances up to 50 percent,” says Brown. “Often it’s not a drastic difference right away, but over time it really adds up.”
Through another grant program they’re also able to replace furnaces for low-income clients. These same services are available to any resident and to businesses for a reasonable fee.
Not only are clients shown a report of the money they’ll save with usually low-cost modifications, but the measured reductions they’ll make in carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions.
Little by little, more people are seriously looking at their energy usage and alternatives for today and the future.
“There are many creative people who are working on new solutions and who embrace a new way of doing things,” says Binkley-Power. “But generally it’s a slow process. I don’t mean to sound bleak, but it won’t be a choice in the future, as people will be forced to do these things because of rising prices, much more regulation and legislation and stricter building codes.”
“We have a lot of education still left to give,” adds Brown.
Who knows what idea lightbulbs (the compact fluorescent kind, of course) will be sparked by the students Northern Options teaches, and what energy solutions their imaginations will fuel.
Urban Options 30 Year Anniversary Party Announcement
March 21, 2008
You are invited to join old and new friends at Urban Options on March 21 from 5:30pm to 9pm to celebrate 30 exciting years of providing Michigan with energy and environmental solutions.
The event will be held at the Urban Options Energy Center, 405 Grove Street, East Lansing, MI, 48823. Please bring a favorite dish to pass.
“So many friends, family and colleagues have left their mark at the organization and without their help and support, Urban Options and Northern Options, which opened in the UP in 2004, would not be where it is today,” said Aileen Gow, Executive Director. “We are proud of the growth Urban Options and Northern Options has experienced since their inception and we look forward to the next 30 years.”
For information regarding the event, please call 517-337-0422 ext. 4.
Energy assessment a good start
MARQUETTE — T.J. Brown climbs into the crawl space of a 118-year-old building complex. Methodically, he inspects the foundation, insulation and the pipes that run into and out of the heating units.
“This is copper,” he said, pointing at the hot water line. “Copper hot water lines lose heat all the time; the energy just goes into the crawl space.”
Brandon Croney, 26, — owner of the complex on Division Street — stands next to Brown and listens as Brown advises him to wrap the first six feet of the line in pipe wrap to avoid losing energy.
What Brown was doing is called a home energy assessment — a low-cost service offered by the energy education center Northern Options in Marquette.
Northern Options, created in 2004, is a branch of the downstate based not-for-profit organization Urban Options, which provides energy and environmental information and services.
A state-designated and grant-funded energy demonstration center, Northern Options aims to educate Upper Peninsula residents on energy efficiency, renewable energy, sustainable building practices, alternative fuels and worm composting.
“We get a lot of people coming to us for low-cost tips that in the long run will save them energy and money,” said Jennifer Binkley-Power, Northern Options program manager.
Brown, Northern Options project coordinator, was doing his latest home energy assessment on Croney’s five-unit residential and business complex that he had recently purchased. Originally constructed in 1890, an addition was built in 1947. In 1991 the building was remodeled.
“When we go to the houses, we’ll put on a door sweep, put on a window kit, change light bulbs (from incandescent to energy saving compact fluorescent bulbs), put seals on the side of their doors — anything we can do to stop ... (outside air) infiltration,” Brown said.
The Upper Peninsula Children’s Museum had an energy assessment done last October, and according to Director Nheena Weyer Ittner the museum has implemented several of the suggestions made by Northern Options.
“We were able to do the things that weren’t outrageously expensive, but many of the recommendations were very plausible,” Weyer Ittner said. “(For instance), all windows and doorways were caulked and sealed with weather stripping.”
In addition to changing light bulbs to energy efficient ones, Weyer Ittner had many of the thermostats in the building switched to programmable ones, “so they are programmed down at non-use times,” she said.
Other changes included lowering the temperatures of all water heaters to 120 degrees, adjusting float levels in the toilets to the minimum water amount, turning down water pressure in the sinks and placing insulation blankets on all of the water heaters.
Maintenance and the regular cleaning of filters, fans and motors is also crucial, according to Brown. The regular maintenance not only saves energy, but extends the life of a furnace or heater.
Weyer Ittner said the museum participates in a furnace maintenance program to take care of those needs.
Another easy energy saving change made in the museum was putting exhibit lights and flashing lights on timers so they automatically shut off instead of being left on, she said.
