Fueling Flint's future: Biogas may energize attitudes as well
by Melissa Burden | The Flint Journal
Bus passengers walk by one of the 69 biomethane-powered municipal buses in Linkoping, Sweden.
If the Swedes can do it, what about Flintites?
Officials from the city of Flint, state of Michigan, Kettering University and Swedish Biogas International are on board to make biogas here at Flint's wastewater treatment plant.
Officials have high hopes that making biogas will spearhead other renewable energy projects and aid the city's faltering economic base. And Gov. Jennifer Granholm hopes Flint can become known as a leader in alternative and renewable energy.
Could it happen? Could Flint -- with its automobile heritage and accompanying job losses -- emerge and flourish in alternative and renewable energy?
The Swedes make it look easy. At least, that's what I thought last month after getting an up-close view of the biogas industry in Linkoping, Sweden, during a trip with the Michigan Economic Development Corp.
These two digesters at Linkoping's wastewater treatment plant are used to turn human waste into biogas. Digesters like these could be up and running and doing the same thing next year at Flint's wastewater treatment plant.
There, biogas is part of everyday life, and promotions for it are posted at fueling stations and plastered on city buses. Three plants in the Linkoping area produce biogas, something the municipally owned energy company has been making for about 15 years there. So what could Flint expect from its new biogas production facility, which could be operational in mid-2009?
Yes, there is a slight odor
Some here have wondered what the plants look like and whether they smell. Well, they do a little, but thanks to city planning there, the plants don't really have any neighbors to speak of because no houses or apartments are located nearby.
At a plant on the outskirts of Linkoping, there was a stench from the sludgy, gray biofertilizer in a large open tank that sort of smelled like farm animals. The biofertilizer -- which is made from biogas -- is sold to farmers.
It may look like a standard fuel pump, but this device actually dispenses biomethane. Biomethane is a gas, not a liquid, so it comes out of the end of a hose through what looks like an air valve.
Closer to the plant, several large tanks in a loading area for waste emitted a sweeter smell, almost like fried food. The plant goes through 50,000 tons of mostly slaughterhouse waste per year to make biogas and upgrade it to biomethane to fuel vehicles and biofertilizer for farmers.
Linkoping's wastewater treatment plant -- which converts human waste into biogas, just like Flint's plant will -- also had a somewhat unpleasant smell next to the tanks where the processing takes place.
But come on: We're talking about a wastewater treatment plant. Don't you think it would smell a little anyway? The odor was something I got used to after I was there for 10 minutes or so.
"The smell is not going to increase in Flint," said Lennart Johansson, consul general of Sweden in Michigan. "It's probably going to decrease."
A ride on 'Amanda'
Linkoping also is home to the first biogas train in Sweden and possibly in the world. The old diesel train was converted to run on biomethane. It runs a regular route daily with a top speed of about 80 mph.
During a short ride on the green- and white-painted train named Amanda, there were no noticeable differences from traditional passenger trains -- except the cleaner air for those outside.
Now running on a very clean fuel, the train adds no carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Talk about good green movement.
Ready to pedal
An estimated 30 percent of Linkoping's 144,000 residents travel through their city -- parts of which feature brick- and stone-covered roadways like downtown Flint -- on bicycles.
There are opportunities to recycle everywhere in Sweden, including trash cans in hotel rooms.
Even in the winter. Seriously.
The city puts salt down on the bike paths in the snowy months. But get this: in a lot of places, they don't have to because the paths are conveniently located on top of a heating system that pipes hot water throughout the city into buildings to heat homes and businesses. That hot water helps melt the snow and ice on roads and pathways.
Linkoping Mayor Ann-Cathrine Hjerdt says the city wants to increase its pedal power even more and become known as a best bicycle city in Europe.
Hans Loven, 30, who has lived in Linkoping about six months, said he regularly uses his bike to travel in the city.
"Linkoping is not that great big, so you can get around on a bike very easy," he said.
Reuse it and recycle
Michigan and Flint could learn a thing or two from Sweden.
The people there recycle.
This Swedish Biogas Bi-Fuel Volvo includes an attachment for a nozzle to inject biomethane into the vehicle.
A lot.
Things I've just thrown away without thinking too much about it are recycled there.
But in Sweden, you grow up knowing to do this and that you should do this. And they make it easy for you.
The hotels have green- and red-labeled containers that attach to the trash cans for recycling glass bottles and organic items such as apple peels.
Residents say there are places at apartment buildings for separating garbage such as coffee filters and vacuum bags and recyclables such as paper, cardboard, plastic and glass.
Michael Martin, 26 -- a 2000 Swartz Creek High School graduate and doctoral student at Linkoping University who is researching how to improve the environmental performance of biofuels -- has lived in Sweden for three years.
He's seen the differences in American and Swedish thought on recycling and says we can do more in the U.S. to encourage recycling. If we offer a better program, people likely will do it, Martin said.
This former diesel-powered train was converted to run on biomethane and is based in Linpkong, Sweden. It runs a regular daily route and has a top speed of about 80 mph.
"Nobody's going to do it unless they make it available," he said. "In Sweden, you have to do it."
