sustainable energy – Dispatches From The Front

An experiment is underway in Ann Arbor, Michigan, that could change how communities generate and distribute power in the future.

The city, with voters’ strong support, is launching its own sustainable energy utility. This new utility won’t replace DTE Energy, the local investor-owned power company, or even use DTE’s wires.

Instead, Ann Arbor will slowly build out a whole new modern power system, starting with installing rooftop solar and battery storage and reducing energy usage in individual homes and businesses whose owners opt in. The city then plans to expand by connecting homes and neighborhoods into microgrids and by using community solar and networked geothermal to allow broader access to clean energy.

Coffee fuels the people and, to some extent, the economy. But why stop there?

Arthur Kay was studying architecture at The Bartlett, UCL where he was set the challenge of designing a coffee shop and coffee roaster. During the process he, “quickly realized that coffee was being wasted everywhere. It was pouring out of coffee shops, office blocks, transport hubs and factories.”

Instead of seeing this waste as a challenge, Kay looked at it as an opportunity and discovered a way to refine the phenomenally high oil content in waste coffee grounds into biodiesel. He calls this remarkable discovery a ‘happy surprise’, but what happened next was considered, determined and very coincidental.

Tag: sustainable energy

How Ann Arbor’s sustainable energy utility could impact future power grids | Fast Company

Could your morning coffee be a source of sustainable energy? | Mashable