Michigan Promotes Alternative Energy & Future Industry

In what seems like an amazingly comprehensive and optimistic website reminding us that Michigan is the home to the automotive industry and a part of that Midwestern part of the country where people are accustomed to making and building things, Michigan's business attraction strategy is spelled out in some rather exciting detail, indicating a high level of partnering between business, education and the government there: http://www.michiganadvantage.org/Default.aspx



Alternative Energy in the State of Michigan is one of 6 Michigan growth sectors heavily pitched in this extensive presentation.

Subcategories within Alternative Energy:

Wind - "The wind energy industry includes not just power generation, but also the manufacturing of parts for wind turbines and structures and their assembly."

Solar Technology Manufacturing - "With our advanced manufacturing infrastructure, high-tech workforce and robust scientific community, we lead the world in developing solar technologies to meet the needs of the exploding solar energy market. Drawn by this scientific boom and an engineering community that numbers over 65,000, global solar energy powerhouses have made their headquarters here."

Advanced Energy Storage ranging from battery development and recycling stimulated by partnership with the automotive industry, to "advanced energy storage technology toward increasing energy efficiency on a smart grid".

It seems that the State of Michigan is finding ways to revitalize its manufacturing economy by providing leadership in the emerging energy economy.

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Large Scale Energy Stability & Costs: Solar, Wind, Nuclear

"Due to the larger magnitude of solar PV power output fluctuations relative to those of wind at time scales shorter than approximately 31⁄2 hours, the costs of large scale solar PV integration are likely to be larger than those of wind." Carnegie Mellon Study: Large Scale Solar vs. Large Scale Wind Power



"Solar Electric Energy demand has grown consistently by 20-25% per annum over the past 20 years. This has been against a backdrop of rapidly declining costs and prices.

"This decline has been driven by a) increasing efficiency of solar cells b) manufacturing technology improvements, and c) economies of scale. The photovoltaic solar industry now globally generates around $10bn revenues. This includes the sale of solar modules, its associated equipment and the installation of those systems. In 2001, just under 350 Megawatts of solar equipment were sold to add to the solar equipment already generating clean energy." Solar Energy Industry Statistics: Growth



"For nuclear power, the modernization is intended to produce dramatic differences: plants that will run more than 90 percent of the hours in a year and last for 60 years or longer. The ones in service today ran only about 60 percent of the time when they were new and were assumed to have only a 40-year life. But utilities are already signing long-term contracts for large solar generators, and wind turbines are being erected at an unprecedented rate. Those alternatives operate fewer hours of the year, but with no burden of fuel cost or fuel-disposal problems the price of power they produce could be low enough to squeeze nuclear power out of the mix." Can Nuclear Compete? - Scientific American

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Bailouts, Deregulation, Energy Investments

New Federal Government website as the bailout gets signed by Obama symbolically at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act targets investments towards key areas that will save or create good jobs immediately, while also laying the groundwork for long-term economic growth. The charts and numbers below give you an idea of where the money is going." This blog has hopes that the emphasis on Infrastructure and Scientific Research and Energy Development will lay the groundwork for a long-overdue turnaround in many of the basics of our nation's economic prioritization process. It's like reminding a large multinational corporation that R&D needs to be a bigger part of their budget. Where is Your Money Going?"



Clinton refuses share of responsibility for current banking crisis. His argument is that if he had been president during the W years, none of this would have happened. But it seems eminently clear that the legislation he put in place was part of a progression of policy moves that had so much to do with the tangled mess we're in today: "Clinton Says Don't Blame Him for the Economic Crisis"



Former IMF Chief Economist says big banks should be broken apart like Standard Oil was back in the day.... Simon Johnson on Bill Moyers Journal

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