Seems like the Swedes are ahead of the game in many things from recycling to biogas production.
Perhaps Michigan and Flint can learn from them.
And quickly.
Fueling Flint's future: Biogas may energize attitudes as well
by Melissa Burden | The Flint Journal
Sunday October 05, 2008, 1:48 AM
Bus passengers walk by one of the 69 biomethane-powered municipal buses in Linkoping, Sweden.Officials from the city of Flint, state of Michigan, Kettering University and Swedish Biogas International are on board to make biogas here at Flint's wastewater treatment plant.
Officials have high hopes that making biogas will spearhead other renewable energy projects and aid the city's faltering economic base. And Gov. Jennifer Granholm hopes Flint can become known as a leader in alternative and renewable energy.
Could it happen? Could Flint -- with its automobile heritage and accompanying job losses -- emerge and flourish in alternative and renewable energy?
The Swedes make it look easy. At least, that's what I thought last month after getting an up-close view of the biogas industry in Linkoping, Sweden, during a trip with the Michigan Economic Development Corp.
These two digesters at Linkoping's wastewater treatment plant are used to turn human waste into biogas. Digesters like these could be up and running and doing the same thing next year at Flint's wastewater treatment plant.Yes, there is a slight odor
Some here have wondered what the plants look like and whether they smell. Well, they do a little, but thanks to city planning there, the plants don't really have any neighbors to speak of because no houses or apartments are located nearby.
At a plant on the outskirts of Linkoping, there was a stench from the sludgy, gray biofertilizer in a large open tank that sort of smelled like farm animals. The biofertilizer -- which is made from biogas -- is sold to farmers.
It may look like a standard fuel pump, but this device actually dispenses biomethane. Biomethane is a gas, not a liquid, so it comes out of the end of a hose through what looks like an air valve.Closer to the plant, several large tanks in a loading area for waste emitted a sweeter smell, almost like fried food. The plant goes through 50,000 tons of mostly slaughterhouse waste per year to make biogas and upgrade it to biomethane to fuel vehicles and biofertilizer for farmers.
Linkoping's wastewater treatment plant -- which converts human waste into biogas, just like Flint's plant will -- also had a somewhat unpleasant smell next to the tanks where the processing takes place.
But come on: We're talking about a wastewater treatment plant. Don't you think it would smell a little anyway? The odor was something I got used to after I was there for 10 minutes or so.
"The smell is not going to increase in Flint," said Lennart Johansson, consul general of Sweden in Michigan. "It's probably going to decrease."
A ride on 'Amanda'
Linkoping also is home to the first biogas train in Sweden and possibly in the world. The old diesel train was converted to run on biomethane. It runs a regular route daily with a top speed of about 80 mph.
During a short ride on the green- and white-painted train named Amanda, there were no noticeable differences from traditional passenger trains -- except the cleaner air for those outside.
Now running on a very clean fuel, the train adds no carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Talk about good green movement.
Ready to pedal
An estimated 30 percent of Linkoping's 144,000 residents travel through their city -- parts of which feature brick- and stone-covered roadways like downtown Flint -- on bicycles.
There are opportunities to recycle everywhere in Sweden, including trash cans in hotel rooms.Even in the winter. Seriously.
The city puts salt down on the bike paths in the snowy months. But get this: in a lot of places, they don't have to because the paths are conveniently located on top of a heating system that pipes hot water throughout the city into buildings to heat homes and businesses. That hot water helps melt the snow and ice on roads and pathways.
Linkoping Mayor Ann-Cathrine Hjerdt says the city wants to increase its pedal power even more and become known as a best bicycle city in Europe.
Hans Loven, 30, who has lived in Linkoping about six months, said he regularly uses his bike to travel in the city.
"Linkoping is not that great big, so you can get around on a bike very easy," he said.
Reuse it and recycle
Michigan and Flint could learn a thing or two from Sweden.
The people there recycle.
This Swedish Biogas Bi-Fuel Volvo includes an attachment for a nozzle to inject biomethane into the vehicle.A lot.
Things I've just thrown away without thinking too much about it are recycled there.
But in Sweden, you grow up knowing to do this and that you should do this. And they make it easy for you.
The hotels have green- and red-labeled containers that attach to the trash cans for recycling glass bottles and organic items such as apple peels.
Residents say there are places at apartment buildings for separating garbage such as coffee filters and vacuum bags and recyclables such as paper, cardboard, plastic and glass.
Michael Martin, 26 -- a 2000 Swartz Creek High School graduate and doctoral student at Linkoping University who is researching how to improve the environmental performance of biofuels -- has lived in Sweden for three years.
He's seen the differences in American and Swedish thought on recycling and says we can do more in the U.S. to encourage recycling. If we offer a better program, people likely will do it, Martin said.
This former diesel-powered train was converted to run on biomethane and is based in Linpkong, Sweden. It runs a regular daily route and has a top speed of about 80 mph."Nobody's going to do it unless they make it available," he said. "In Sweden, you have to do it."
Seems like the Swedes are ahead of the game in many things from recycling to biogas production.
Perhaps Michigan and Flint can learn from them.
And quickly.
