The primary purpose of Thermonomics® is to improve the efficiency of air conditioners, chillers, air-conditioning, and refrigerant systems, thereby reducing the cost to operate. This cost reduction is obtained through energy savings, lower maintenance costs and increased life of the equipment. Thermonomics has an activated polar molecule that “seeks out” metal parts, displaces carbon, contaminants and stagnant oil buildup in the condenser and evaporator, and then leaves a microscopic chemical layer, without the introduction of solid particles. This layer provides lubrication 1500% greater than the refrigerant oil alone, which reduces the wear factor by 85% when the system cycles on and off. Thermonomics increases the lubricating ability of the refrigerant oil, displaces the buildup of oil in the condenser and evaporator, thereby restoring the systems ability to transfer heat.

Advantages
• Savings up to 30% or greater on cooling portion of your electric bill
• Extended equipment life
• Increased resistance to oxidation
• 1500% increase in the oil’s ability to lubricate
• Increased volumetric efficiency
• Reduced laminar flow
• Reduced run-time
• Quieter operation – more efficient system
• Saves environmental resources
• For every 1000 kWh saved you stop 1 ton of greenhouse gases from going into the atmosphere.

Advantages
• Solar Water Heating reduces consumption of fossil fuel sources by as much as 85 percent and produce no pollution.
• Provide a fixed cost of energy over the lifetime of the system, with bottom-line savings after the pay back term.
• On demand hot water to steam, ideal for domestic as well as commercial applications.
• Minimal installation times and nearly maintenance free system over the 25 year expected life time of the system.
• Return on investment ranges from three to six years depending on local incentive programs and installations requirements.
• Integrated system design and Carbon Bond program registration where applicable.

Situated in the relative middle of the country, on the Great Lakes, boasting the longest shore line in the continental United States at roughly 3,200 miles, Michigan has an excellent general topography for residential and commercial scale wind power. Rarely is it a question of do we have wind, watch the waving of any flag, rather we need to ask how much wind? Residential and commercial scale wind power is incredibly site specific – affected by a turbines relative proximity to it’s geography, both natural and man made. Where with solar, a fairly accurate prediction for power generation can be made using available sun hours data, for wind it is always recommended that a professional conduct a wind study.

A wind study is a simple process where an anemometer is set up to measure the daily wind speed and it’s direction. For small wind, which is more affected by day to day fluctuations, rarely is a full year of data needed, typically two or three months is fine if the results show a consistent pattern.

Once a study has been conducted and the results analyzed through our network of manufacturers and distributors E4 Global can help determine the best wind power solution to fit your needs.

Advantages
• Cost effective and competitive, after rebates a wind turbine’s cost can be as low as $3.00 per watt.
• ROI ranges from 6 to 12 years depending on area incentives and effectiveness of turbine
• Easy Installation and low maintenance cost, expected lifespan of roughly 25 years

Bioenergy is derived from decomposing organic matter of any type. There are many technologies for capturing and utilizing the gases that are the by-products of the decomposition process. The major applications are for animal farms, where manure is used to feed biodigesters and at land-fill operations where the organic matter is fed into biogas plants. The primary product of biogas plant is methane which is burned in an internal combustion engine to produce electricity. Electricity can then be used on-site or sold to the energy grid.

Advantages
• Bioenergy reduces consumption of fossil fuel resources by as much as 100 percent.
• Provides a fixed cost of energy over the lifetime of the system.
• Cleans water content by 95 percent and produce a rich natural fertilizer.
• Eliminates harmful ground leakage and reduces odor from decaying organic matter by 95 percent.
• ROI can range from four to eight years depending on local incentive programs and installation requirements.
• Integrated system design and Carbon Bond program registration where applicable.

DETROIT, Jan. 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Detroit Edison will expand its renewable energy portfolio with a landfill gas project to be built in Kimball Township at the Smiths Creek Landfill.

Detroit Edison will purchase the 3.2 megawatts (MW) of electricity produced at the Smiths Creek Landfill from Blue Water Renewables Inc., a subsidiary of DTE Biomass Energy. The power purchase agreement was approved by the Michigan Public Service Commission.