“In regards to recognizing an immediate change, it’s very hard,” Weyer Ittner said. “Since weather is always a factor and energy prices have fluctuated, it may take years of logging in data before we can emphatically give real numbers and savings. That said, I feel good about every change we have made, we are going in the right direction in being wise stewards of our environment and fiscally responsible.”
For more information, go to www.northernoptions.org
Energy cost, efficiency worries more state residents
Posted by By HARRY GILLEN February 01, 2008 12:21PM
LANSING - Michigan residents are more concerned with renewable
energy sources and the rising costs of energy than they were two years
ago, according to a survey by the Institute for Public Policy and
Social Research (IPPSR) at Michigan State University.
The survey found that 94.5 percent of those polled consider the
cost of energy to be a long-term problem, up from 86.3 percent in 2005.
"I think it says that people are more informed and more engaged in
renewable energy, and have better ideas about what alternative energy
means," said AnnMarie Schneider, the program ...
Pierce Cedar Creek Institute Conference
Pierce Cedar Creek Institute has opened registration for the
6th Annual Renewable Energy Conference scheduled for Saturday, March
15, 2008.
The keynote speaker will feature Todd Parker from the Delta
Institute who will be giving a talk entitled “Blazing a Trail for a
Better World: How the Chicago Climate Exchange Has Advanced the National
Discussion on Climate Change”. Breakout sessions include An
Economic Analysis of Renewable Energy Systems; Solar Hot Water; Building
an Energy Efficient Home; and a State of the State Address from John
Sarver of the Michigan Energy Office. Registration is only $30 for
adults and $15 for students. For a conference brochure and ...<< MORE >>
Setting Up a Recycling System at School
In Business, November-December, Vol. 29, No. 6, p. 16
Oregon Middle School provides a working model to recover food residuals showing what can be accomplished and how.
Shara Anslow
The Portland, Oregon metropolitan area generates an estimated 280,000 tons per year of organic residuals - comprised of plants, food and food-soiled paper. To reclaim this material, the City of Portland Office of Sustainable Development launched the “Portland Composts” program. Since the inception of the program in 2005, Portland Composts has recruited over 250 participants and this year will capture a projected 12,000 tons of organics for recycling. Thus far, this industrial organics waste composting endeavor has not been financially self-supporting. However, validated by a broad community recycling ethic and substantiated by local governmental commitment, a potentially sustainable system for composting organics is in place.
The
resource cycling stream in this system consists of: Waste-generating
institution; Independent waste hauler; Portland Metro Transfer (&
Allied Waste Management); Cedar Grove Composting; and Usable compost
The program serves many institutions - from large, e.g., Oregon Health and Science University, to small, e.g., coffee shops - all working to change how garbage leaves their facilities. This article describes how Alice Ott Middle School partners with Portland Composts to create a composting system in their school.
Natalie Osborn, principal at Alice Ott, embraced composting with the perspective of educating students and staff about the responsibility to “live green.” Upon meeting Osborn, I was assured that the school's ultimate experience with the program would depend on institutional support above and beyond the school.
Andy Schneider, program coordinator of Portland Composts, offered a broad view of how institutions, e.g., Alice Ott Middle School, succeed in implementing refuse management system changes. According to Schneider, Alice Ott's program success depends upon:
- School principal (i.e., manager) buy-in, “with a smile!” Osborn has personal interest and drive to create an atmosphere where environmental issues are in the forefront. The methods and tactics enlisted to promote, establish and manage the composting program reflect her dynamic commitment.
- Establishment and training of an effective Green Team to educate and monitor students in processing lunch leftovers. Currently, at Alice Ott, teachers and staff make up the Green Team. However, Osborn is endeavoring to promote a different image to her student body. She feels that if the Green Team were “cool” she could begin to rely upon student leaders to role-model, educate and monitor the food waste disposal lines in the cafeteria. Meanwhile, until she has recruited sufficient parents and students for the Green Team, she has allocated staff. Since Osborn initiated the program in January 2007, she has used an enthusiastic, problem-solving staff to establish the atmosphere and habits supportive of a sustainable recycling program.
- Point of entry visuals for recyclers. This includes clear signage and adherence to container color (green for composting, blue for recycling). Portland Compost's Schneider has also altered the lids of containers to help distinguish recycling from food residuals. As a home-garage project, Schneider has cut half-circle openings in the lids of food waste bins. This visual reinforcer helps keep students from putting nonfood contaminants into food waste receptacles.
