An Ontario power company would like to see a high-powered transmission line built to Chicago. The plan includes stringing a high-voltage power line under Lake Superior. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mike Simonson has more:
Transcript
An Ontario power company would like to see a high-powered transmission
line built to Chicago. The plan would include stringing a high-voltage
power line under Lake Superior. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mike
Simonson has more:
This plan is part of a project that would build high-capacity generating
plants in Ontario, selling excess power to the United States. Larry
Hebert is the general manager of Thunder Bay Hydro. He says this is at
least five years off. By that time, Hebert expects the demand for power
in the U.S. to increase.
“Certainly, the need for power doesn’t seem to be diminishing, despite the cries for conservation
and wise use of power. Certainly in this province of Ontario, we seem to be
using more and more every year.”
Hebert expects the most controversial part of the project will be laying
a 90-mile long cable under Lake Superior to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula,
and run a high-voltage line down Wisconsin’s eastern side to Chicago.
Mary Pat Blankenheim with the Wisconsin-based American Transmission
Company says Thunder Bay Hydro’s proposal is intriguing.
“And especially given the fact that we are
looking for new ways of getting energy to the
areas where it’s needed.
But again the only way to get it there is by transmission.”
Hebert says they’re investigating permit applications with the Army Corp
of Engineers.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Mike Simonson.
State governments facing major budget problems are being urged to look for ways to trim their bottom line. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports that some say simply flipping a switch will save taxpayer money:
Transcript
State governments facing major budget problems are being urged to look for ways to trim their
bottom line. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports that some say
simply flipping a switch will save taxpayer money:
Most state governments not only have deficits for the current fiscal year, they also face deficits
for the coming budget cycle. Environmental groups say the states can patch a bit of their budget
hole by switching to more efficient light bulbs and turning off lights and computers when no
one’s in govenment office buildings. In Wisconsin, the Public Interest Research Group says the
state could save between nine and eighteen million dollars a year. Group director Kerry
Chumann admits that some conservation moves require changing people’s behavior.
“But I think we haven’t even done first step of putting a policy in place to say let’s do this. Let’s
cut our energy costs by doing simple things.”
For the longer term, Schumann also backs energy saving ideas that may take some major up-front
investments. Those include getting rid of gas guzzling state cars and switching to alternative
fueled vehicles.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Chuck Quirmbach reporting.
Soon you’ll be seeing a label on some lights that you might buy for your house. The label will warn that the light bulbs contain mercury. It’s the result of a five-year court battle. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
Soon you’ll be seeing a label on some lights that you might buy for your house. The label will
warn that the light bulbs contain mercury. It’s the result of a five-year court battle. The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
Fluorescent lamps need mercury to operate. But mercury is known to cause health problems. So,
keeping it out of the environment is important. The State of Vermont passed a law requiring a
label, warning of the mercury. The lamp makers fought it, but finally lost when the Supreme
Court refused to hear the case. It’s impossible to label just the bulbs sold in Vermont, so, that
means you’ll see the labels in your state too. That includes those newer energy efficient compact
fluorescent lights. Michael Bender is Director of the Mercury Policy Project and lobbied for the
Vermont law.
“We fully support and encourage people to use these energy efficient lights, but at the same time
we encourage consumers to be aware that they have mercury in them and that they should not be
disposed in the trash. Instead they should be kept intact and not broken and brought in for
recycling.”
The labels will begin appearing later this year.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.
People who live next to poultry farms often complain about the smell, and environmental groups often complain about the pollution. Now farmers are looking for solutions. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Michael Leland reports that one group of farmers wants to convert farm animal waste into energy:
This story was researched and written by Corie Wright.
Transcript
People who live next to poultry farms often complain about the smell. And
environmental groups often complain about the pollution. Now farmers are looking
for solutions. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Michael Leland reports that
one group of farmers wants to convert farm animal waste into energy:
The group is calling itself West Michigan Co-Gen. Co-Gen stands for co-
generation – a process that takes one form of fuel and converts it into two forms
of energy. In this case, farmers are looking into building a plant that would
convert poultry manure into electricity and steam. Chuck Pistis is with
Michigan State University’s Agricultural Extension. He says not only could the
plant reduce odors, it could also reduce pollution from poultry waste.
“This plant would result in reducing
the volume of this waste by 70%, so you’d be able to
generate steam and
electricity and then the 30% of the waste that’s remaining would be further processed
by fertilizer manufacturers.”
Pistis says Co-Gen must perform a feasibility study to see if it would be cost-
effective and practical. If the plant becomes a reality it could be the first co-
generation facility in the region to use poultry manure as fuel.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Michael Leland.
An increase in the number of households throughout the world is threatening the environment, according to new research in the scientific journal Nature. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Erin Toner explains:
Transcript
An increase in the number of households throughout the world is threatening the environment,
according to new research in the scientific journal Nature. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s
Erin Toner explains:
Researchers studied what they call “hotspot countries” – places where native species are
threatened by human activity. They counted 155-million more households since 1985. The study
says the reason for the increase is because fewer people are living under one roof. The number of
households grew even in countries where the population is going down.
