by Bruce Goodman

In its advisory role to the MDEQ on pending air permit applications, the Michigan Public Service Commission staff has found in two separate reports that there is no immediate need for either the 930 MW coal-fired plant proposed by Consumers Power Company nor the 600 MW coal-fired plant proposed by Wolverine Power Cooperative.  Although previously the MPSC had issued a report calling for at least one new power plant, the MPSC staff’s newest electric demand forecasts do not justify the plants. The findings do suggest there would be a need for new capacity if old capacity was retired.  This seems like the card that Consumers Power Company has been unwilling to play, as it has a number of very old coal fired plants.  Accoring to the MPSC staff, if there is no retirement then there is no need for baseload capacity for 13 years. The implications for Detroit Edison’s proposed Fermi 3 nuclear reactor are not clear.  The earliest in-service date for that $10 billion plant would be 2018.

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 by Bruce Goodman

The increase in corn prices brought about by the rush to corn ethanol production was a valuable lesson last year. Now with gasoline prices down, and many corn ethanol plants mothballed, there is time to consider the interplay of food crops and fuel crops. Targeting research and development efforts on crops that do not have much presence on dinner tables seems like a wise policy. Using corn, soybeans and other food crops for fuel instead of food does not seem to be a good idea. The potential for partial solutions such as camelina-based jet fuel and rutabagas for biodiesel are intriguing, but even these approaches have risks. Dedicating acreage to produce fuel crops means it is unavailable for food crops. So a second imperative would be to grow fuel crops on land that is less desirable—find crops that are drought resistant and require less fertilizer/herbicides. But despite noble policy pronouncements, in the end the marketplace will dictate what growers plant each spring.

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by Bruce Goodman

A good example of how agricultural-dependent countries can help sequester carbon and thereby  benefit from the concern about carbon dioxide emissions can be found in the Carbon2Markets Program.  This program, developed by Michigan State University, is an agro-forestry land management program that encourages participation in the carbon credit finance markets by small landholders in developing countries. The Carbon2Markets program includes collaborative projects with farmers, researchers and government agencies in five developing Asian and African countries. MSU researchers help the farmer groups grow high-value forest crops such as jatropha or shea using sustainable methods. The carbon stored in the soil by the trees will be measured and recorded using high-resolution remote-sensing earth- observing satellites, web-GIS tools, and modeling. The measured offsets will allow the farmers to supplement their income by participating in the global carbon market.  It would also be extremely helpful if developed nations worked to create the market for jatropha, shea, and other sustainably produced products.

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 by Bruce Goodman

The U.S. Department of Energy has allocated $45 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for the development, design and construction of a dynamometer and test facility to monitor the performance and reliability of utility-scale wind turbine drivetrain systems.  The operations must be capable of performing highly accelerated life tests of 5 to15 MW-rated wind turbine drivetrains and generators.  NextEnergy and a team of Michigan industries have submitted an application for this competitive bid.   This is an opporunity for Michigan to put itself into the thick of things for the next generation of larger and more powerful wind turbines.  This is especially significant as these larger wind turbines are likely to be deployed in the Great Lakes to serve the many population centers in the Midwest.  Look for a huge boost to come if Chicago garners the 2016 Olympics and strives to make them the “Green Olympics”.  Wind turbines off the shore of Chicago will be an almost certainty.

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 by Bruce Goodman

For some time there has been a cry for a comprehensive national energy policy.  Reliance on the free market to drive energy outcomes has led to a place the country does not want to be.  Clean power technology development has been left to others, principally Europe.  Oil imports to feed the nation’s transportation needs have driven foreign policy decisions and created economic insecurity.  Foreign automobile makers are ahead on energy efficiency and energy technology.  Climate change appears to be upon us whether we are ready or not.  The popular answers to these challenges are aimed at new and different price signals to the marketplace—gasoline tax, carbon tax, cap and trade, cash for clunkers, tax incentives, tax credits, tax rebates, grants, feed in tariffs–and some thought it difficult to solve an algebraic problem with only three variables.  Can there be a single “energy policy”?

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