Green Poop Jobs Going Down the Toilet in Michigan

[XLFD]

In Like Flint

It sounds like a great idea to recycle and convert human waste into a source of energy.  Large animal-based agricultural facilities manufacture tons of crap and municipalities have a lot of potential energy sources at their wastewater treatment plants in the human waste that arrives there from the citizens.  But is it feasible financially to do the conversion?

Back in 2008, the Granholm administration thought so, and paired with European biogas professionals to harness the power of excrement starting in Flint.   The Swedish Biogas International facility in Flint, involved collaboration with Linköping University in Sweden, Kettering University and the city of Flint to convert wastes from the city's wastewater treatment plant into bio-based energy.  By 2010, the city was accepting agricultural waste for its newly created facility, increasing the overall biogas potential.  The biogas produced at the Flint plant was to be used to generate electricity and was supposed to open the door for biofuel in the form of biomethane in the near future. 

                                                               Shovelling It

In 2010, Swedish Biogas was conducting an engineering study for a co-digestion project at Reed City's municipal wastewater treatment plant.  The project would have potential to generate biogas for the purpose of producing affordable electricity and expanding the capacity of the wastewater treatment plant.  The General Mills Yoplait plant in Reed City, one of the largest yogurt plants in the world, was in discussions with the company and could have provided feed sources for the digester. 

"We are excited about the opportunity to build a biogas facility in Reed City as it is an essential building block for the Biogas Center of Energy Excellence," said Thomas Guise, CEO, of Swedish Biogas International.   "At Swedish Biogas we believe that a combination of public and private biogas facilities, collaborative research among Michigan universities and the creation of knowledge-based jobs are essential elements in creating a world-class Center of Energy Excellence."

In announcing the Reed City initiative, Governor Granholm beamed:   "Companies like Swedish Biogas International are transforming Michigan into the clean energy capital of North America.  This is all part of our aggressive strategy to diversify the Michigan economy and expand our state's clean energy capabilities to create jobs and in the process reduce our nation's dependence on foreign oil."    

"With engineering work underway, we have opportunities to provide renewable energy from waste and promote the growth of our agricultural-based businesses," Granholm said.  "Our Michigan-Sweden collaboration has made these opportunities possible, building on Sweden's recognized international leadership in alternative energy and decades of experience in biogas production."     

On the same day of that announcement in October 2010,  Granholm was presented with the insignia of Commander First Class of the Royal Order of the Polar Star for her work in fostering relations between Michigan and Sweden in clean energy by the King of Sweden, His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf. 

Out Like a Fart

The State of Michigan ponied up a $4 million grant to help start the Flint plant back in 2008.  Even then Leo Thomasen, an expert consultant in the field said:  "The question is, can you clean it up and compress it and then compete with gasoline?  It depends on the price of gasoline. The volume (from a sewage-treatment plant) is so small, it might be economically inefficient to recover it."   Admittedly, a high national tax on gas in Sweden and generous subsidization of biogas made it viable in their marketplace. 

By October 2013, however, a roundtable of biogas experts determined that the decline of the city's population is slowing the company's growth.  The company's director said that it was earlier predicted that the biomethane gas produced by the company would fuel buses and other transportation in Flint. However, the amount produced was just enough to offset the company's own cost for natural gas used in its manufacture. 

As gas pump prices approach half of what they were in 2013, it is not surprising that the news out of Flint on biogas has been quiet over the year of 2014.  But what about that second biogas facility out of Reed City that Governor Granholm promised us just before she rode off into the sunset towards California at the end of 2010?

Ron Howell, the city manager of Reed City, said in those four years both Swedish Biogas International and another private investor had expressed interest in starting a biogas facility in his city. 

“When they crunched the numbers, from a business point of view, it obviously didn’t cut it,” Howell said this week. “There was not money to be made. … They never call us back. It just dies.”

[Willy]

More wasted money down the toilet. Just imagine how much of our money is wasted by the idiots we elect, so I guess it's really our own fault.

[XLFD]

This just in:   'Green Energy' Companies Awarded $231 Million Created Just 44 Full-Time Jobs"

In 2008, the state of Michigan gave $43 million in subsidies to six energy-related companies, part of then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s attempt to make the state the “green energy capital” of North America.

As of Sept. 30, 2013, those six companies had created just 44 full-time positions, according to state reports. The original projections were for the grants to create 995 jobs by 2012. The companies also were awarded $188 million in federal money.

That's over $5 million in public money for each job.