Michigan's Green Machine

March 19, 2010
Things are moving in Michigan. ProNewables, a new company based in Kalamazoo teamed up with Kalamazoo Valley Community College to deploy the Green Machine throughout the Midwest to capture waste heat and turn it into energy. The Green Machine, ...

Things are moving in Michigan. ProNewables, a new company based in Kalamazoo teamed up with Kalamazoo Valley Community College to deploy the Green Machine throughout the Midwest to capture waste heat and turn it into energy.

The Green Machine, manufactured by the ElectraTherm, Inc. can produce power from a wide array of heat sources including industrial waste heat, engines, biomass and solar thermal installations.

http://www.electratherm.com/images/green_machine.jpg

Why Michigan? "The Midwest has the manufacturing facilities, the labor pool and the demand to apply the Green Machine abundantly to applications including stationary engines, boilers, geothermal and solar thermal sites," said Bill Olson, Vice President of Business Development at ElectraTherm.

Michigan's factories, power plants, paper and steel mills, food processing facilities and other heavy industry produce enough waste heat to power thousands of Green Machines, according to data in a recent study by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Where did the money come from? The Windquest Group, an investment management firm, teamed up with ProServices ., a specialized trades contractor. The resulting company will sell, install and maintain the Green Machine to support industry throughout Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Approximately two-thirds of the fuel burned to generate power in the United States, and up to half of industrial energy consumption is lost, according to a DOE Report.

Popular Sponsored Recommendations

Four Common OT Cybersecurity Pitfalls for Manufacturers

April 4, 2023
For the last six years, Dragos has leveraged their Professional Services team to develop an on-the-ground understanding of the realities facing the industrial community and to...

Empowering the Modern Workforce: The Power of Connected Worker Technologies

March 1, 2024
Explore real-world strategies to boost worker safety, collaboration, training, and productivity in manufacturing. Emphasizing Industry 4.0, we'll discuss digitalization and automation...

How Manufacturers Can Optimize Operations with Weather Intelligence

Nov. 2, 2023
The bad news? Severe weather has emerged as one of the biggest threats to continuity and safety in manufacturing. The good news? The intelligence solutions that build weather ...

Transformative Capabilities for XaaS Models in Manufacturing

Feb. 14, 2024
The manufacturing sector is undergoing a pivotal shift toward "servitization," or enhancing product offerings with services and embracing a subscription model. This transition...

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of IndustryWeek, create an account today!