Category Archives: Alternative Energy

Obama needs to lead us to energy independence by the end of the decade

By Mark | June 14, 2010

Joe Scarborough, this morning on MSNBC, challenged Barack Obama to be aggressive on alternative energy in his address to the nation tomorrow night. Like me, Scarborough wants Obama to channel the spirit of John F. Kennedy, who in 1961 announced that we’d put a man on the moon by the end of the decade, and [...]

Also posted in Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

The Shadow Shuttle

By Mark | June 8, 2010

This evening, I got confirmation from the good folks at Big Ten Burrito that they are on-board for this summer’s Shadow Art Fair. They’ll be donating two of their BTB party busses, and the vegetable oil that they run on. All we have to do is pay their drivers for their time, which I’m confident [...]

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BP illustrates the need for a corporate death penalty

By Mark | May 30, 2010

It’s now coming out that, when Obama was visiting the Louisiana coast a few days ago, surveying the extent of the damage wrought by the BP oil leak, many of the individuals that he, and the rest of us watching at home, thought were BP workers, were in fact temps hired by Tony Haward [...]

Also posted in Corporate Crime, energy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 25 Comments

Cycle Powered Cinema, donations now accepted

By Mark | May 4, 2010

The plan to show live, people-powered movies in Ypsilanti’s Riverside Park is still alive and well. A recent Cycle Powered Cinema volunteer meeting drew about a dozen people, and I think we made some pretty good progress. Following are some brief notes on where we are now, and where we hope to be by the [...]

Also posted in Art and Culture, Ypsilanti | Tagged , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

Ypsi Solar City Hall update

By Mark | April 18, 2010

I just received the following update from Ypsi Solar’s Dave Strenski and thought that I’d pass it along:

Ypsilanti’s City Hall solar graphs are now online. You can find the graphs here. Many thanks to EMU student Nik Estep for doing a wonderful job on the SolarYpsi.org website… As expected, the solar panels are only supplying [...]

Also posted in Ypsilanti, energy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Ypsi Cycle-Powered Cinema update, volunteer meeting April 1

By Mark | March 21, 2010

On Thursday, April 1 we’ll be meeting at the Corner Brewery in Ypsi at 6:00 PM to discuss the future of the Cycle Powered Cinema project. If you think you might be interested, please come out, have a beer, and meet the rest of the team. And feel free to encourage anyone else you know [...]

Also posted in Art and Culture, Education, Environment, Global Warming, Other, Special Projects, Ypsilanti, cycle powered cinema, energy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Putting aside the insanity for a little optimism for a change

By Mark | March 8, 2010

I’m struggling with what to write about tonight, as I’ve just been made aware of two equally good stories. On one hand we’ve got Glenn Beck, who, determined to push the insanity throttle even further into the red, recently encouraged his followers to leave their churches if they didn’t immediately abandon the mission of “social [...]

Also posted in Environment, Health, Politics, Science, energy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Local Transition Town visioning session scheduled for February 1

By Mark | January 24, 2010

I’ve written quite a bit here over the last few years on the Transition Town movement. For those not familiar with the initiative, it involves the preparation and certification of towns attempting to address the duel challenges of climate change and peak oil proactively. It basically involves analyzing local food production, energy use, etc, and [...]

Also posted in Agriculture, Ann Arbor, Food, Sustainability, Ypsilanti, energy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Could Ypsi host the 2010 Michigan Energy Fair?

By Mark | January 10, 2010

For the past several years, in June, the Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association (GLREA) has hosted an event called the Michigan Energy Fair to “promote renewable energy and energy efficiency.” For the past few years, this event, which draws up to 6,000 people, has been held at the Manistee County Fairgrounds. This year, however, they’re [...]

Also posted in Michigan, Special Projects, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

My legs hurt from making electricity

By Mark | December 4, 2009

These past few days, in a basement on Oak Street, Andy Claydon, Dave Strenski, and John Shuler have been building a power-generating bike. And tonight we had our first real test of the complete system, which we hope to have running at Saturday’s Shadow Art Fair. There are still a few kinks that [...]

Also posted in Shadow Art Fair, Special Projects, Ypsilanti | Tagged , , , , , | 11 Comments