Environment : Innovation & Job News

The MSU Science Festival is hosting more than 150 diverse scientific offerings in a ten-day festival on campus. With something for everyone, the festival celebrates the science that touches every day lives. Subjects span the science spectrum, from astronomy to human behavior to robotics to zoology.
 
"We see science as opening doors to the future," says Festival Coordinator, Renee Leone. Organizers hope that by making the festival free, that those doors are made accessible to everyone.
 
Events, held April 12 through 21, are presented by members of the MSU scientific community, as well as a number of science and technology community participants. Community participants include organizations like Fenner Nature Center, the Boys and Girls Club of Lansing, Lansing Makers Network, and Impression 5.
 
"Research shows that attendees haven't had a substantive exchange with a science professional," explains Leone. "We'd love to help encourage an interest in science and provide a new experience for young people and lifelong learners alike."
 
A detailed schedule can be found at: http://sciencefestival.msu.edu/schedule
 
Source: Renee Leone, MSU Science Festival
Writer: Veronica Gracia-Wing, Innovation News
 
Have an innovation news story? Send Veronica an email here.

Through a pioneering Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) strategy focusing on the nation’s often-unseen sources of pollution (such as heavy construction, locomotive and marine engines) Okemos-based Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association (MITA) collaborated with the state’s largest construction contractors to accomplish this goal.
 
"Were interested in the economic engine of Michigan," says Vice President of Membership Services, Rob Coppersmith. "What’s good for Michigan is good for contractors, so we’re always looking for opportunities to keep them going."
 
The EPA Midwest Clean Diesel Initiative targets large, off-road diesel engines using old technology to power high-performing, heavy construction equipment. Targeting engines causing the most pollution offers the greatest impact in managing air quality in the state. The older, less efficient engines are replaced with new, clean burning components that meet more stringent emission standards.
 
Of this $1.26 million grant, Coppersmith says: "People who normally would have been laid off and businesses that would have been forced to close due to outdated equipment were spared by this grant. It’s a real win-win for Michigan’s economy and environment."

If anyone were to wonder how the green energy industry is going in Michigan, one would only have to look at Grand Ledge’s Inspired Green to see an example of the sector’s growth.
 
“In April [of 2011] we probably had about 45 to 50 employees,” says Inspired Green Vice President Jay Messner. “We ended the year at about 170. We are back in a push now, and we we need to add about 50 more positions in the next two months.”
 
That is some growth. Though Inspired Green has operations throughout the state, Messner says about 75 percent of their current jobs are in the Lansing area. The growth, he says, has to do with both demand and quality.
 
“We continue to be probably the leader in the county in delivering both utility energy efficiency program goals and in-home performance retrofits,” Messner says. “We are in high demand in the utility program front. Because of the relationships we build to help our customers, we’re very proficient at having those customers refer others to us.”
 
Inspired Green currently serves the markets of Detroit, Lansing, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Monroe, Coldwater, Allegan and Flint, and have opened offices in Chicago and Cincinnati.
 
“Our growth is based on our radical commitment to our mission and core principles,” says Messner, “which are driven by the golden rule: Treat others how you want to be treated. Everything we offer legitimately benefits customers.” 

An MSU professor has big news for the cement world. Any average citizen who doesn’t think that includes him, should just look around. Cement is everywhere. And now, thanks to a recent local experiment, future cement can be more durable and significantly more environmentally friendly. Dr. Parviz Soroushian of MSU’s Civil and Environmental Engineering Department was approached by the MSU Physical Plant four years ago to come up with ways to utilize recycled glass – the least recycled material in municipal solid waste streams.

Soroushian discovered that when replacing about 20 percent of the cement in concrete with mixed-color waste glass, the production created a 20 percent smaller carbon footprint, solving two environmental issues at once. Considering the production of cement accounts for six percent of all carbon dioxide emissions worldwide, the impact could be enormous.

“The amorphous silica in glass enters beneficial chemical reactions with cement hydrates,” says Soroushian. “Recycled glass concrete would thus offer improved durability characteristics and moisture resistance when compared with normal concrete.”

The winning combination isn’t just theoretical. Test sites have been in existence for about three years, including sidewalks outside of the MSU Surplus Store and Recycling Center, south of the Breslin Student Events Center and near Fee and Hubbard halls.

The next step, according to Soroushian, is to introduce the new cement mix to mainstream construction projects on campus.

“We are now assembling a team,” Soroushian says, “with the objective of using recycled glass concrete on MSU campus on a routine basis.”
 

