This is encouraging news for renewable energy advocates in Michigan! United Solar Ovonic is expanding into Battle Creek and bringing jobs with them. Over time, they anticipate 300 to 700 new jobs for the area. They are looking to break ground in November so they can get to work. With nearly $2 billion worth of contracts in hand, they appear to eager to get to work.

We need to spotlight successes like this in every area of renewable energy in our state. To me, this is further evidence that renewable energy has a big role to play in the reinvention of our state economy.

I live in the 6th district and it was interesting to see the responses from the candidates in this article.

Anyone that lives here knows that Upton will handily win re-election. Cooney is viewed as a fringe liberal by many. I had never heard of the other candidate, which I think says a lot.

I would very much like to see Mr. Upton review his stance on renewable energy and think about more than just nuclear. We still haven’t fully determined what to do with spent fuel rods, and who can dismiss the wind opportunity on the coasts of our Great Lakes?

In just three months, the Pickens Plan Army has hit one million people! That is an amazing accomplishment and speaks volumes to the grassroots concern of our country regarding renewable energy.

Look far and wide and I think you will see that the Pickens Plan is the only plan with enough traction to make a difference in the political climate of our country. It is up to each of us in our own communities to make a difference, but a larger vision will help all of us achieve our common goal of energy independence for America.

Congratulations, Pickens Plan!

Here is a great blog post at mlive.com that talks about the conference in Kalamazoo. I am planning to be there and would like to meet any readers of this blog. If they have wireless, I plan to be blogging from the event as well.

The Journal Newspapers website has an article that I highly recommend you read. It talks about legislation currently under consideration in Lansing that could have a long lasting positive effect on the renewable energy future of Michigan and create a lot of jobs.

You can read the article here.

I love the UP. I really do. The people are nice, the accent is endearing, and they are thinking of the future when it comes to energy. The self-sufficient spirit there is admirable and inspiring.

That is one of the reasons this article from TV6 caught my eye. It has some really good information about Michigan producing wind energy and names some of the best spots in the UP for wind turbines.

Many experts agree that the wind in the Great Lakes is a very promising source of energy for the region. Even though the title of this article is “Wind turbines in lake feasible, but energy cost could double“, I think there is some promising news for renewable energy in Michigan within it.

One of the arguments is that more research and data is needed. I agree. And I think that process will produce more ideas to make it even more cost effective to harvest this resource in a safe and sustainable way.

The other thing in this article that struck me is the irony of the big ships needed to put the deep-water foundations in place. Those ships are in high demand by the oil industry for setting up offshore drilling rigs.

Twice the cost? By the time these solutions are deployed, I don’t think that will be the case.

Does this catch your eye like it did mine?

“According to the company, there are some 30 billion square feet of flat roof space in the United States, just waiting to be covered. With that much space, Solyndra’s tubes could generate enough power for more than 16 million homes.”

It comes from this article that I saw posted on the twitter of JA Consultants.

Michigan isn’t exactly known for its ample sunshine, which makes me think that wind is a better alternative for our state. But the technology this company has created is very promising and there are plenty of sunny places in the USA to deploy it to.

This is a well researched article about wind energy in the United States, including a decent map showing how many megawatts per state are being produced by wind energy. It also talks about the Pickens Plan and various success stories with wind energy.

As of June 2008, it looks like Michigan is producing 55 mw of power from wind. I would like to see a breakout of how many businesses and homes that energy is powering.

I am looking for like minded people in Kalamazoo County to get together and talk about the renewable/alternative energy options for Kalamazoo County. Please use the Contact Page to reach me. Thanks!