Michigan State University researcher Jack Liu took part in the study. He says households with
fewer people aren’t necessarily more efficient.
“For example, in a two person household you would have one refrigerator. In a four-person
household you also have one refrigerator. So the energy efficiency in the two-person household
would be lower.”
Liu says reasons for the increase in households include the high divorce rate and a drop in the
number of generations living under the same roof.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Erin Toner.
Low prices for corn and soybeans have led many Midwest farmers to look for a new crop to mix with their usual rotation. Some are turning to plants grown specifically for what’s called “biomass.” Biomass crops can be used as fuel. While research on biomass is in its infancy… one particular crop has caught the eye of researchers who say it would be perfect for Midwest power plants. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Shawn Johnson reports:
Transcript
Low prices for corn and soybeans have led many Midwest farmers to look for a new crop to mix
with their usual rotation. Some are turning to plants grown specifically for what’s called
“biomass.” Biomass crops can be used as fuel. While research on biomass is in its infancy… one
particular crop has caught the eye of researchers who say it would be perfect for Midwest power
plants. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium Shawn Johnson reports:
In a farm field not too far from the University of Illinois stands a small plot of miscanthus. The
wavy, 12-foot tall grass topped with fluffy, seedless flowers is native to some places in Europe,
where it’s catching on as a crop to burn. Researcher john clifton-brown of Trinity College in
Dublin, Ireland has grown miscanthus on his father’s farm for 12 years now. He says it’s a
natural fit for Illinois.
“You seem to have in Illinois superb soil. You seem to have very low corn prices. You have
rainfall. And these factors combined look like a golden opportunity for the development of
renewable energy from biomass crops like miscanthus.”
Miscanthus is giant grass that can be planted in the same fields that normally grow corn and
soybeans. The similarities pretty well stop there. Where most Midwest farmers are used to
growing crops that produce food, miscanthus is grown specifically to be chopped off, bailed, and
burned, usually with coal in coal-fired power plants.
John Caveny owns the land where this miscanthus plot is growing. He stops short of calling this
a new way of farming:
“Well, in way it is, in a way it isn’t. What all farmers do, when you get right down to it, is
advance the value of sunlight energy. That’s what you do, whether you grow tomatoes, whether
you grow flowers, whether you grow grass, whether you grow corn.”
In the case of growing miscanthus, the process is much different than that of most Midwest crops.
Farmers use multi-row planters pulled behind tractors to plant corn and soybeans. To grow
miscanthus, a producer needs to dig holes and plant sprigs of the grass one at a time to be
successful. The crop will grow back on its own year after year for up to 30 years, but it’s not big
enough to be harvested the first few years its in the ground. Even with all these complications,
University of Illinois researcher Steve Long says a farmer who’s willing to make an investment in
miscanthus can reap great rewards in the long run.
“You do need labor to put this into the ground, but then after that, this is considerably less labor
than corn or soybeans, and on current figures, it is more profitable.”
Those figures are more theory than reality at this point, because a market for miscanthus has yet
to emerge. Dynegy is the only power company that buys miscanthus in this part of Illinois. And
even dynegy won’t be ready to harvest biomass crops on a large scale for another five years. But
the energy company projects it could eventually pay 40 dollars per ton of dried… harvested
miscanthus. That’s pretty good money for the farmers. The reason dynegy will pay that much?
While it doesn’t burn as efficiently as coal… miscanthus emits far fewer pollutants. And while it
emits greenhouse gases such as CO-2 while it’s burning, it will recapture those gases when it
grows. As energy companies are forced to meet more and more environmental requirements,
Dynegy’s Chris Williams says miscanthus becomes appealing:
“It’s getting closer and closer to the cost of coal generation. And you look at that with the
environmental benefits of the biomass, it really makes sense to do the research now to get it into
production as soon as we can.”
Dynegy is looking for farmers to grow miscanthus within a 50-mile radius of one of its central
Illinois power plants. But the company doesn’t know how many farmers it will be able to find.
Even if enough farmers are interested, dynegy is still working out the specifics of harvesting,
shipping, and burning grass effectively.
Miscanthus and biomass crops such as corn for ethanol and soybeans for soy diesel are just part
of a growing renewable energy market. And they face plenty of competition. Hans Detweiller is
with the environmental law and policy center, which advocates renewable energy in the Midwest.
Detweiller says wind and solar power generation are simply more established than biomass right
now:
“Biomass energy has more questions I think in the minds of the public than some of the other
energy sources, but we would like to see more of it. Especially where you can get parallel
benefits such as increased water quality, increased wildlife habitat, things like that.”
Detweiller says miscanthus could fit that billing, but other biomass crops might be more suitable.
Depending upon who you talk to, fields of young aspen or willow trees could even be the biomass
crops of the future. And Detweiller says a native plant like switchgrass is an attractive option
because it does not grow nearly as thick as miscanthus allowing wildlife to forage more freely.
But it’s that thickness that researcher John Clifton brown says makes miscanthus so appealing
and potentially so profitable to a farmer. As he stands next to a wall of miscanthus, Clifton-
Brown says the crop he’s grown in Ireland for a dozen years will only perform better in America.