Superior Growing Supply isn’t new to the Lansing area, but the company that began in owner Jeff Gibson’s garage nearly 30 years ago has recently become much more visible. In the last two years, the hydroponic growing supply retailer has added stores on Lansing’s Westside, Southside and in Howell to their original locations in East Lansing and Livonia.
 
“We could already brag that we had the largest indoor gardening supply store in the United States in Livonia,” says Sue Smith, Director of Communications for Superior Grower Supply. “Then we had a boom. We recognized more retail opportunities here in Lansing.”
 
Superior Growing Supply human resources director Danielle Polaskey estimates the additional stores added 21 employees to the company. The business also owns Hydrodynamics International, an East Lansing-based manufacturer of soilless gardening nutrients. The two businesses together employ 50.
 
“And in two weeks, 51,” says Smith.
 
Both businesses are continuing to grow to meet the increasing demand for their products. According to Smith, Superior Growers Supply’s commitment to customer service is what gives them an edge over their competition.
 
“We’re pretty proud of our personnel,” says Smith. “They’re highly skilled people, and well trained. We do our own internal training, so they can really be able to answer customers questions.”

Regionalism is all the buzz in economic development circles, and now the greater Lansing region has the potential to be a model of the concept. The Tri-County Regional Planning Commission, along with partners Mid-MEAC, Michigan Energy Options, Michigan State University's Land Policy Institute and the Greater Lansing Housing Coalition, have received a $3 million a Sustainable Community Regional Planning Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
 
"This changes everything," says Mid-MEAC director Julie Powers. "By bringing all of the planning people from different communities together around projects rather than a policy issue, they can work collaboratively."
 
The grant will be distributed over three years. It will fund nine regionalism projects, including a housing study, a transportation plan, an online citizen portal for zoning issues and a Michigan Avenue-wide energy audit. One project of particular interest to Mid-MEAC is one their organization will administer: a regional planning community outreach program.
 
"This brings people to the table who doesn't usually have voice," says Powers. "We need to have the perspective of those who use public transportation to plan for its future."
 
The regional group's application was one of very few chosen from more than 2000 applicants. The partners are now in negotiations with HUD to get the project ready to begin. Powers expect a start date sometime in the first quarter of 2012.
 
"It has really brought people together," she says of the collaborative application process. "To me, this is what the Love Lansing movement is all about."

Photo - John Lindenmayer

Making vehicle emissions cleaner is a priority for a variety of agencies and companies around the globe. One Lansing organization, however, is focused on addressing what they see as the highest priority vehicle emission issue of them all – school bus emissions.
 
“We feel school districts and school organizations in particular are important because of the impact to young children,” says Greater Lansing Area Clean Cities Executive Director, Maggie Striz Calnin. “They’re at greater risk for having their health negatively impacted than adults are.”
 
GLACC will now be able to reduce emissions on 58 area buses thanks to a $725,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The award was made through the EPA’s National Clean Diesel Funding Assistance Program. The organization will partner with schools in Grand Ledge, Charlotte, Haslett, Waverly Community Schools, as well as for Dean Transportation and Michigan State University on the project.
 
“We’re really excited,” says Calnin. “We know that school district don’t have a lot of extra funding to do these upgrade, so we saw this as good way to use grant funds to help them make a big impact.”
 
The estimation of the impact of upgrading 58 local buses is the reduction of the air pollutant nox by 610 tons air particulates by 35 tons, hydrocarbon by 65 tons and carbon by 302 tons over the lifetime of the vehicles.
 
Work on the vehicles will being in spring of 2012. This program follows GLACC’s recent successful upgrade of 250 local school buses.
 

Car dealerships use a lot of energy. They take up lots of space, and the entire premises is always illuminated. During the day, all of those cars are driven around, auto maintenance takes place, as well as the regular energy and resources that go into running any business.
 
“There are probably a half a dozen reason that a car dealer might be interested in being more green,” says Chuck Golden, CEO of the new Okemos-based Green Dealer Support, “and one of those is saving money.” Others include making a better work environment, connecting to environmentally savvy customers – and then there’s the big one.
 
“It’s just the right thing to do,” he says.
 
Golden has worked with auto dealerships for years, and what he and some of his colleagues in the industry recently noticed was that many auto dealerships have a desire to be more green and take advantage of new technologies, but have no idea where to begin.
 
“They’re too busy doing what they do,” says Golden. “Selling cars and taking care of their customers.”
 
So Golden and ten of his colleagues from around the country recently formed Green Dealer Support, a nationwide company to help advise, train, monitor and certify green dealers. The company got started in January and began assessing six dealers including Crippen Dealership in Lansing. Crippen achieved “green dealer” certification recently and will continue to work toward gold, silver and platinum status.
 
More than 50 team members across the country help train and certify dealers.