Energy Evangelists
By Rebecca Tavernini
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.
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.
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