The Smith’s Creek Landfill, owned and operated by St. Clair County, operates one of the first commercial-scale septage injection landfill gas systems in the United States, whereby material extracted from septic tanks is applied to the landfill to speed the decomposition of organic waste. This process not only increases the life of the landfill, but also increases the rate of landfill gas generation used to fuel electricity production.

About 75 construction jobs will be created for the facility, which will produce enough electricity to power 3,000 homes. The project is expected to be operational late this year.

The Smiths Creek Landfill project also incorporates an education center to allow schools and community groups to learn about environmentally responsible means of waste disposal, as well as using renewable landfill gas to power electricity generation.

The power purchase agreement is part of Detroit Edison’s efforts to expand the company’s renewable energy resources. To meet the state’s renewable energy goals, Detroit Edison expects to add about 1,200 MW of renewable power. The utility plans to provide 10 percent of its power from renewable resources by 2015. Detroit Edison plans to own facilities to supply up to half of that power and contract with third-party producers for the rest.

Detroit Edison expects the majority of its renewable energy to come from wind resources, but the utility also has two solar energy pilot programs that could produce approximately 20 MW. The utility’s renewable energy capacity under contract is now nearly 4 percent of total generation.

Detroit Edison is an investor-owned electric utility serving 2.1 million customers in Southeastern Michigan and a subsidiary of DTE Energy (NYSE: DTE), a Detroit-based diversified energy company involved in the development and management of energy-related businesses and services nationwide. Information about DTE Energy is available at www.dteenergy.com.

Ann Arbor, Mich.-based DTE Biomass Energy, a subsidiary of DTE Energy, has built and operates more than 25 facilities across the United States that convert landfill gas, or methane, emitted from decomposing landfill refuse into energy such as electricity and steam. These projects recover millions of cubic feet of methane per day, preventing its escape into the atmosphere where it is considered to be a greenhouse gas. Information about DTE Biomass Energy is available at www.dtebe.com.

SOURCE Detroit Edison
RELATED LINKS
Detroit Edison Website
PR Newswire Release

The shift is best captured by GM’s all-in bet on the Volt, a plug-in electric hybrid sedan. It’s hard to understate the scope of GM’s conversion with the Volt. GM was poised to pioneer mainstream electric cars with its EV1 over a decade ago, only to curtail the program in a series of decisions made infamous by the documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car?”

By the mid 2000s, with sales of big SUVs and trucks spinning off proportionally big profits, I can recall senior GM executives disparaging Toyota’s then small-selling Prius as a bad business strategy, describing it as a costly kludge of electric and gas technologies whose price could never cover its cost to build.
]]> http://e4global.net/green-news/green-cars-electrify-detroit-autoshow/feed/ 0 http://e4global.net/green-news/ford-motors-to-go-fully-green/ http://e4global.net/green-news/ford-motors-to-go-fully-green/#comments Sun, 23 Jan 2011 16:44:11 +0000 admin http://e4global.net/?p=127 The Ford Focus Electric includes a green technologies and innovative manufacturing processes along with recycled and renewable materials which will support in making the car fully green. Carrie Majeske, the Ford Motor Company’s product sustainability manager said an EV is also called as a green vehicle, however Ford was looking to go ahead by making the materials which are located inside the Focus Electric more eco-friendly.

Carrie Majeske said with the help of recycled or renewable materials the Ford will reduce the amount of virgin materials utilized by Focus Electric. The Focus Electric is green in places where the consumer expects to be and other places such as seat cushions which are not expected by anyone. The foams that have been used in around 20 Ford vehicles will support the Focus Electric too as the seat cushions shaped from 8% of foam. Lignotock has been used in the door behind the cloth and resulting from 85% wood fibers which reduces the weight along with better sound reducing benefits.

Carrie Majeske added they are looking increase the use of recycled materials in resins as they have a strategy that states the use of post consumer recycled material in huge quantity in a range of plastic applications. The milk jugs and pop bottles have been planned for using at wheel arch liners, underbody shields and air cleaner assemblies. The Ford will also reduce the oil-based plastics in vehicles with the help of recycled content in resins.

Ford and Detroit Edison along with Xtreme Power are planning to develop the largest solar power generation systems in Michigan and EV charging stations at Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne. Ford and Detroit Edison will set up 500 kilowatt solar pv panel system which will also include 750 kilowatt energy storage facility with the capacity to store 2 million watt hours of energy with the help of batteries.
]]> http://e4global.net/green-news/ford-motors-to-go-fully-green/feed/ 0 http://e4global.net/green-news/granholm-announces-michigans-first-large-scale-wind-turbine-manufacturing-project/ http://e4global.net/green-news/granholm-announces-michigans-first-large-scale-wind-turbine-manufacturing-project/#comments Sat, 11 Dec 2010 19:56:24 +0000 admin http://e4global.net/?p=219 Consumers Energy and Traverse-City based Heritage Sustainable Energy announced an agreement today that will result in the first large-scale production of utility-scale wind turbines fully made in Michigan and hundreds of new jobs.

The news was announced at a press conference in Lansing with Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and representatives from Consumers Energy, Heritage and Northern Power Systems and Merrill Technologies Group.

Northern Power Systems will build the direct drive wind turbines in its Saginaw, Michigan, facility where it will employ up to 137 workers by 2014. The company also plans to use substantial supply chain resources in Michigan, including strategic supplier Merrill Technologies Group, also in Saginaw.

The turbines will be shipped to Heritage Sustainable Energy’s wind farm located in the Upper Peninsula’s Garden Peninsula where 80 direct and indirect jobs will be created to support the project development, installation, and operation phases.

Heritage Sustainable Energy will then sell the power it generates to Consumers Energy.

“Development of the wind energy sector is a key piece of Michigan’s strategy to diversify our economy and create clean energy jobs,” said Governor Granholm. “The agreement announced today helps to solidify the state’s emerging leadership in this industry.”

Martin Lagina, president and chief executive officer of Heritage Sustainable Energy, said that the Heritage Garden Wind Farm project exemplifies all of the intended goals of the state’s renewable energy standard: Michigan-based renewable energy generation supplied to Michigan utilities, investment in local economies via job creation, material purchases and an enhanced tax base; and investment in Michigan technology and manufacturing.

“Heritage Sustainable Energy is proud to be a leader in utility-scale wind farm development right here in our own backyard,” Lagina said.

Original M Live Article

She attended the unveiling Friday of a giant wind turbine at Merrill Technologies Group facility in Buena Vista Township.

The Michigan-built 70-foot-long, 300,000-pound turbine will sit atop an electricity generating windmill in Stoney Corners near Cadillac to generate power for more than 250 homes for DTE energy, a Merrill Technologies spokesman said.

“It is so huge,” said Granholm, who compared the hulking component to the size of a Boeing jetliner. “If you go inside the turbine itself you can see the level of sophistication.”

The state has targeted suppliers within wind turbine production, just as it has solar and electric batteries, the governor said.

“The bottom line is our whole strategy has been to create an ecosystem for the building of wind turbines and what this represents is a very significant step forward in doing that,” she said in an interview with The Saginaw News. “What we try to do is identify the holes in the supply chain and go after those suppliers that fill that gap.”

The state, for example, attracted the first foundry in the United States in a half century to locate in Eaton Rapids to cast components for the wind energy industry, she said.

The Merrill Technologies-built 150-ton turbine is the first utility-scale wind generator manufactured in the Michigan, said company spokesman Nate Jonker.

Other companies make wind turbines overseas, in places like China, and import it into the United States, Jonker said. The turbine is the centerpiece of a 2.2-megawatt wind generator built by Barre, Vt.-based Northern Power Systems. The turbine itself is made entirely from Michigan contractors’ components, officials said.

Granholm said Michigan was ranked the fourth best state in the United States to manufacture and generate wind energy, according to a recent federal government survey.

The Great Lakes Offshore Wind Council is preparing a report on harnessing the potential of offshore wind energy, she added.

The governor has made several trips to Great Lakes Bay Region in recent years to tout the rise of green energy, from Merrill’s wind turbine component manufacturing to Hemlock Semiconductor Group multi-billion dollar expansions to produce polycrystalline silicon in Thomas Township. The ultra-pure, silver-rock material is the building block of solar panels and semiconductors.

Original MLive Article