- Confront problems immediately. For example, Osborn spoke about how she resolved a metal contaminants problem. Students were accidentally dropping forks into food compostables bins. She consulted with school maintenance, which produced a powerful magnet attached to a rod. Now, when students drop forks into the bins, they alert staff, who employ the magnet to fish out the forks. Schneider noted that with larger groups composting, the probability of contaminants increases.
AN ASIDE ON DURABLE GOODS
When assessing the school waste,
Osborn was struck by how many sporks (plastic spoon-forks) the school
used each day. Garbage cans were burdened with over 700 sporks at
lunch. Consulting with kitchen staff, Osborn decided to buy metal
forks. With the increased prevalence of single-use eating ware, many
school kitchens have phased out dishwashers. Fortunately, Alice Ott
Middle School kitchen retains theirs.
Osborn used the forks as a tracking system for responsible cafeteria processing. She asked students to be careful, keeping the composting containers contaminant free by not dropping forks in with their residuals. Forks were counted at the end of the month. Osborn set goals and reported the results to her students. She rewarded them with locker stickers for being a Good Green School. According to Osborn, “Kids get it. We model composting and recycling and they understand the need to control garbage.”
My conversations with Schneider and Osborn made this point clear: leadership ecoethics for reducing landfill waste and the enthusiasm for system and behavioral changes are determining factors in school program participation. One person can make the difference. Portland Public Schools (PPS) piloted Portland Composts and did not have the same success that Osborn reports.
DEPENDENCE UPON LARGER SYSTEM SUPPORT
Portland Public Schools
found a significant benefit to reclaiming edible food waste. (See:
BioCycle article, “Diverted School Food Feeds the Hungry in the August,
2006 issue, access at:
www.jgpress.com/archives/_free/001048.html
However, they did not have positive results when they attempted to reclaim postconsumer food waste. PPS piloted Portland Composts for three months in 35 of their 85 schools. From this test, PPS determined the cost to implement the program to be prohibitive. The conclusion of the Organics Collection Pilot Project report states: “It is particularly frustrating that grant money exists for participating customer infrastructure improvements but the parameters specifically exclude biobags.”
Osborn reports that the biobags used in composting cost 20-40 cents more per bag. She feels that in the interest of teaching students, spending the extra money is “the right thing to do.” Osborn's school composting system has been in progress for nearly a year and according to the kitchen and maintenance staff “the program is doable” and a “great way to teach the kids to be environmentally responsible.”
Adopters of institutional organics waste composting remind me that a bottom-line orientation does not inherently provide the mentality or motivation for innovation. A work ethic - which includes ecological sensitivity - will fuel dedication to supportive systemic change.
Penny Erickson, site manager for Portland METRO Transfer, presented this vision of the development of the composting program: The role of government is to facilitate innovative systems to solve social / environmental problems. The goal of this program is to create a viable infrastructure designed to resolve a piece of the solid waste disposal problem. In the future, this system will be operated by the private sector. In the interim, organic waste composting will be subsidized.
METRO TRANSFER STATION AND ALLIED WASTE MANAGEMENT
Metro
contracts with Allied Waste Management, a national corporation, for the
operation of the 61st Street METRO transfer station in Portland. Allied
is a system participant for all types of waste transfer. Organic waste
is delivered to the station and inspected by staff. Bob Brandenburg, an
Allied employee, walked me through the warehouse where organic waste is
dumped, inspected and loaded for shipment. He has worked at the station
since the composting program started and is impressed with the amount
of material institutions sequester for recycling. Bob also noticed an
increase in the quality of material folks are delivering. He feels that
people “get the idea.”
Cedar Grove Composting picks up the organic waste for processing at their Maple Valley, Washington plant, which is 160 miles from the METRO transfer site. Cedar Grove hauls 26 tons of waste per truck 11 to 13 times a week. The number of miles organic waste travels for processing is about the same number of miles unreclaimed waste travels to the Arlington landfill in eastern Oregon.
Cedar Grove is actively looking for property to build a composting facility in the Portland area. A feasible facility will require at least 20 acres to process up to 800,000 tons per year of organics. DEQ restrictions and NIMBY obstruction are delaying the purchase of land.
ORGANIC WASTE PICKUP
Portland area waste haulers are independent contractors. There are no set franchise fees for hauling waste. The tipping fee haulers pay
for disposing organics at METRO is $47.50 per ton (compared to landfill
refuse at $71.00 per ton). The hauling fee charged to clients varies.
Several factors influence the fees charged. If clients produce
contaminated waste, haulers often pay the higher tipping fee. Organic
waste pickup sites are scattered throughout the city. To collect a full
load, routes are often longer, which increases operating expenses.