“So try it. Suck it and see as we say in Europe.”
Clifton-Brown’s miscanthus is harvested only once a year. Others biomass crops are chopped off
a few times. They each have slightly different growing seasons, but all have at least one thing in
common. They represent a future where the energy we mine today could eventually be mowed.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Shawn Johnson.
After surviving another frantic holiday season, Great Lakes Radio Consortium commentator Mike VanBuren yearns for a bit of simplicity and a cheap way to watch TV:
Transcript
After surviving another frantic holiday season, Great Lakes Radio Consortium commentator Mike
VanBuren yearns for a bit of simplicity and a cheap way to watch TV:
I went to a local electronics store to make a simple purchase. A friend had given me an old
outdoor television antenna. I needed a hundred feet of wire and a rotor kit to hook it up. I’d
never owned an outdoor television antenna.
For years, I’d been content with fuzzy-looking broadcast channels. I’d grown used to unfocused
double images of network news anchors. But now I had a chance to bring a little clarity to my
life. And I was determined to do so.
At the electronics store, the twenty-something clerk looked at me like, “You can’t be serious.”
He couldn’t grasp the fact that I didn’t have cable TV. He offered to fill this void by selling me a
satellite dish system. For a few dollars a month, I could get hundreds of channels.
But I didn’t want hundreds of channels. I was quite satisfied knowing that I’d be getting better
TV reception than ever before – and almost for free. But the clerk didn’t see it that way. In his
eyes, my lack of passion for personal improvement was a serious problem.
That’s the trouble with “consumer” cultures. Most of us have more than we need and don’t even
realize it. We’re constantly foraging for the latest gadgets, newest cars and biggest homes.
Never mind that such desires usually bring more headaches than they’re worth.
Even after 9-11 – when we probably should have been called to sacrifice and to conserve
resources for a larger war effort – the President of the United States told us to go shopping.
What’s that all about?
I think Thoreau had it right when he called upon us to “simplify, simplify.” After all, the essence
of our lives is not found in material things and technology – no matter how revolutionary they
are. True spiritual growth and contentment rise from uncluttered lives.
I’ve been reading lately about a movement known as “voluntary simplicity.” This involves living
– and having more – with less. More joy, peace, time, satisfaction and meaning with less money,
stress, possessions, competition and isolation.
It has nothing to do with depriving ourselves, or living in poverty. It has everything to do with
being content with what we have, finding joy in less and reconnecting with other people and the
natural world that sustains us.
Now, I’m as guilty as the next person when it comes to ignoring this advice. I struggle each day
against the impulse to buy things that I think will add joy and value to my life. They seldom do.
It’s usually the simple things that can’t be purchased in any store which mean the most. Things
like more time for family and community. Less worry about possessions. And greater freedom –
to live and grow and love without constraint.
It has been said that there are two ways to get enough – accumulate more, or desire less. Less, it
seems, is truly more.
And that’s probably the clearest signal I’ll ever get from that battered old antenna.
Mike VanBuren is an award-winning environmental writer living near Richland, Michigan.
An interfaith coalition of religious leaders is calling for automakers to produce more fuel efficient vehicles. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jerome Vaughn has more:
Transcript
An interfaith coalition of religious leaders is calling for automakers to produce more fuel efficient vehicles. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jerome Vaughn has more:
For the Christian part of this coalition, the question is, ‘What Would Jesus Drive?’ The group says the nation’s automakers aren’t doing enough to make cars that pollute less and use less gas. The coalition which includes representatives from a variety of Christian and Jewish organizations says automakers have a moral responsibility to be good stewards of the planet. But Rabbi David Saperstien says that just isn’t happening.
“Virtually all the cars the American auto industry is manufacturing are contributing to poisoning the air, warming the planet, punishing the poor, weakening American security by dependence on foreign oil, jeopardizing the future of our children, just plain violating that covenant with our creator.”
Ford and General Motors say they want to show the coalition how they are making progress on more environmentally-friendly cars.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Jerome Vaughn in Detroit.
This month U.S. electric utilities have been setting records for electricity output. So far, the grid has held up. But the electric industry says more has to be done to keep up with growing demand. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
This month, U.S. electric utilities have been setting records for electricity
output. So far, the grid has held up. But the electric industry says more
has to be done to keep up with growing demand. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
With drought and high heat, demand for electricity in many parts of the
nation has hit record highs and the power companies have been able to meet
that demand with few problems. Jim Owen is with the Edison Electric
Institute, an electric industry association. Owen says places where there
have been black-outs in the past are keeping up this summer.
“Take Chicago, for example. Here a couple of weeks ago they set
all-time record demand for elecricity pretty well without any reported
problems. So, we are meeting demand pretty well all across the country.”
Owen says new peaker plants that come on only during high demand periods and
a few new big traditional electric generating plants have helped avoid
problems. But while the capacity has increased in the past few years, demand
has grown faster. Owen says that gap needs to close.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.
Recent reports that sales of SUVs, mini-vans, and light trucks have outstripped car sales has Great Lakes Radio Consortium commentator Don Ogden wondering if SUV is short for Super Unpatriotic Vehicle: