The News Review:
- Enzyme From A Microbe That Lives In A Cow’s Stomach Key To…
- Electrical policy future in Consumers Energy sights
- Watch factory in Otay never quite lived up to billing
- Gas from former landfill powers water recyclers
Enzyme From A Microbe That Lives In A Cow’s Stomach Key To…
Medical News Today – Apr 12, 2008
“The fact that we can take a gene that makes an enzyme in the stomach of a cow and put it into a plant cell means that we can convert what was junk before into biofuel” said Mariam Sticklen MSU professor of crop and soil science. She is presenting at the 235th national American Chemical Society meeting in New Orleans today. The work also is presented in the “Plant Genetic Engineering for Biofuel Production: Towards Affordable Cellulosic Ethanol” in the June edition of Nature Review Genetics. Cows with help from bacteria convert plant fibers called cellulose into energy but this is a big step for biofuel production. Traditionally in the commercial biofuel industry only the kernels of corn plants could be used to make ethanol but this new discovery will allow the entire corn plant to be used – so more fuel can be produced with less cost. Turning plant fibers into sugar requires three enzymes. The new variety of corn created for biofuel production called Spartan Corn III builds on Sticklen’s earlier corn versions by containing all three necessary enzymes.
Electrical policy future in Consumers Energy sights
mlive.com – Apr 12, 2008
Has been with the company 32 years. College:Bachelor of science in engineering Iowa State University 1975. Graduate school: master’s in science of nuclear engineering Iowa State University 1976… Part of that is the renewables part of that is investments in energy efficiencies programs to help our customers to use less and use our products more economically. Some of it is investments in customer service technologies improvements in our distribution system applying new metering technologies to help customers use energy more efficiently and part of its for new base-load capacity. We announced a new coal plant that we would plan on putting on our site in Bay City. Alexander: Consumers Energy has about 5 percent renewables today. Is 10 percent by 2015 aggressive enough for where Michigan needs to be going?Joos: Maybe its not aggressive enough for the long term but it certainly is aggressive between now and 2015. A lot of the low-hanging fruit has been tapped. There is not a lot of opportunity in Michigan to put in new hydroelectric resources that is part of the 5 percent we have now.
Watch factory in Otay never quite lived up to billing
San Diego Union Tribune – Apr 12, 2008
In towns such as Elgin and Rockford Ill. watchmaking became a profitable industry. In the 1880s investors from the Midwest and San Diego decided to bring the “Elgin experience” to the new town of Otay where they hoped a successful watchmaking plant would engineer growth in the South Bay community. Groundbreaking for the first watchmaking factory west of the Mississippi was announced on Feb. The weekly Otay Press heralded the plans for a three-story plant at the corner of Tremont Street and Fresno Avenue. Twenty-five carloads of lumber and 270000 red bricks were en route to the site by rail car… Groundbreaking for the first watchmaking factory west of the Mississippi was announced on Feb. The weekly Otay Press heralded the plans for a three-story plant at the corner of Tremont Street and Fresno Avenue. Twenty-five carloads of lumber and 270000 red bricks were en route to the site by rail car. Once operational the Press reported the plant would employ 600 people and produce 250 watches a day. Prosperity seemed assured. In the next several weeks local newspapers chronicled the progress of the watch factory.
Gas from former landfill powers water recyclers
San Diego Union Tribune – Apr 12, 2008
The water district agreed to buy the power from the county at 7. 65 cents per kilowatt hour for five years. Jason Forga a senior civil engineer in the county's Landfill Management Section said officials believe the electricity revenue will go beyond covering the cost of the turbines and the pipeline. Forga said the county is hoping for $8000 a month in revenue which would recoup the expense for the project after four or five years. The county began using the methane for power in about 2001 when it began generating power at the landfill and sold it to San Diego Gas & Electric. That contract expired in 2005 and has since been renewed for temporary six-month increments. The Ralph Chapman Water Recycling Facility produces up to 1… “Don't get me wrong. If I see tens of thousands of dollars I'll pick it up. ”Although the landfill and water recycling plant are located a short distance apart the two do not share a property boundary. That presented a problem for using methane to power the water plant because utility regulations only allow landfills to ship electricity to properties that are directly adjacent to the landfill. Engineers got around that requirement by building the pipeline to the water recycling plant and generating the power on water district property. Watton said the generators have been running for about two months for initial testing and appear to be working as planned. The agreement between the county and the water district runs five years with an option to extend.