Both Penny Erickson and Andy Schneider talked about the independent hauler system in terms of information sharing. Erickson stated that METRO operates as a regulator for haulers. Within this system of waste generator to hauler to METRO, information could be shared to improve institutional success rates with organics composting.
With an increase in participants, Schneider has started to rely on
email and phone calls for follow up with composting organizations. He
simply does not have time for many repeat site checks. If haulers
provided Schneider with feedback about how program participants were
doing, he could increase targeted outreach for problem-solving.
However, the established “regulatory” relationship prevents the easy
development of cooperative information-sharing.
As in any effort to convert resource exploitation from linear to loop,
sustainable organics composting depends upon committed personnel,
professional networking and cooperative individual relationships, in
order to achieve competitive financial self-sufficiency.
Shara Anslow is employed as a Nutrition Educator in the Oregon State University Extension Service and is currently enrolled in a graduate program of the Communication Department at Portland State University.
MICHIGAN SCHOOL GETS SOLAR POWERED WORM BIN
The Woodcreek Math, Science and Engineering Magnet School in
Lansing, Michigan has been using worms to compost food waste for
several years, but the winters have proved too harsh for the helpful
wrigglers. In the winter of 2005, some shocked fifth graders discovered
their worms frozen to death. As reported in the Lansing State Journal:
“It caused a trauma because all the students thought of the worms as
their pets,” said Diane Graham, an engineering and science specialist
at the school.
Urban Options has provided composting information and services since its founding in 1978. “For the past 11 years we have been subcontracted by the Solid Waste Reduction Services Division of the City of Lansing to provide compost education (specifically worm composting) to elementary school children in the Lansing School District,” explains Jim Meyerle, Education Manager at Urban Options. He continues that composting is an important partof the organization's mission: to encourage efficient use of energy and resources. This includes information requests, an edible forest garden site (that demonstrates efficient use of energy and resources) and community events and workshops (including step- by-step worm bin setups).
Urban Options and the City of Lansing's Waste Reduction Services were awarded the 2007 Outstanding Composting Award from the Michigan Recycling Coalition. For more information, visit: UbanOptions.org, or call (517) 337-0422, ext 2.
Organization Helping Residents with Energy Efficiency
Good news for Lansing
residents struggling to pay their utility bills. Urban Options and the
city of Lansing are offering free energy visits to help make your home
more energy efficient. The service is meant for those wanting to save
money on their utility bills. To apply, you must live in Lansing and
can call Heather Mann at 517-337-0422, extension 6 to schedule an
appointment. ...<< MORE >>
Woodcreek kids find way to keep worm 'pets' warm
Published December 12, 2007
[ From Lansing State Journal ]
With help of MSU, new solar design heats compost bin
Derek Wallbank
Lansing State Journal
With a count of "One, two, three!" the ribbon was cut on a cutting-edge engineering marvel dreamed up by Lansing fifth-graders.
The invention is a solar-heated worm bin, which students at Woodcreek Magnet Academy will use to compost uneaten food from lunch.
The students' triumph started as a tragedy. Woodcreek Elementary students have used an unheated composting bin for several years, but some ...<< MORE >>
Capital Area District Library: Sustainable Living Exhibition
We
have chosen Inconvenient Truth, by Al Gore, as our countywide read for
2008. Discussions of the book will be taking place in all of our 14
branches and will be featured in area bookstores. As a culminating
event, we decided on a panel of three presenters which we hope can range
from an overview of global warming (Steve Curwood, author and host of the NPR
program Living on Earth); to an idea of what a community can do ( David
Konkle, Energy Coordinator for the City of Ann Arbor); to a very personal
account of living sustainably (author Judith Levine, Not Buying It: My
Year Without Shopping).
The
event will be at the Lansing Center, March 19, 2008, from 6-9 pm.
Experts say energy efficiency will come from new building codes
For some environmentalists, curbing greenhouse gases requires more than renewable energy — it requires energy efficiency.
Energy
efficiency doesn’t just mean encouraging people to turn off the lights
after leaving a room, said David Gard, energy program director for the
Michigan Environmental Council.
It also requires that
buildings be constructed to minimize energy use and that consumers have
access to energy-efficient appliances, Gard said.
“There are some regulatory barriers to move in that direction,” Gard said.
Energy-efficient buildings could become the norm if proposals in front of the ...
<< MORE >>